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Listen

Before you start preparing for your interview, remember that you have two tasks: listen and sell, and in that particular order.

Now back to work.

Preparation

You are now the face of the company. By how you conduct yourself, ask your questions, and communicate, the candidate will paint the picture about the company as a whole.

It all starts with preparing yourself for the interview. Here’s your checklist:

  • Introduction about the company and the project (circa 2 minutes).

Write down your pitch about the company. It should be concise and clear. It should include:

  • History of Legit and its mission.

  • History of your project and its mission.

  • Main achievements

  • Your team, who you’re looking for now and why.

Example:

Esc. Media is part of Legit Media Group. For the past 10 years, our stories we have to millions. We have been working in close partnership with top media projects in Kenya (Tuko), Nigeria (Legit), Ghana (Yen), and South Africa (Briefly). We are official partners of Google, Facebook. Two of our channels have silver buttons on YouTube. For three months, our Facebook page for Legit has been the number ONE Facebook published in the world!

Our goal is to become one of the TOP media companies in the world, and Esc. Media plays a large part in these plans.

  • Study the candidates CV and portfolio. Already think of their potential strong and weak points.
  • Study their test task and write 2 main questions regarding it.
  • Prepare standard questions.
  • Prepare unique questions for the candidate and the position.
  • Prepare where to take your notes.
  • Check your battery, get yourself a glass of water.
  • Be on time. If not, warn your candidate or the recruiter about your delay and don’t forget to apologise.

Structure

In a nutshell the process is very simple — you ask questions, the candidate answers them. But everyone loves structure.

Each interview should look like this:

  • Introduce yourself and your position.

  • Be friendly, start your interview with an ice-breaker. Talk about the person’s surroundings, recent news, their mood. Calm the person down if you feel they are looking stressed.

  • Explain the candidate how the interview will play out, so that they also know the structure:

    • You’ll start with introduction of the company

    • Then you’ll ask questions about their experience and the test task

    • At the end you’ll hand the floor to the candidate for their questions

  • Start asking your questions

  • Save some time for the candidate’s questions

  • Explain admin and organisational matters

What’s good to ask?

When preparing your questions, you can divide them into three categories, in no specific order:

  • Their experience

  • Their vision

  • Their soft skills

You don’t have to ask all the questions you prepared. Just those that you think are necessary. For that you have to listen carefully to what the person answers. Use your prepared questions as starting points or if you need to speed-up the interview or turn in another direction.

People are not robots. Try to ask questions to what the person is saying. They will feel heard and will be more honest with you. Don’t move to the next topic, before you feel satisfied, however, if you see that the person is repeating themselves, it’s a sign to move on.

General questions that are always good to ask:

  • Have you heard about the company before? Why did you apply for this position?

  • Tell me about your biggest achievement.

  • What was the most stressful situation? (preferably related to work)

  • Have you ever felt burnt out and why?

  • Why do you think you are a good fit for this position?

  • Come up with a situational question. E.g. Imagine your team lead asks you to stay after hours, what would be your reaction?

  • How do you think your colleagues or your manager would rate you?

  • What did you dislike in your previous job? Why did you quit / get fired / are you looking for a new position?

  • What are you looking for in your new workplace?

  • Tell me about tasks that you don’t like?

  • Tell me about a conflict situation and how you dealt with it?

  • What qualities are important for you in your manager?

Talent Acquisition cheat-sheet

Here is a form that is good to prepare and fill in before starting your interview. This will give you an idea of what you’re expecting from your candidate. During the interview you can also mark each of the fields accordingly.

You rarely find a perfect candidate. Eventually it comes down to compromise, and if you can map your priorities as to the position, your job will suddenly become easier:

Talent acquisition form template

Time

Time is of value. Don’t keep it too long. Interview for a junior/middle position should not take longer than 1 hour. Stay longer, only if that is necessary.

If you see at the early stages that the person is not a good fit, don’t drag it, but don’t make it short. Your interview should not be shorter than 30 minutes.

Selling

Usually, when the candidate is right, you feel it rather soon. In most cases 20-30 minutes is enough to get an idea if this is an interesting candidate. When you’re feeling that you want to hire this person, you should slowly move away from hardcore questioning, and start selling the position and the company.

  • Shift your conversation to a more friendly tone and mood

  • Ask the candidate what’s important for them in the workplace?

  • Tell them more about your team and the processes. You can even put them in a situation where they should imagine themselves as a team member.

  • Ask their opinion on the project and the test task.

  • Give a proper feedback on their test task, that way the candidate will see that you care.

  • Ask a question about their hobby or something recent they’ve done?

Ending Right

After the candidate asked their questions, you you have two main things to communicate:

  1. Talk through about the way they will get paid: whether it’s via Payoneer or on FOP

2. Let them know about the next stages:

  • If there was a recruiter involved, say that they will get back with the answer in three days.

  • If there was no recruiter, you will do that in three days personally.

Pro Tips

  • Don’t reveal your budget or the salary you’re willing to give. Alway get the answer from the candidate first. It’s generally better to come to the interview, knowing what the candidates expectations are.

Explain that due to the company’s policies you are unable to reveal such information. Ask the candidate for a rough range, if they are unsure, or ask what they were getting at their last position.

  • If you like a second opinion, don’t feel shy to ask someone to join you for the interview.

  • Give a day to think over the candidate. Ball some ideas with your team lead or the person who was present with you during the interview.

  • There is nothing bad in scheduling a second interview, if you’re still unsure or have any more unanswered questions.

  • Try to schedule your interviews for 10-12 in the morning, when possible.

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