As leading Houston recruiters, Murray Resources knows that conducting effective interviews is part art, part science. The right approach can help you screen out weak candidates and focus on top talent. But the wrong approach can lead you into a world of trouble – in the form of a hiring mistake. To help you in the process, here’s are 3 pre-interview steps you should take before you even schedule your first interview:

Create the team.

Set up a planning meeting to develop the interview teams for both first and second round interviews. The first round interviews might simply be conducted by an HR representative and the hiring manager. The second round of interviews, though, can include other company leaders who would work with the new hire, potential co-workers, internal customers and any other important stakeholders. At this point, you should also plan out the interview and follow-up process with the team.

Develop the questions.

Work with the interview team to develop the first round of screening questions they should ask. These should include more basic questions about each candidates’ background and expertise, such as “Tell us about yourself,” and “Why are you interested in working for this company?”

Also, work out behavior-based questions that interviewers in the second round should ask, like “Tell me about a time you had to handle an angry customer.” In addition, you can include scenarios, role plays, and ask the candidate how they would solve a certain problem or overcome a particular obstacle.

Whatever questions you do come up with, just be sure to ask all candidates the same basic ones so it’s easy to make comparisons later on about each individual.

Train the interviewers.

Each member of the interviewing team should be assessing different aspects of the employee, such as experience, technical skills, cultural fit, communication skills, etc. When you take this approach, the team will be more likely to notice and assess the full spectrum of a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses.

When assessing a candidate, team members should also be trained to be as specific as possible. For instance, rather than noting a candidate has “weak communication skills,” they should be note the candidate’s lack of eye contact or vague answers. This will make the process of evaluating each candidate and making a final hiring decision far easier.

Would you like to outsource interviewing – or the entire hiring process to the staffing experts? Call Murray Resources. As leading Houston recruiters, we can take the hassle out of hiring  – all so you can focus on other priorities while still gaining access to high quality talent. Contact us today to learn more.