Three Tips to Conducting an Authentic Interview

Interviewees want you to hire them and are smarter than ever.

They know all about behavioral interviewing and are fully prepared to answer the kinds of questions that begin with, “Give me an example...”

It is your challenge as the interviewer to sidestep the more traditional question-and-answer interview in favor of a two-way conversation that reveals more about how the candidate might truly act on the job.

Here are three behavioral interviewing tips to hire the right people:

1. Set the stage for a conversation rather than a drilling. Certainly a relaxed interviewee is more likely to be authentic in his/her responses. Interrogations do not lead to qualified candidates.
   
   
2. Don’t settle for a pat reply. Pursue the conversation for more details. Who was involved? What changed? What was learned? How might it have been handled differently?
   
   
3. Give the candidate an opening to highlight the reason they think they fit the job opening and then probe more deeply. You are looking for a pattern of behavior not just evidence of a particular competency. Is there evidence that s/he has operated similarly in other situations?