Interviewing

Skills
Khushhali bank Training Unit.
Contents:
Interview..............................................................................................................................3
Why Interview.....................................................................................................................3
Planning an interview..........................................................................................................4
Setting Objectives................................................................................................................4
Structuring an interview.......................................................................................................5
Interview Questions ............................................................................................................6
Job-Related Questions ....................................................................................................6
Evaluating candidate responses...........................................................................................7
Questioning Techniques ......................................................................................................7
Close-Ended Questions ...................................................................................................7
Open-Ended Questions ...................................................................................................7
Behavioral Questions ......................................................................................................8
Negative-Balance Questions ...........................................................................................8
Negative Confirmation.....................................................................................................8
Reflexive Questions ........................................................................................................8
Mirror Statements ...........................................................................................................9
Loaded Questions ............................................................................................................9
Half-Right Reflexives ...................................................................................................10
Leading Questions ........................................................................................................10
Question Layering .........................................................................................................10
Additional Input Questions ...........................................................................................11
Additional Questions.....................................................................................................12
Improper Interview Questions ......................................................................................12
Structuring the Interview ..................................................................................................14
The Six-Step Interview Plan..........................................................................................14
Close the Interview ...........................................................................................................16
Sample Questions an Interviewer May Ask ......................................................................16
Sample Questions an Interviewer May Not Ask................................................................16

Exercises: Mock Interviews, Case Study

Interview
A meeting at which one person obtains information from another. A manager may need to interview
candidates for employment or volunteer work, his or her direct employees, peers, current and potential
customers, vendors, and managers in other organizations.

Interview is selection procedure designed to predict future job performance on the basis of applicants oral
responses to oral enquiries

Why Interview
We interview to learn, to gain knowledge. We need to get information from another person. It’s an interactive
process that takes a certain skill.

Employers interview candidates to assess candidate's:

 Willingness to learn
 Communication
 Listening Skills
 Enthusiasm
 Motivation
 Positive Outlook
 Reliability
 Responsibility
 Analytical Skills
 Loyalty
 Dedication
 Integrity
 Flexibility
 Confidence
Planning an interview
If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my ax. - Abraham Lincoln

A job interview provides a valuable opportunity to the interviewer and the candidate to learn more about each
other. Learning more about candidates will enable Interviewer to predict more accurately how each candidate
might perform in the specific position to be filled. Candidates also have a right to learn about the job for which
they are interviewed. You can get the most from the interview by carefully planning in advance what you want
to learn from candidates as well as what they will need to learn from you

Planning needs to begin long before the person you’re interviewing arrives—and even before you set up the
interview! “But,” you say, “I don’t have time to plan and I’m good at winging it.” Well, since you’re reading this
chapter, I believe I have a shot at convincing you. Planning is as much for the benefit of the person you’re
interviewing as for you. What planning does for the other person:
 It saves time during the interview.
 When there’s evidence we planned, the person feels like we want to do this, we have time, and it’s
important.
 Since the person knows what will happen in the interview, he or she feels more confident and more
prepared to give us the information.

What planning does for you:

 It saves time during the interview.
 It reduces nervousness.
 It reduces mistakes.
 It allows you to get the information you need

Setting Objectives
We set objectives so we can plan to achieve them. We set objectives so others who’ll be involved in achieving
them can know where they’re going, how to prepare, and what to bring. The objectives tell us all what the end
looks like. A SMART, written objective is the foundation for a successful interview:

 Specific
 Measurable
 Attained
 Realistic
 Time-based

Objectives need to be so Specific that even anyone who isn’t knowledgeable about the situation can
understand what it means. When objectives are that specific, there’s never a
concern that the other person didn’t understand the words you chose or what you meant.

Objective also needs to be Measurable, so that there’s no doubt whether you’ve achieved it or not. An
objective that’s measurable is also of greatest value when you plan. If it isn’t

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measurable, you’ll know it isn’t specific enough for the other person to have the same understanding as you
do.

Write the objective as though it were already Attained.

Objective needs to be Realistic: you need to be able to achieve it with this person, in the time available or
allotted, and it needs to be meaningful given the reason for the interview.

Objective needs to include a Time, "Span of the interview and by the time interview ends, there must be a
some conclusion"

if the objectives set before the interview as per above mentioned framework, it results as follow

 You can use it in planning for the interview.

 You can let the person you’re interviewing know it ahead of time so he or she can prepare.
 You’ll be able to express the objective to the person in the interview easily, without reading from
your interview tools.
 You’ll be able to make changes as the interview progresses and not go off track, because you’ll know
it so well.

Structuring an interview
Interviews fall into two categories: structured and unstructured.

1. Structured Interviews
The interviewer approaches the interview with an organized and well-planned questioning method
while always staying on task. Some interviewers will ask the interview questions in a specific order
while others take a more relaxed approach, though still addressing all pre-planned questions.
Structured interviews generally provide the interviewer with the information needed to make the
hiring decision. All candidates are asked the same questions, rather than tailoring the questions to
target a specific individual.

2. Unstructured Interviews
Unstructured interviews do not rely upon a prepared agenda. Instead, the candidate sets the pace of
the interview. The lack of structure makes it difficult to compare and rank candidates because they
do not respond to the same questions. However, unstructured interviews are sometimes used to
make the selection between two, equally qualified, candidates.

The most vital part of planning an interview is to understand what the job requires. the ideal scenario is to
build a competency based, structured interview that helps the interviewer in weighing a candidate both
qualitatively and quantitatively. competencies are the skills, traits, qualities and behavior that contributes to
effective performance in a job. identification of such competencies enables interviewer to decide the
appropriate questions for the interview and building the ideal candidate snapshot.

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Interview Questions
Interview questions should accomplish the following goals:
• Determine a candidate’s qualifications and general character, in relation to the job
• Expose undesirable traits
• Clarify information
• Provide other job-related data
• Reveal inconsistencies

Job-Related Questions Skills and abilities

the first step to prepare a competency based interview is to design the job description  Adaptability
which led to draw the person specification. once a set of descriptions are laid down, the  Analytical skills
interviewer highlights the minimum criteria for the job such as knowledge, experience,  Attention to detail
qualification, skills, qualities that are required for the job. creating a balance between  Being Managed
the job descriptions and requirements is very important as if the minimum standards  Creativity
set for the job are related to it, for instance going for a candidate who is creative and  Customer Service
possess initiative for a static job will result in employee boredom and poor retention.
 Decision-making
while formulating the list of competencies, following factors must be kept under  Delegation
consideration all the time.  Formal Presentations
 Nature of the role  Handling Deadlines
 Culture of the organization  Initiative
 seniority of the role  Interpersonal
 Management
Develop interview questions by examining the job description and the required  Negotiation
skills/competencies in each of these following areas:  Planning & Organizing
• Skills and abilities, including technical skills, communication ability, analytical  Problem solving
ability, and specialized training  Risk-taking
• Behavioral factors: motivation, interests, goals, drive and energy, reliability,  Self-development
stress tolerance. Performance is a function of skills and abilities multiplied by  Staff Development
behavioral considerations; skills and abilities determine whether someone  Supervision
“can do” a job. Behavior determines whether they “will do” a job. Both must  Teamwork
be measured.  Time Management
• Corporate culture and job fit issues: team orientation, customer service focus,
and accountability, for example.

interviewer should design questions to elicit information about the candidate’s job qualifications in each of the
noted areas. These questions can form a standardized guide for each interview. To customize the
questionnaire, employers should review a candidate’s résumé for points covered on the questionnaire and
individualize questions as needed.

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Evaluating candidate responses
As important as it is that questions are job-related, it’s even more important to know how to evaluate the
candidate’s response.
The interviewer should not feel that a candidate’s first answer to any of the questions must be accepted as the
only answer. When the interviewer feels an answer is lacking, the interviewer should ask layered questions
until reaching an answer with a satisfactory amount of information.

Questioning Techniques
The best interviewers employ a flexible questioning technique to elicit pertinent, accurate information.
Employers should vary the questioning technique according to the goals of the interview. For example, an
appropriate technique in one instance may yield false, incomplete, or misleading information in another. The
best interviewers use some combination of the following techniques as the situation demands.

Close-Ended Questions
Close-ended questions are most commonly asked in interviewing and are the most commonly misused
questions. The following is an example of an ineffective closed-ended question:
“Can you work under pressure?”
Only “Yes” and “No” are the possible answers.

The interviewer has no information and no way of evaluating any one candidate against another. However, a
closed-ended question would be appropriate and useful as a questioning technique when looking for a
commitment from the individual, for example:
“Can you start on Monday?”

A closed-end question also helps interviewers in an attempt to refresh their own memory or in verifying
information from earlier in the interviewing sequence:
“You were with Company X for 10 years?”

Interviewers may also utilize the close-ended technique as preparation for a series of questions on the same
subject.

Open-Ended Questions
Open-ended questions often yield better results than close-ended. Open-ended questions do not lend
themselves to monosyllabic answers; instead, the question requires an explanation. For example, the
following open-ended question requires a detailed answer:
“How do you succeed in working under pressure?”

As a rule, open-ended questions are preferable to closed-ended questions because such questions require the
candidate to speak while the interviewer listens. Open-ended questions often begin as follows:
• “Tell me about a time . . .”
• “Describe a situation where . . .”

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Behavioral Questions
The technique of asking behavioral questions has developed into a unique style of interviewing. Behavioral
questions are based on the premise that past behavior is the best predictor of future performance.
Behavioral questions are open-ended and request specific examples of past behavior. Such questions elicit
conversation and are usually prefaced with something similar to the following:
• “Share with me an experience when . . .”
• “Give me an example of . . .”
Used appropriately, behavioral questions make it difficult for the candidate to misrepresent past performance.

Negative-Balance Questions
Interviewers often assume, albeit incorrectly, that a candidate who is strong in one area is equally impressive
in all areas. This is not always the case.
To avoid this assumption, an interviewer may ask the following questions:
• “That is very impressive. Could you please describe an occasion when the situation
did not work out to your advantage?”
• “Additionally, please offer an example of an aspect in this area where you
struggle(d).”

Negative Confirmation
When interviewers have sought and found negative balance, they may feel content that they are maintaining
their objectivity and move on or that an answer they receive may be disturbing enough to warrant negative
confirmation.
For example, an interviewee tells the interviewer about a situation when the individual felt that it was
necessary to go around or behind a supervisor to achieve a goal. A manager should be troubled because if
such behavior is common, the person may not be desirable to hire. Consequently, negative confirmation
should be sought with perhaps the following:
“That is very interesting. Let’s talk about another time when you had to . . .”

Successive examples will help interviewers confirm negative traits and perhaps save the employer from hiring
a candidate unfit for the employment position. On the other hand, interviewers may establish that the
negative situation was a peculiarity — a one-time thing — and nothing that would potentially disqualify a
candidate.

Reflexive Questions
Reflexive questions function to close a line of questioning and move the conversation forward. Reflexive
questions help interviewers calmly maintain control of the conversation no matter how talkative the
interviewee.
When a candidate begins to stray from the topic of the questions, the interviewer can easily interject with a
reflexive question that will allow the interviewer to proceed with other topics.

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An interviewer may accomplish this by adding phrases, such as the following, to the end of a statement:
• Don’t you?
• Couldn’t you?
• Wouldn’t you?
• Didn’t you?
• Can’t you?
• Aren’t you?

For example, the interviewer might say,

“With time so short, I think it would be valuable to move onto another area, don’t you?”
The candidate’s reflex is to agree, and the conversation moves on.

Mirror Statements
Mirror statements function as a subtle form of probing in conjunction with silence. To use the technique, the
interviewer mirrors or paraphrases a key statement made by the candidate and then remains silent while
offering positive reinforcement through body language such as nodding, and looking attentively at the
interviewee.

Interviewers should use mirror statements to fully understand and a candidate’s answer and gain more insight
through the candidate’s detailed explanation. For example, an interviewer would repeat the substance of an
interviewee’s key comment in a question form,
“Whenever you arrive two hours early for work, you then leave work two hours early to
compensate yourself for your time?”

Upon completion of the question, the interviewer would patiently wait for the interviewee to expand on the
mirrored statement, without a further interjection from the interviewer. This technique allows the candidate to
hear verbatim the words they chose as an answer and volunteer further details.

Loaded Questions
Loaded questions are inappropriate as they may lead to manipulation by the interviewer. Loaded questions
are fundamentally problematic because questions require the interviewee to decide between equally
unsuitable options. For instance, the following is a loaded question:
“Which do you think is the lesser evil, embezzlement or forgery?”

Obviously, the interviewer should avoid absurd, loaded questions. However, carefully balanced judgment-call
questions may have a place in a good interview.
The technique may allow the interviewer to probe the interviewee’s decision-making approaches.

For example, the interviewer may want to recall a real-life situation where two divergent approaches were
both carefully considered and may do so by framing the situation as a question:
• “I’m curious to know what you have done when . . .”
• “What has been your approach in situations where . . .”

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Half-Right Reflexives
Half-right reflexives can be utilized to glean specific answers and determine an individual’s propensity for
specific work-related incidents. To employ the technique, the interviewer must make a partially correct
statement and ask the interviewee to agree.
With half-right reflexives, the interviewee has the opportunity to offer personalized and experienced insights
in regard to workplace dilemmas and situations. However, the interviewee may also demonstrate a lack of
experience or inability to perform required tasks of the job.

This technique creates enlightening insights. For instance, this example of a half-right reflexive always
generates fascinating responses:
“I’ve always felt that customer service should commence only after the bill has been paid,
haven’t you?”

Leading Questions
Leading questions allow interviewers to lead the listener toward a specific type of answer. Leading questions
often arise accidentally when the interviewer explains what type of organization the interviewee will be
joining. For instance, the interviewer might proudly exclaim,
“We’re a fast-growing outfit here, and there is constant pressure to meet deadlines and
satisfy our ever-increasing list of customers”,

then ask,
“How do you handle stress?”
In the interviewers statement the basic principles and requirements of the job are made clear and thus, the
correct answer to any further question is a simple paraphrase of the interviewers own statement.

Leading questions are often useful, but like closed-ended questions, the interviewer must use leading
questions appropriately. As information verifiers, leading questions encourage the candidate to expand on a
particular topic, for example,
“We are an organization that believes the customer is always right. How do you feel about
that?”

However, leading questions should be used only after establishing a candidate’s belief or performance in a
particular area. In any case, leading questions should not be used early in the interview or be confused with
the half-right reflexive.

Question Layering
A good question poorly phrased will be ineffectual and provide the interviewer with incomplete or misleading
information. However, question layering allows an interviewer to thoroughly probe and answer on many
different levels. For example, when an interviewer wants to determine whether a candidate could work well

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under pressure the basic line of questioning (“Can you work under pressure?”) may prove to be the wrong
approach because the question:
• requires only a yes or no answer, which fails to provide adequate information for the interviewer
• leads the interviewee toward the type of answer the individual knows the interviewer wants

Instead, interviewers can use a combination of all the questioning styles and techniques to examine the topic
from every angle. For example, to examine all angles of a topic the interviewer may ask:

• Who?
• What?
• When?
• Where?
• Why?
• How?

Similarly, the interviewer does the same by joining the closed-ended question with some of the other question
techniques.
The following sequence demonstrates how much more relevant information an interviewer can glean through
question layering:

• Tell me about a time when you worked under pressure. (Open-ended.)

• So, it was tough to meet the deadline? (Mirror statement.)
• How did this pressure situation arise? (Question layering.)
• Who was responsible? (Question layering.)
• Why was this allowed to occur? (Question layering.)
• Where did the problem originate? (Question layering.)

These questions illustrate several different angles to the same question, each revealing a different aspect of
the personality, performance, and behavior of the candidate. The question layering technique makes the
possibilities for questions theoretically endless, depending only on the interviewer’s thoroughness.

Additional Input Questions

Three Techniques
Interviewers can use the following techniques to gain more information from an initial question:
If the interviewer wants to hear more — whether dissatisfied with the first answer or interested in obtaining
more information — the interviewer could say,
“Can you provide more detail about that? It’s very interesting,”
or,
“Can you give me another example?”

The interviewer may hear an answer and then add,

“What did you learn from that experience?”

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This is an excellent layering technique that can give insight into judgment and emotional maturity. Perhaps the
best technique for gathering more information is for an interviewer to simply sit quietly, while maintaining
eye contact with the interviewee and saying nothing. If the conversation lulls, the interviewee may
instinctually attempt to fill the silence and provide more information and/or details. Although an interviewer
may initially find the silence difficult to manage, patience and allowing the interviewee to speak without
encumbrance can be effective.

Additional Questions
Employers should try to include questions that go beyond a candidate’s technical competence or knowledge.

The interviewer should probe for qualities needed to succeed at the job:
• Organizational skill
• Willingness to put in the extra time and effort necessary to complete a project

Relevant and job-related questions might target the following:

• Incomplete information on application form
• Work experience or education
• Gaps in work history
• Geographic preferences
• Normal working hours
• Willingness to travel
• Reasons for leaving or planning to leave previous job
• Job-related achievements
• Signs of initiative and self-management
• Specialized knowledge or expertise
• Meaning of former job titles

Improper Interview Questions

Do not solicit information that employers are legally barred from considering in the hiring process. For
example:
• Race
• Religion
• Creed
• Sex, pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions
• Marital status
• National origin
• Ancestry

The following are samples of questions which should be avoided. This is not an all-inclusive list.

Personal Data
• "What is your maiden name?"
• "Do you own or rent your home?"

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 • "What is your age?"
• "Where do you live?"
• "What is your date of birth?"
• "Are you married?"
• Questions which tend to identify an applicant's age as over 40.

Education
• The dates of attendance or completion of elementary or high school.

Citizenship
• Birthplace of applicant or of applicant's parents, spouse or other relative.
• "Are you a U.S. Citizen?" or "What is your citizenship or that of your parents, spouse or other
relative?"
• Questions as to race, nationality, national origin, or descent.
• "What is your mother's tongue?" or "What is the language you speak at home?"

Family
• Applicant's marital status.
• The number or ages of children or dependents.
• Provisions for child care.
• Pregnancy, childbearing or birth control.

Medical
• Questions which indicate an applicant's sex.
• The applicant's height and weight.
• Applicant's general medical condition, state of health, or illness.
• Questions regarding HIV, AIDS, and related questions.
• "Have you ever filed a workers compensation claim?"
• "Do you have any mental or physical disabilities or handicaps?"

Associations
• "Have you ever been arrested?"
• Applicant's credit rating.
• Ownership of a car.
• Organizations, clubs, societies or lodges which an applicant belongs to.
• Religious obligations that would prevent an individual from being available to work on Friday
evenings, Saturdays, Sundays or holidays.
• Asking an applicant the origin of their name.
• "Do you speak __________________?" (unless a requirement for the job).
• "Do you have any physical or mental disability/handicap that will require reasonable
accommodation?"

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Structuring the Interview

The Six-Step Interview Plan

The following is a six-step approach to interviewing that can be modified to fit your own particular needs and
circumstances.

1. Introduction
Introduce yourself and greet the candidate with a handshake and a friendly smile. The more nervous a
candidate is, the more important it is that you make an attempt to put him or her at ease. You should offer the
candidate a glass of water before beginning the interview Use “small talk” to break the ice.

2. Review the Application/Resume

Go over the information supplied on the application and/or resume, and ask the candidate to elaborate on
his/her previous job responsibilities or special projects. The nature, direction and enthusiasm of the
candidate's responses can provide you with valuable insight into the candidate’s communication skills. These
responses may also give you an indication about what the candidate finds interesting or challenging, and how
he or she is likely to fit into the particular job.

3. Describe the Job

Provide a written job description (or class standard) to the candidate, and summarize or review the major job
responsibilities. Describe the position in terms of the organization’s structure, also mentioning the individuals
he/she will be working with, and a brief description of their positions. You might find it helpful to work from a
checklist of essential job elements, responsibilities and requirements that you can review with each candidate.
The key consideration is that all candidates are left with basically the same impression of what the job is and
requires.

4. Candidate Self-Assessment
Encourage the candidate to assess him or herself against the job. In order to obtain as much information as
possible regarding the candidate in relation to the job, encourage responses with open-ended questions such
as, “How do you see yourself in relation to this job?” or “What contributions do you think you can make to the
work of this agency?” Avoid asking a candidate, “Do you think you can do the job?” Encouraging an open-
ended assessment of this type will also provide you with feedback on how well you have described the job and
its requirements.

5. Candidate Clarification
Ask the candidate if he or she has any questions about the job requirements, working conditions, prospective
co-workers, supervisors, subordinates or other considerations. Let the candidate know that you and the
Personnel Office will be available to answer any questions that might arise after the interview.

6. Closing
Finally, close the interview by explaining what happens next in the hiring process and thank the candidate for
his or her time. If appropriate, explain that once the hiring decision has been made, job offers may be

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conditioned on favorable results of any necessary professional and/or physical examinations or successful
completion of academic requirements.

Avoid stating any type of appointment commitment, even when you are in a position to guarantee it. Beyond
the obvious inherent unfairness to other candidates yet to be interviewed, reference checks or agency hiring
limitations may cause you to reverse your decision, thereby creating a difficult or embarrassing situation
and/or leading to litigation. Typically, the Personnel Office will make the job offer. If the candidate indicates
that he or she has already received another job offer and will be forced to accept that offer unless you make a
decision immediately, explain to the candidate that you are unable to make a commitment until all the
interviews have been completed. You should inform the candidate when you expect to be making your final
decision.

In structuring the interview, interviewers may mistakenly use a job candidate’s resumé as a guide for
structuring the interview. Generally, the resumé only provides information the candidate wants to reveal.
Following the resumé throughout the interviewing process allows the candidate to control the interview, not
the interviewer. Interviewers must establish a set structure, to be applied consistently, for each interview to
accomplish efficient and accurate interviews.

Set the Tone

Interviewers may set the tone of the interview by first greeting the candidate and then engaging the candidate
in casual conversation to create a calm and relaxed atmosphere. Comfortable and secure candidates may
communicate more honestly.
Interviewers may ask about the person’s hobbies, interests, travel, or city of residence. However,
interviewers must remember to avoid sensitive areas like children, marital status, or church activities. The
formal interview may then begin through a simple transition question, such as, “What do you know about the
organization?” or “How did you hear about this job opening?”

Provide an Overview
Interviewers should provide the candidate with an overview of the interview process. For example, how the
interview will proceed and what will be covered — job experience, education, interests. Additionally, a
comprehensive overview will explain that after discussing the candidate’s background, the interviewer will ask
for information about the job, explain the organization, and answer any questions the candidate might have.

Discuss Work Experience and Education

In discussing a candidate’s work experience and education, the interview should ask prepared questions first,
following up any responses that deserve further inquiry.
Good notes must be taken in regard to the discussion of job qualifications to document the screening process.

Candidate’s Interests and Self-Assessment

After discussing a candidate’s education and work experience, the interview may then ask a few questions
about a candidate’s activities and interests to get a broader perspective. Candidates may also be asked to
provide a self-assessment, summarizing personal and professional strengths, as well as “developmental
needs” or qualities that the individual might want to change or improve.

Review the Job

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Interviewers would be wise to not discuss details of the job until the interview has covered a candidate’s
qualifications; otherwise, a candidate may exaggerate certain skills required by the position. An interviewer
should review the organization, the job, salary, benefits, location, and any other pertinent data.
Interviewers should be careful to limit comments to the specific facts about the job as it currently exists.

Close the Interview

In the final portion of the interview, the candidate should be given an opportunity to ask questions about the
organization and the job.
Interviewers should thank the candidate for the time spent on the interview and review the next steps in the
hiring process.

Uniformity of Interviews
Interviewers must make sure all candidates for a position are given the opportunity to answer the same
questions and that all questions are job related and nondiscriminatory.
Interviewers should not deviate from the prepared questions but can ask appropriate follow up questions that
may differ from candidate to candidate.

Interviewing Persons with Disabilities

Employers with 15 or more employees must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA
protects persons with disabilities from discrimination in hiring and treatment on the job.
The EEOC recently issued new interviewing guidelines that of questions an interviewer can and cannot ask job
candidates.

Sample Questions an Interviewer May Ask

According to the EEOC guidelines, the following questions are acceptable during an interview:
• Can you perform the essential functions of this job . . . with or without reasonable
accommodation?
• Describe how you would perform the essential functions of the job.
• Can you meet the attendance requirements of this job?
• How many days of leave did you take last year?

The following three keys facilitate legal interview questioning:

1. Avoid inquiry or comment that requires an employee to reveal or talk about an illness or disability.
2. Focus questions and comments on job-related topics.
3. Focus on the positive: “How will you perform . . . ?” As opposed to “Is there anything that prevents
you from . . . ?”

Sample Questions an Interviewer May Not Ask

The following questions may not be asked while conducting an interview:
• Do you have (name of disease)?
• Do you have a disability that would interfere with your ability to perform the job?

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 • How many days were you sick last year?
Checklist for Conducting a Hiring Interview
The person conducting the interview should be well prepared and knowledgeable on the company’s
interviewing and hiring practices. When conducting the interview, the interviewer should use the following
outline:

Establish Rapport
• Help the candidate relax with brief, casual conversation.
• Maintain appropriate eye contact.
• Listen sympathetically.
• Avoid direct criticism.
• Reassure the candidate after an awkward disclosure by commending the openness, honesty, and
willingness to face up to a problem.
• Remain neutral; do not speak approvingly of questionable conduct.

Control the Interview

• Keep the purpose of the interview clearly in mind.
• Decide in advance what questions to raise in light of the job requirements and the candidate’s
résumé.
• Keep to the planned agenda and allocate time appropriately.
• Politely return to the original question if the candidate’s answer was evasive.
• Persuade the candidate to elaborate on suggestive or incomplete responses by:
o Asking follow-up questions.
o Repeating or summarizing the candidate’s statements in a questioning tone.
o Maintaining silence.
• Make smooth transitions from one topic to another.

Document the Interview

• Take notes for reliable recall. Note points to follow up on later in the interview.
• Note dress, behavior, or facial expressions, if relevant.
• Wait until after the candidate has left to write down evaluative comments.

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