Well, I know Hiring Managers don't like to be coached on how to do interviewing. But I think they don't mind reading a blog and making those necessary changes... so here I go with some tips.

1. Doing Structured Interviews

Often Hiring Managers do not have a structure around their interviews. When I say structure I don’t mean the sequence of questions but I am referring to more about the logic. For instance not many hiring managers know about the concept of using CAR (context, action, result) or STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result ) models which are really helpful. If the candidate says that he has been able to hit a revenue of X Rs (or $) in the very first quarter of his last job, asking context related questions such as what was the target, how well established the product is, what was the most sales done by anybody in team. Action related questions would be some thing like, what did the individual do get that sales, was it any different from any one else, what specific actions he has taken to cross sell or up sell the product. Questions related to Results center around, what percentage of total sales he contributed, was there any dip in costs related to their sales or did it cost more, did he end up exhausting the sales pipeline has success allowed good references and hence a perennial pipeline. To put it simply what was the context, which actions the individual took that made the difference and how did it impact the top or bottom line.

2. Interview Notes taking

Its a good practice to take interview notes. Agreed that it is difficult to keep an eye contact with the candidate while simultaneously taking notes, but as long as you tell the candidates upfront that you are making notes, it will make more happy and attentive too. The advantage with notes taking is, it will be easy to see whether or not the candidate suits the role. Cross comparing candidates that you meet over a period of over a week or two is easier. There are times when you will be impressed by the candidate but your Interview notes may not show enough reasons or facts which go in favor of hiring the candidate. The common mistake Hiring Managers do it they observe the candidate and straight away jump to evaluating the candidate. There are 2steps in between which are Recording and Classifying which a necessary to make intelligent and prudent hiring decisions.

3. Taking Decision

HM’s tend to keep candidates on hold. It is ok to keep a candidate on hold till a Hiring Manager sees at least 3 candidates. This helps to compare the candidates and take a good look at the talent available in the market. But keeping candidates on hold even after meeting the 1st three candidates would mean that the HM is indecisive and is going to waste both the candidate and the recruiter’s time. All the hiring manager has to take is a HIRE or NO HIRE decision. No sitting on the fence. Again using the above two techniques (Structured Interviwing and Notes taking) it becomes so easy for a Hiring Manager to take a decision.

4. Employment Branding
The Hiring Managers will assume a new responsibility as part of their interview process. Irrespective whether or not they like the candidate they have to make sure that the candidate experience is taken care off. Often times Hiring Managers are too occupied with testing the candidates abilities and spend little or no time to see whether or not the candidate is getting excited about the Opportunity or not. Some sensible Hiring Managers the moment they arrive at a hiring decision will spend the rest of their conversation during the interview to tell the prospective candidate about the career opportunities that lie with the specific job and company in general. But going forward Hiring Managers will be doing this to every candidate that they meet. Logic – If a candidate is meeting up with hiring manager it is obvious that the candidate has passed the assessments (if any) has shown fitment in the Recruiter Interview, and in some cases passed the technical/peer interview. So even if the candidate is not a 100% fit he is a decent prospect in terms of promoting the company. Birds of same feather flock together. Impress the guy with the opportunity with you, so that even if he does not get selected he will not bad mouth the company but rather feel that he missed an opportunity with a good company. Chances are that he might share about the opening with a stronger candidate than him. Your candidate becomes your recruiter !!!!