The art of interviewing people

I long had a dream of becoming a good interviewer. Not sure whether I have become one. But I have understood the nuances of interviewing people. Below are a few do's and dont's an interviewer could observe when conducting the interview. This list has been compiled based on my personal experience.

Prerequisites to conducting a professional interview:
1. The person(s) who is(are) supposed to conduct the interview should be well dressed.

• This gives the impression that you are interested in the candidate. The negative effect of not being in proper attire is that the interviewee will believe that you either are not interested in him/her or you don't know what you are talking about.

2. The place where the interview takes place should be well lit.

• This makes the candidate feel comfortable and he might be able to perform better.

3. Review the resume in advance.

• It is of utmost importance that you review the candidate's resume well in advance. Generally it takes time to understand and comprehend the information provided in a resume. You must peruse the resume diligently and understand what the candidate has done and will he/she be a best fit for your organization. You might get pre-screened resumes all the time, but that shouldn't stop you from reading the resume thoroughly.

DO:

1. Welcome the candidate.

• Greet the person whom you are going to interview. Tell them your name and request them to be seated. I mentioned the word request here, because the candidate is like a guest and we need to treat them well.

2. Make eye contact

• You can judge the person by making an eye contact. If the candidate is shy or non-committal, you will know it immediately.

3. Give them time to talk

• You should ask the candidate to tell about themselves. They can talk about anything they want the interviewer to know. This will help you guage their communication skills.

4. Ask them about their experience

• Ask them questions regarding their current and previous jobs. This will ascertain whether they faked something in their resume.

5. Make the candidate feel comfortable

• It is the interviewers responsibility to make the candidate feel at home. You should speak softly initially, so as to make the candidate feel welcome to the organization.

6. Ask the candidate what they know

• It is possible sometimes that the candidate misquoted something in the resume. Always ask them, if they know about a topic and then raise a question. If they are unable to answer that question, then move on. Don't harp on the same topic.

7. Body language

• Your body language should suggest that you are an enthusiastic person. You should be able to communicate better with the candidate

8. Proper feedback

• It is imperative that you write your feedback immediately after the interview is over. Never postpone doing it as you might forget some of the facts you had in your mind.

DONT:

1. Don't threaten the candidate

• When asking questions, speak to them in a mild voice. We are trying to evaluate the candidate, not to deride them.

2. Its not interviewer Vs candidate

• I've often seen the interviewer getting into an argument with the candidate. Never do that. The interviewer is not there to prove he is better than the person sitting on the other side of the table.

3. Do not read the resume in front of the candidate

• It goes without saying. If you start reading the resume in front of the candidate and then ask questions, then you are telling the candidate that you came to the interview unprepared.

4. Don't take notes

• It is not good to take notes about the candidate in front of him/her. Make an entry in your memory and write it down in your feedback.

5. Do not take back to back interviews

• The interviewer needs some rest to recharge his batteries. It is good to have atleast a half hour gap between interviews. Do not do too many interviews in a day. You will feel sick of it the next day.

Physics & Philosophy

Physics is called the science of approximation and Philosophy according to me, is a measure of approximation. Philosophy puts things to perspective. So I felt it might be interesting to find out the correlation in them. Let's find out whether I got it right.

Newtons First law of motion:
Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.
- Let's replace "object" with "person", "uniform motion" with "comfort" and "external force" with "inspiration".
Every person in a state of comfort tends to remain in that state of comfort unless inspired to do something different.
Isn't it true. This is the difference between achievers and others. People who desire greatness inspire and motivate themselves. Others don't. Even though I write such wonderful things, I am still searching for something inspirational, to do the one thing I want to do in my life. What a waste!!!

Newtons second law of motion:
The relationship between an object's mass, it's acceleration, and the applied force is Force = mass times acceleration.
F = M * A
The force can be taken as a burning desire to achieve a goal. The mass is the realization of the goal and the acceleration is the persistant concentration of one's thoughts towards the achievement of that goal.
(Above is a comment from a very good friend of mine. I couldn't have worded it better. Hence I put in her statement. Thanks Niti).

Newtons third law of motion:
Every action has an equal an opposite reaction.
Every good deed is rewarded. Knowledge shared is knowledge gained. The more you let it go, the more it comes to you. The more you think good, the more you look good. Each of these phrases has something given and returned.

Just a thought...

I was given this book called "Creative Visualization" by a friend to read. I just went through a couple pages and I was impressed. Impressed with the way the author stated a few things.
1. Though she wrote the book, she calls herself not an expert rather a student, who is still honing her skills. That is humility for you.
2. She has a burning desire within, which led her to share the knowledge. It says that knowledge should be shared which leads to better understanding.
3. She also mentions the fact that you need to take things slowly. It takes time for things to sink in. In this world where things happen fast and furious, this is a massive thought.
4. She wrote the book, because she wanted to share what she learn't, which helped her live better. Such a noble thought.This is the most important point to me.
Once a colleague of mine saw a book on my desk and asked me what can I get from reading that book. He was of the opinion that books don't do much and its a waste of time and money. I didn't know whether he meant what he said, but the first question that came to my mind was, "How the heck did you even get out of school?". If those authors decided not to share their knowledge, you wouldn't be where you are. Knowledge should be shared.You will gain more when you share.