HCI Blog

Interviewing candidates is not as simple as it seems.

You need to know exactly what you want to discover about the candidates being interviewed.

Here are three tips to help you on formulating questions to be made to candidates:

1. Curiosity

Don’t be afraid to be inquisitive with the candidate. Explore what the candidate expects of his position and also try to find out more about his personality.

2. Make open-ended questions

Instead of asking them questions which require direct answers, make open-ended questions which will let them show their opinion and ideas on certain matters.

3. Don’t be shallow: dig deeper

Don’t just stay on softball questions. Make the candidates really dig deep inside them to give you a response. Superficial answers are usually shallow and standard.

BASED ON: TLNT

“You are too qualified for this position, unfortunately”.

You may have heard or given this response once applying for a job or selecting a potential employee.

Despite this actually sounding like a crazy justification, it is actually quite common in many interviews. There is a great fear that someone who is extremely qualified might underperform in a job which might demand less abilities than they possess.

However, there is no actual evidence to support this presumption. But there are advantages to hiring a highly qualified employee!

See here five different reasons to hire a highly qualified individual:

1. Not hiring a highly qualified individual will lower your chances of hiring your ideal employee – With high unemployment rates in most developed countries, qualified individuals are out in the market. You will be taking a shot in the dark if you keep waiting for the person with the perfect qualifications to show up at your doorstep. Take and grab the opportunity of having such a person in your company!

2. Stronger motivation to work – Highly qualified individuals have been in the market for some time already. They will want to show what they do best: their work! Little motivation will be needed to make them work at their peak performance once compared to new talents.

3. Getting more than you expect – Suppose you buy an apartment and you get for free its interior decoration for the same price. Would you possibly say no?

4. Even for a short stay, their contribution is immense! – Even if they stay for a short time, the contribution a high profile hire will make is immeasurable. The main reason why highly qualified individuals leave low qualification positions is the lack of challenge in their everyday life. Think: would you prefer to have a high profile individual stay for one year or a low performing person?

5. They can possibly climb the ladder – For now, your new highly qualified hire is in a position which might make him feel undermined. But, due to his high performance, he might get promoted to a function which will make him use his skills in their entirety! Keep this highly qualified person in your company to possibly be promoted.

BASED ON: TLNT

Continuing from our last post:

6. Construct relationships with assistants

Along with starting at the top directly, you should focus on constructing a network with the assistants to executives. They have all the valuable information you may need to reach and become close to the executives.

7. Don’t immediately send CVs to the first jobs your find

Read very carefully the job description. Your desperation will only add to making the life of recruiters and the HR department more difficult. Make sure you fit into the bare minimum which is asked of for the position.

8. Use body language

When being interview, use your body language to demonstrate that you are interested and willing to truly pay attention to the interviewer.

9. Don’t look for the perfect job NOW

Try to visualize yourself in this new job in the future. Right now, you are very enthusiastic about your new position. But, how about in five or six years from now? How will you feel towards this current job then? This might help you avoid making a bad decision.

10. Become the brand

Once you have found a company you truly wish to work for, become their number one fan! Employees who truly stand for the company they work for ten to perform more enthusiastically than others who don’t”

BASED ON: Forbes

Having interns within a company can be very beneficial for both the company and the intern. It is common for many interns to stay for many years to come within a company and become high ranking executives.

But before hiring interns, reflect on these three questions:

1. Why do you want to hire an intern?

An Intern is not supposed to be an alternative for cheaper labor. When a young person enters an internship, they expect to have the opportunity to learn and expand their abilities though getting to practice hands on a possible future career.

If your business wants to train and mentor young minds, then hire an intern. If you expect to hire interns and use them as substitutes for labor, forget it. Interns are not necessarily considered an investment which you will have a return over.

2. What can I offer an intern?

Just offering experience to an intern is not enough as is paying him money for his work. You must offer growth opportunities to your intern. Make him feel that he has a future in the company! Think, would you be motivated if you knew that your work contract has a set end date?

If you intend on not hiring the intern after his internship is done, make this clear to him since the beginning.

3. Do I have a function I can give to the intern?

Make sure that the intern will have something do work on. He must have tasks which are not extremely complex or high priority. These tasks should be of importance to the business as a whole, but not essential to its existence, as errors will be committed by the intern.

Based on: TLNT

Not always do you need to pay for databases and searching services when recruiting. This work can be done at practically no cost. All you need to do is search correctly online and have an eye for detail.

Pay attention to where the types of candidates you want converge online. Find the right people to get more information on where to search.

Here are five places where you can begin your search:

1. Facebook

Facebook is the most widely used social network in the entire world. Besides fun and entertainment, it can be used for professional purposes.

Search for groups inside Facebook. In groups, people with a common interest join together to share content and discuss subjects relating to the groups name.

For example, if you want to find IT professionals, search for “IT industry workers” or other similar terms. There you will find many people who most likely work within IT.

2. Twitter

Twitter works very differently than Facebook. It is a microblog where people post no more than 140 characters. But how exactly are you supposed to find the people you want?

Easy! Search for hashtags! Use terms such as #work, #job etc. Make sure you search for terms relevant to the area of work you are looking to recruit for.

This can be constantly monitored using twitter apps which update automatically such as Tweetdeck.

3. LinkedIn

The most obvious choice for recruiting someone would be Linkedin. It it the Facebook which is only related to professional matters.

There you can easily search for people according to a wide array of criteria such as work sector, experience, city and even current position.

4. Industry meet-ups and events

Search for meet-ups and events of the industry you are looking to hire for. This may imply travelling to a nearby city rather than waiting for some event to happen in your own.

This is the best way to meet a candidate in person. You will already get a feel of who they truly are and if you can visualize them fitting well within the company.

5. Student websites and forums

Students are usually very enthusiastic about their new line of work and eager to show what they know. Search for websites where they announce tht they are searching for a placement opportunity and make their intentions clear.

Also, students are part of online forums where they share information about study and work. Try to join these forums and observe members to find on which calls your attention.

Based on: TLNT