Job Interview Styles and how to Prepare for Them

A job interview is equally important for the employer and prospective employee. An interview is where the candidates’ employability skills are tested to decide if they are the right fit for a particular position and organization.

Interviews need to be fool-proof because your firm puts so many resources into the hiring process. You and your team want to ensure that you hire the very best candidate at one go.

A perfectly executed interview can attract excellent potential candidates, while a poorly planned interview may do the opposite: attract an individual that is unsuited or unqualified for the position and your company.

Every job is different and requires different interview styles. Is the position you’re hiring for heavily-reliant on communication and engaging with clients? Or maybe the tasks involved require a lot of desk work and working independently.

Your company and the potential employee will benefit when interview questions engage both the candidate and interviewer and are tailored to highlight the candidate’s skillset and background. Both parties will feel as if they’ve shared applicable information while also gaining some insight into one another’s personality and communication styles.

Let’s explore two popular interview styles to see how to optimize your upcoming recruitment process.

The Traditional Interview

The traditional interview is a standard style practiced by many employers. Usually, the interviewer will begin with a cursory review of the person’s CV and ask questions related to his or her qualifications, skills, and background. Many companies work with a professional search & recruitment firm to ensure they ask all the right questions.

A recruitment firm can narrow down your search and weed out any unqualified applicants because they have years of experience and can choose from large networks of candidates.

They’ll help you create a list of common questions, such as:

• Why did you apply for this position?
• What are your strengths and weaknesses?
• What’s your management style?
• What do you look for in a manager?

Traditional questions are also related to obstacles the prospective employee may face on the job to see how they react to certain situations. You’ll know that a candidate is worth interviewing a second time if they focus on their value proposition.

The Behavioural Interview

The behavioural interview is a common type of conversation where the discussion focuses on past performance examples, which provides specific insight into future behaviour.

As the interviewer, you can help candidates prepare for behavioural questions by encouraging them to develop high-impact stories utilizing the SAR (Situation, Action, Result) method. Ask the individual to describe a specific situation or task he or she needed to accomplish or resolve.

The candidate should include details such as names and dates to add credibility. Next, listen as the individual describes the specific action needed to address the situation. Lastly, he or she should speak of the positive results achieved, including how the organization benefited from the action taken. Watch for clarity and focus.

The next time you’re recruiting for your firm, incorporate questions from different styles of interviews. Traditional and behavioural are excellent approaches to choose from because they focus on getting to know the individual and encouraging candidates to explain real, past experiences and how they could apply to the job in question.