6 Types of Interviews to Assess Candidates
Jan 16, 2023
Description:
Interviews are the key to unlocking a skilled and dynamic workforce. But, mastering the art of interviewing takes more than just conducting one. Understanding the different types of interviews and their unique features is like uncovering a secret recipe for success. Not only does it give you a glimpse into what each process entails, but it also equips you with the knowledge of how to make it a success.
The real question is: when and how do you truly assess a candidate? The answer lies in understanding your reasons and motivations for hiring and using that as a guide. So, let's delve deeper and explore the next section.
What is Your Motivation?
Knowing your hiring motives is the first step toward determining the best type of interview for sourcing the ideal candidate. Of course, everyone hires to fill a position, but what is your perfect hire, and what goals are you looking to achieve?
For example, are you hiring for potential or experience? Do you want to fill multiple positions at one time? Whatever your hiring needs are, there is an interview style that helps get the best talent.
6 Types of Interviews to Assess Candidates
Unleash the full potential of your next recruiting exercise by mastering the art of the job interview. Learn about the various types of interviews and discover how to use them to your advantage before you make the next hiring announcement.
Behavioral Interviews
Unlock the secrets of a candidate's true character and value system with behavioral interviews. These interviews allow you to go beyond the surface-level information on a resume and delve into how candidates handled real-life situations in their past workplaces. Gain valuable insights into a candidate's ability to control the specific challenges of the role they are interviewing for and make informed hiring decisions. Get a clear picture of a candidate's true potential with behavioral interviews.
Behavioral interviews allow you to explore candidates' past experiences to predict their future performance in a particular role. This is particularly valuable when the hiring focus is experience and performance-based. By examining a candidate's past, you can set early performance expectations and gauge their potential success in the work environment. Below are some interesting behavioral interview questions to gauge your candidate's abilities.
- Have you ever had a time when you felt overloaded with work and missed a deadline? How did you handle the situation?
- Tell me about a time you saw a problem with an idea, but no one listened to you. How did that make you feel? How did you react?
- Have you worked on multiple projects at once before?
Case Interviews
Case interviews test candidates' analytical and problem-solving skills. Here, you can present candidates with a business case, faux or real. Then, allocate time and provide a conducive environment to let them run through the issue. While they do so, carefully observe them from start to finish. With this interview, you can assess each candidate's approach to solving a specific problem, creative thinking skills, use of data for decision–making, communication skills in relaying their ideas, and more.
Fortune 500 companies typically use case interviews to recruit management consultants or other positions requiring heavy analysis. However, small- and medium-sized businesses can benefit from case interviews, too. For example, if you are hiring for a highly competitive role, you may have little (or no) room for hiring errors. Therefore, a case interview is better than a behavioral interview. Seeing the candidate in action tests their skillset and helps improve hiring confidence.
Typical questions you could ask during a case interview are:
- What factors are responsible for the setbacks identified in the case? Please show me how you would fix them.
- Discuss your key propositions and recommendations for the case. Please remember to include a timeframe for implementing these recommendations.
- Why do you think your course of action was the best in this scenario? What were your alternatives?
Stress Interviews
Stress means many things, especially when using it to talk about different job titles. For ambulance workers, their stress stems from trying to keep people alive. On the other hand, a social worker's stress comes from making the right decision when a child's life may be in danger. In the end, some jobs cause high-stress levels, which can cause employees to react unprofessionally or make serious mistakes. To hire the ideal candidate for a specific role, you need to assess the candidate's ability to deliver in ugly situations.
If you know you are hiring for a position that is more stressful than others, you may want to do a stress interview. Stress interviews test candidates' ability to think effectively and maintain decorum under pressure. It shows how a candidate will react when handling high-priority tasks, demanding clients, or workplace conflict. The aim is to ensure the ideal candidate has the right attitude and the mental and emotional capacity to work in a challenging environment.
Some interview questions to consider are:
- Walk me through a time when you were under pressure at work. What was the issue, and how did you pull through?
- You are having issues with a seemingly aggressive customer; how would you handle the situation?
- Describe a time when you allowed your emotions to affect your decision-making abilities.
Competency Interviews
Competency interviews are best for hiring young workers and career changers. Often, these candidates don't have much work experience, but it doesn't mean they don't have the knowledge and skill set to perform. So, competency interviews unlock a candidate's true potential by identifying their strengths, knowledge, and abilities.
Competency and behavioral interviews differ in that competency interviews focus more on the candidate's skillset rather than their overall behavior and character. You can use them in conjunction to hire for culture fit, experience, and skill set. Some competency interview questions to consider are:
- What do you think is your biggest achievement?
- Tell me about a time you positively influenced team members in your previous workplace.
- Ever occupied a leadership position? If yes, describe what it was like being a leader.
- What level of proficiency are you with X, Y, and Z software? Where/When did you build that skill?
- What do you think are your weaknesses concerning this position?
Group Interviews
As the title suggests, hiring personnel use group interviews to simultaneously assess a group of people (more than two) for similar positions. This type of interview is handy when you want to hire multiple candidates quickly, especially a team for a temporary project. Group interviews are also effective when the position requires teamwork and focus on clientele.
The motive is to reduce the time to hire and, by extension, the cost. You can use collective or individual questions to evaluate each candidate. This is to decide whether the candidates can function in a competitive environment. Here are some sample questions:
- Do you find working with a team interesting?
- What can you say about our company?
- Do you think you are the best fit for this position? Why?
Panel Interviews
During panel interviews, a team of hiring experts assesses one candidate for a specific job. The team comprises two or more senior staff, HR reps, and hiring managers. While this interview style may be intimidating for candidates, it poses many benefits. Not only does it show how the candidate interviews under pressure, but it also eliminates bias and favoritism. That makes it a perfect interview style for diversifying your workforce, especially when trying to add more diversity in mid and senior-level positions.
Furthermore, there is no one theme for questions. Interviewers can ask a blend of behavioral, competency, and academic questions that are useful in identifying the best candidate for the job. For example:
- Briefly walk us through your resume and why we should hire you.
- How do you handle disagreements with a superior?
- Why do you want to be part of our workforce?
Conclusion
Unlock the full potential of your hiring process by utilizing the power of multiple interview methods. Whether you want to keep it simple or go for an in-depth, multi-faceted approach, the choice is yours. But remember, the key to a successful interview is preparation. Make sure you have all your ducks in a row and give candidates all the information they need to shine. Don't settle for just one approach. Explore the possibilities and find the perfect fit for your hiring goals.
Video transcript
Conducting interviews as a Surefire method to ensure your hiring the best candidate for your organization before setting out to interview. You must closely examine which type of interview will work best for your unique situation. Here are six type of interviews to assess candidates the most common interview style behavioral interviews gives you a clear picture of a candidate beyond the content of their resume. It allows you to assess candidates values character and ability to handle certain situations. If you are looking to test your candidates problem solving skills case interviews may be the method for you here you can present candidates with the case allocate them time to work and carefully observe them from start to finish does your role come with a high level of pressure If so a stress interview can put candidates through realistic levels of tension. This can show how a candidate will react when handling high priority tasks difficult clients or workplace conflict if skill set and knowledge is top priority competency interviews can highlight these attributes from candidates. You can better identify their strengths weaknesses and see how Utilize their skill set in the past when looking to hire multiple employees group interviews can assess multiple positions simultaneously, they are also effective when the positions require teamwork and focus on customers and the public if you are looking for the entire organization to assist in the hiring process conducting a panel interview is a great way for candidates to be extensively evaluated. This helps company wide approval of new hires and can limit possible bias and favoritism. Remember that no interview method is better than the other their usage solely depends on your hiring goals. So next time you're looking to hire for a new position evaluate, which method will help you find the perfect higher.
