5 Essential Tips for Successful Recruitment: A Manager's Perspective

As a manager with experience in both Asia and Europe, across multiple industries, I have had the opportunity to interview hundreds of candidates and recruit dozens of people. Over the years, I have developed a process that has helped me identify the best talent for the job. In this article, I will share my five tips for recruitment to help you find the best candidates for your organization

Tip 1: Preparing for the Interview

An interview is not something you should just show up to and wing it. Instead, analyze the true skills required for the role, and limit it to 5 to 7 skills. Make sure those skills are what you're looking for in each candidate. It should be a mix of hard and soft skills. Once you have pre-selected these skills, rate each candidate on them to easily compare their value.

Tip 2: Prepare Your Questions

Once you have identified the skills you are looking for, prepare a set of questions that will help you uncover whether the candidate has those skills. Keep the number of questions to a maximum of five to ensure that the candidate has enough time to talk. Make sure your questions are open-ended and oriented towards specific examples and situations. This will help you get a better understanding of the candidate's experience and how they approach problem-solving.

Tip 3: Give Yourself Context & Insights

For each of your questions, give yourself more context by thinking about what you want from each question, and write it down as a reminder you can use while asking questions during the interview. It could be things like "is the candidate showing team spirit? Is he/she taking all the credit, or sharing it with the team? Is the candidate talking poorly about others?" Orientate your questions to ask about specific examples and situations. It is more difficult to lie when giving a very specific example than it is just saying "yes, I have done that."

Tip 4: Use the Same Questions for All Candidates

Use the exact same set of questions for all candidates, do not vary from one to the other, and take notes while the candidate answers. If you didn't get what you expected from a specific question, ask again for more details. It is important to get the right elements from each question to efficiently evaluate each candidate.

Tip 5: Rate the Candidates Immediately After the Interview

At the end of each interview, take 5 minutes to read your notes and rate the candidate on each of the skills you have pre-selected. It is crucial to rate the candidate immediately after the interview while memories are fresh. Rating candidates on specific skills makes your decision more data and fact-driven and less emotional. It also helps you better compare candidates while there could have been a few days or weeks between interviews.

By following these five tips, you will be able to identify who has the right competences and the right cultural fit to join your company. To help you master all the five tips mentioned in this article, I invite you to download this recruitment interview template from Etsy. The guide is designed to help you prepare for interviews, ask the right questions, take the right notes, and rate the candidates effectively. Happy hiring!

Julien Rio.