The Effective Hiring Manager

17The Basic Structure of Each Interview

In addition to each interviewer using the same core set of questions, there is a most effective way to structure each interview they conduct. From the interviewer’s perspective, there are eight phases, each explained in detail below. The phases will seem familiar to you and to prepared candidates. That’s good—it eliminates the distress of interviewing anxiety. It helps unprepared candidates too—but it helps prepared candidates far more. That’s good because we want to “spread the field” as we make our hiring choice. We want it to be as easy for us as it can be to separate the excellent from the merely good.

Introductions

The first thing to do in every interview is to introduce yourself to the candidate. Use both your first and last name. “Hi, I’m Mark Horstman” or “Hello, I’m Mark Horstman. Nice to meet you. Come on in and have a seat.”

To really do this well, there’s a best way to state your name. Don’t say both of your names the way you always do. To you, it’s normal, and you’re good at it. You say your name fast. But to a nervous candidate, it’s pretty darned fast, and often hard to tell where your first name ends and your last name begins. So do it right: Say your first name more loudly than your last, and pause between them.

So it’s not: “Hi, Mark Horstman.”

Rather: “Hi. I’m Mark . . . Horstman.” Feel that full stop after your first name.

If you doubt this guidance, try it the next couple of times you introduce yourself to someone ...