Interviewing candidates is a crucial task. As a hiring manager, you want to find the person whose experience, skills and character match your organisation best.

This is even more important in the Social Care sector where vulnerable lives could be at risk dependant on your judgement. If you don’t prepare key interview questions or pay attention to the candidate, then you could miss out on the perfect employee or let a bad egg slip through the net. Don’t worry if this is your first-time interviewing, if you prepare yourself, you will be fine.

Here are 8 interview tips you should keep in mind to help you conduct a successful job interview.

Preparation Interview Tips

1. Review their CV beforehand– Preparing for the interview is important if you want it to be successful. Highlight areas on the CV which you’d like to probe further. Craft some questions to dig deeper into their experience and knowledge while validating the critical information on their CV.
2. Create a list– Don’t just ask whatever question comes into your head first. If you do, you’ll end up asking questions which won’t help you make the right hire. Review your company’s requirements and the job description, then write questions that will help you evaluate the candidate’s experience, skills and character necessary to be successful in the role. Keep this list with you during the interview so that you won’t forget to ask any of them.

Questioning Interview Tips

3. Ask open-ended questions– Make sure your questions are open-ended so that you can create an actual dialogue. Open-ended questions get the candidate to talk more and allows you to find out what differentiates them from other candidates.
4. Don’t be afraid to change course– If you are asking open-ended questions, then you’ll probably want to ask a few follow up questions that you hadn’t written down beforehand. There’s nothing wrong with asking a few questions that you come up with off the top of your head. It usually means that the interview is going well and that the candidate has peaked your interest. Just make sure you do get in all your key questions and try to keep to the interview time stated as candidates may have to get back to their current work.
5. Take notes– You may think that you’ll remember all the answers a candidate gives. However, the more candidates you interview, the harder it is going to be to keep track of who said what. Take simple notes after the candidate answers each question, don’t worry if that means there is a slight pause between questions, this shows you are being thorough plus you don’t want to be scribbling away while they are speaking as you may miss something key.

Performance Interview Tips

6. Listen carefully – A common mistake made by those who are interviewing candidates for the first time is to lose focus on what the candidate is saying. Avoid thinking about what the next question is going to be while the candidate is answering you, and try not to judge what they are saying until after the interview ends.
7. Be patient– If there’s a long silence after you ask a question, ask the candidate if you need to clarify the question. Be patient as some people are nervous in interviews, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be excellent employees.
8. Rapport is key– There are several reasons why you should establish a rapport with every candidate you interview. A smile, a handshake and an initial casual conversation will help relax the candidate and make them much more comfortable.

This helps the interview process because you want the candidate to open up and answer your questions. If you don’t take some time to make them feel comfortable speaking with you, the candidate may be too nervous and keep their answers guarded and short. We hope you found this blog useful on interview tips. We are confident that if you follow these 8 interview tips that as a manager, you will have much more success during interviews and hire the best candidate possible for your care organisation.