Interviewers: at ease!

In the past, I’ve been for many interviews and I’ve been nervous as hell. Even when I’ve gone for jobs that I knew I was full qualified to do, I still got myself into a bit of a panic as I went into the interview room.

Recently, I’ve been doing some interviewing and I’ve found that a majority of the candidates have been nervous too. I think the interviewer should take the initiative and try and put the interviewee at ease - the interviewer is in familiar surroundings and is holding all the cards, they must be the one to ease the tension. Also, it’s in the interviewers interests as the candidate is more likely to show their skills, and suitability for the job, when they are relaxed and happy.

So, a few things I’ve found that are good ways to put the interviewee at rest:

• One interviewer - Have only one person doing the interviewing. If you need more than one person to assess the candidate then at least start the interview with only one interviewer - that at least gives the candidate time to settle in.
• Look interested - There’s nothing worse than being interviewed by someone who looks like they’d rather be eating a shit-sandwich. If you know the person isn’t getting the job then cut the interview short; there’s no need to inflict more pain. If you’re having a bad day then leave it at the door. Looking interested can be a real problem with multiple interviewers - some interviewers tend to switch off when others are asking the questions and this real off-putting for the candidate.
• Start easy - Give the candidate some easy questions to start off with.
• Be friendly - Obvious really but an opener of “How are you?” and “Did you find us OK” and that kind of thing does settle the butterflies.
• Talk first - The interviewer should probably go over company and job details before diving into questioning; gives the candidate time to take in the situation and settle.