How to conduct a job interview?

There’s a lot of material on the web about nailing a job interview as a candidate. But what about when you’re sitting on the other side of the table? How to find the right talent for your business? What questions should you ask as an interviewer? How to make yourself appealing to the people you wish to hire? Let’s see if we can help.

Before starting the job interview

Before publishing job ads to find the people you need to grow your business, you need to make sure you have sufficient resources to cater for them. Sounds like a no-brainer, but many business managers have found themselves in a pickle when payrolls and expenses increase. By which time it’s already too late.

So, make sure you have the funds and the time needed for your new hire. Going over your business expenses is actually something you should do on a regular basis, it’s the only way to survive in the long run.

On that note, Bolt Business can help you cut down on business travel expenses and the time spent on putting together monthly reports. No crumpled up taxi receipts, no manual calculations, no surprises. It’s all about easy, one-interface management, fast rides, automated reporting and convenient budgeting. Care to take a peek?

Now, off to the main part.

Today, talent is the real decision-maker

The world continues to change at an incredible pace. Within just a few decades, music has gone from cassettes to Spotify; keeping in touch with each other has shifted from snail mail to instantaneous Whatsapp messaging; and getting a ride no longer requires furious arm waving on the street — all you need to do is tap a button on a screen.

Well, it turns out that job interviews aren’t the same anymore, either.

Nikolai Kabatsikov, the Head of Talent at Bolt says that the biggest challenge for companies trying to hire the best people for their teams lies in first impressions. You can only approach a person once. If you fail to leave a good impression or don’t even stand out at all, it’s basically game over. The tables have turned, however, and now the talent is the one that has the power.

That, of course, doesn’t mean that the time of face-to-face job interviews is over. Speaking from experience, Nikolai says that ambitious people enjoy the challenges that come with applying for a new job. Complex tasks, alongside healthy competition, attracts top talent.

It’s exactly those kinds of people you should be looking for — the ambitious team players who don’t avoid obstacles but find a way to climb over them. Practical skills can be learned, but the passion to continuously drive forward comes from the heart.

Job interview tips

Shake hands, small talk, shoot the questions and choose the one who answered better in the end?

In theory, conducting a job interview sounds easy, but in reality, if you want to hire the best, there are some things you should work on before heading into that meeting room.

Job interview tip #1: define the role

• If it’s not a first-hire position, what were the positives and negatives of the last person filling that role?
• Brainstorm with your team — who exactly are you looking for and why?
• What is the needed skill set for the role?
• What are the personal qualities needed for that job?
• What knowledge is a must to fill the role?

Job interview tip #2: create a structure

Don’t go into the job interview planning to wing it. Your chat should be structured, that way you can make sure you don’t miss an important topic. Here’s a structure you can use:

• Start off with an introduction of yourself, the company and ask the candidate to introduce themselves and talk about their prior experience. Explain how the interview is going to work and focus on factual questions, don’t start philosophising.
• You mapped down the personal qualities the candidate needs to succeed in the role. Now, find out if they have those qualities or not. Indeed has some nice examples.
• Give the candidate an opportunity to ask questions of you.
• Conclude the meeting and describe the next steps of the process:
  • Is there going to be an additional test?
  • When will the decision be made?
  • How will you inform the candidate about the decision?

Job interview tip #3: ask the right questions

So, what questions should you ask at a job interview?

All in all, make sure you ask the candidate different types of questions. It should be a good combination of factual, hypothetical and behavioural questions, so you could get a large-scale overview of the person. And, if you’re short on ideas, Inc. has listed 27 of the most popular job interview questions.

Job interview tip #4: use the same rating system for every candidate

To make an informed and objective decision, you’ll need a system to rate all of the candidates. Go back to when you defined the role and mapped down the qualities needed for the role.

Create a rating system so you can compare the skills and personality traits against the set standards. Remember, you’re looking for someone who can do the job the best, not your next best friend. Stay objective!

Be smart from the start

Just like finding the right tools to cut down on your business costs from the get-go, filling the roles with the right people right away will end up with you saving money and saving time on wrong hires.

About the cutting down the costs – you’re not alone. We built a tool to help you along the road and named it Bolt Business. Created to take care and keep track of your business travel expense reporting and budget, it’s all about simplifying your day to day life. And, the signup is free, so all you need to do is let us know that you’re interested.

But when it comes to the job interview – that’s where you take the lead. So, good luck!