Analysis Of Common Mistakes When Conducting Job Interviews

Interviews are an essential part in an individual’s life, especially since it is proven to be the deciding factor on job qualification. It is the time where knowledge, patience and perseverance will be tested, for the interviewee as well as the interviewer. Any interviewer who will be conducting interviews should be well equipped with knowledge for the given job or post they will be interviewing for. During an interview, the interviewer will be as equally stressed as the interviewee, mainly due to the response given by the interviewee and how will the interviewer cope with the response. Interviewers sometimes encounter difficulties during an interview, and no matter how experienced an interviewer is, they will also encounter difficulties and are prone to making mistakes during an interview. Some of the common mistakes made by interviewers are interviewing without a plan, noting only what is said aloud, talking about possibilities and lacking clarity during an interview. The first and main mistake which is commonly conducted by interviewers is to conduct an interview without a plan. As an interviewer, it is vital to prepare a plan before any interview. This is to ensure they are aware of the job scope and know what to ask the interviewees. By doing this, they can evaluate the interviewees according to the required criteria. Usually, the interviewers will rely on the resumes of the interviewee, as some of them will have the best qualifications on paper, but will lack hands-on skills during a job. This will become a problem in the recruitment process as interviewers may choose the wrong people to join the workforce, which in turn will lead to a lack of productivity in the organization. To avoid this from happening, a plan should be developed by the interviewer to ensure the checklist for the job criteria is achieved.

The plan should include questions ranging from basic questions to critical questions. The plan should also be shared with the interviewee to ensure the interviewee knows what will be asked and to ensure the interview is carried out smoothly. The following mistake which interviewers tend to conduct is only noting what is stressed by the interviewee. Generally, in any conversation let alone in an interview, intonation is extremely important as it helps to denote the importance of what is being said. For instance, a higher tone will imply that what is being said is important, while a lower tone means it is less important. However, some people do not realize this, and tend to talk in a monotonous way, in which the interviewer may get bored and lose focus during the interview. This further prompts the interviewer to interrupt the interviewee, which causes the interviewer to take up time which is meant for the interviewee to share their thoughts and opinions. As an interviewer, it is vital to look out for the intonation during the interviewee’s response in order to evaluate the interviewee more efficiently. However, they should not only look out for what is only being stressed. Instead, they should listen to the whole response of the interviewee to further assess the interviewee and their knowledge as well as their capabilities. Another mistake interviewers commonly make is talking about possibilities. Talking about possibilities is basically defined as giving hopes to the interviewee. As an example, the interviewer tends to talk about the company’s progress and future plans and asks the interviewee about their opinion regarding the company’s plans.

Although this creates a space for the interviewee to share their thoughts and opinions, this also induces the interviewee to feel overconfident. They tend to think their job is secured when the interviewer starts talking about the company’s goals and future plans, hence they start boasting about themselves and their capabilities more frequently. The act of boasting about oneself will be noted by the interviewer, and the interviewee may risk themselves in not nailing the job. However, if they do get selected and they underperform during their tenure with the organization, the interviewer will be under pressure for their blunder in selecting the candidate. It gets worse when the employee is fired from the job. The interviewer will be questioned by their higher authorities and might lose the likelihood of being an interviewer for further interviews. Interviewers also have the tendency to asks questions in an unclear manner. Interviewers usually prepare a set of questions to be asked during the interview, but at times, their way of directing the questions is sometimes incorrect or not understood by the interviewee. The unclear manner in asking questions typically occurs when too many questions are being directed to the interviewee. Lack of clarity can also occur when a specific question is asked in several ways, triggering confusion among the interviewer and interviewee. This commonly occurs when the interviewer uses several ways in delivering the same question. This will be a problem for both parties as the interviewee will struggle to answer the given questions, while the interviewer on the other hand will not receive a clear response from the interviewee, thus causing the interviewer to reject the application of potential candidates who may possess specific criteria which is being sought by the organization.

In a nutshell, interviewing without a plan, noting only what is said aloud, talking about possibilities and lacking clarity are some of the common mistakes conducted by interviewers. No matter how experienced or professional an interviewer is, they are bound to make mistakes, knowingly or unknowingly. Interviewers should be cautious in realizing their mistakes when coordinating interviews. This is to ensure that the interviewers select the best people who are capable in handling and managing demanding tasks during their stint in the organization. If all mistakes are avoided, the probabilities of an interviewer hiring more productive people into their organization will be much higher. By hiring quality employees, they can make sure the organization runs smoothly without any hassles and complications. There may be minor mistakes which the organization might unexpectedly face, but the selected employees will have the prowess in rectifying the solution, hence constructing qualitative and quantitative outcomes.