How to start a face-to-face interview?

Here are a few ways to start a great interview along with a few things to avoid that you shouldn't miss.

The best way to start a face-to-face interview

Office tour

Starting an interview with a tour of the office or company is the ideal way for you and the candidate to start talking naturally.

In addition to providing information, the tour also helps candidates get a clear picture of your office environment and business operations. Also when you return to the office to ask formal interview questions, both you and the candidate have a point of reference.

Introduce yourself and your brand

Instead of starting a face-to-face interview by asking the candidate to tell you about them, introduce yourself, describe your role in the company, and briefly talk about your brand and why you're doing it. Love working for businesses. By opening with personal information, candidates can feel more comfortable and open about their qualifications, skills and career aspirations.

Explanation of the process

Another way to start an interview is to describe the selection process. This can help you answer some of the candidate's questions in advance. Explain how many resumes you reviewed to select candidates for your interview, how many stages the selection process involved, and when you made the hiring decision. While explaining the process, you can hand the candidate a business card.

Mention common ground

If you have thoroughly researched the candidate, you can easily do this. If you both love the sea, mention it casually. For example, “The weather is beautiful today. I wish I could go to the beach this weekend.”

State the reason why the candidate showed up for the interview

From the very beginning, show that you really care about the candidate and talk about why you invited them to the interview. You can say, “The company is planning to open a new branch and this is one of the reasons we invited you to come today”.

Ask simple questions

Questions like “Which high school did you go to?” will help break down barriers and reduce some of the candidate's anxiety and stress. You can also ask other simple questions about how they know about the company or the job like “How did you find out about the vacancy?” or “Do you know anyone who works at this company?”.

So you've got a quick look at how to start a face-to-face interview as an employer. For the meeting to be effective, you also need to avoid some of the following mistakes.

“Making hiring decisions requires not only asking the right questions, but also enabling the candidate to answer them.”

Mistakes to avoid at the beginning of an interview

Not on time

Don't keep candidates waiting for hours to start the interview. If they have to wait, they will feel that you don't see the interview as necessary. This can cause candidates to lose all motivation and they will move on to other opportunities.

Rigid introduction

Introducing yourself, the company, and the vacancy sounds like a simple task, but it's prone to error. You should avoid giving general introductions by citing information in the job description or the company website. Instead, provide candidates with valuable information they couldn't find during interview preparation.

You can explain the importance of the vacancy to the company's goals and objectives and what a typical work day looks like or talk about the company culture, team dynamics and your favorite aspects of working here. In short, get the candidate excited about the opportunity and able to picture themselves in the role.

Show off

Please introduce the company honestly and objectively. However, sometimes this makes many interviewers uncomfortable because they are really pleased or exaggerated because they want to make an impression. Complimenting the company during a face-to-face interview should be done carefully as being too pompous can make the candidate suspicious and more likely they will turn down your job offer.