 Be Organised - ensure that the interview environment is it private and there are no interruptions. Arrange the seating in an informal relaxed way. Don't sit behind a desk directly facing the interviewee - sit around a coffee table or meeting room table.
Be Punctual - remember that the candidates' time is as valuable as yours. The candidates will be assessing your ability as a manager so it is critical that you don't loose the candidates' interest in the opportunity because you run behind schedule
Be Prepared - Make sure that you have a detailed knowledge of the position that you are recruiting for. Don't just read the job description; talk to those people who best understand the position. Make a list of the most important competencies, responsibilities and skills.
Be structured - You must make notes of the questions you intend to ask - otherwise you'll forget. Use the same interview structure and similar questions for every candidate you interview. If you don't do this, it will be very hard to compare candidates objectively.
Be friendly - Put the interviewee at ease - it's stressful for them, so don't make it any worse.
Building rapport with your candidate from the beginning is vital. The candidates need to be relaxed with you and the environment so that you get the most benefit out of the interview. Talk about things that have no direct relationship to the job - the weather, the candidates' interests, hobbies and sports, holidays and weekends.
Be open mined - Use open-ended questions - how, why, tell me, what, (and to a lesser extent where, when, which) to get the interviewee talking. Make sure the interviewee does 90% of the talking. Use 'Why?' often to probe reasons, thinking and to get to the real motives and feelings.
Be Smart - Ask candidates to talk about real experiences, not how they would act in hypothetical ones. Rather than asking, for example, how a candidate deals with stress in the workplace, ask the candidate how he or she dealt with a specific problem
Be a good listener - Interviewers who are unprepared and/or inexperienced often fail to listen attentively to candidates' answers. Avoid thinking about subsequent questions while the candidate is answering your last. Take notes on the candidate's responses during the interview and after.
Be Honest - Don't oversell even if you think you've found the perfect candidate, it is easy to let the interview switch from a focus on the candidate to one of your selling the position to the candidate. While it is good to make positive noises about the position and the employer, don't oversell and give the candidate the sense that you are desperate.
Be careful - don't ask Illegal Questions - A plethora of court rulings, legislation and regulations have combined to produce a confusing and frequently changing list of what you can and can't ask in interview. A rule of thumb is to avoid the 'fatal five' areas of marital circumstances, age, disabilities, gender/physical appearance, and citizenship/national origin.
Be Smart - Make a Quick Decision - It is in both your interest and the candidate's to make a rapid go or no-go decision. Commit to deciding within 48 hours of the interview whether you will take the candidate to the next stage in the process.
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