The Face to Face Interview

Face to face interview, what’s that? Over the past 2 years we have all been familiarising ourselves with the new normal of every meeting and interview being held virtually. But if we have learnt anything in the past 2 years it’s that pretty much everything can change overnight. 

We have recently experienced an uplift in arranging face to face interviews and so felt it would be a good time to refresh our memories on exactly how these work.

Whether you’re an employer or candidate we have some tips for you.

Hiring Managers

It may sound simple but do take time to read the candidates CV, don’t leave it until 10 minutes before. Have questions already written down and stick to the plan. Ensure you sell your business and give every candidate the thought that they have had a good experience and would love to work there, without offering every candidate the job. It is just as important for an applicant to be sold on your business as it is for you to be sold on them. Finding a new employer is like a match match making process and in the current market, applicants want to know that the companies they are considering working for support and value their employees.

Applicants

There's so much for a candidate to remember, from planning your journey, allowing plenty of time and what to wear. We’ve heard it all from the candidate that wore pink shoes, to blue nail varnish to generally looking like they’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards. One of the biggest ticks you can get from any employer is the fact that you have done your research. With the world of the internet there is absolutely no excuse to not know all about the company from his heritage, its latest product launch to who you are meeting.

There can be a tendency to be a little too honest and now is most definitely not the time to criticise your previous employers, its not only unprofessional but completely disrespectful no matter whats happened. Finally, you must have questions, to ask have I answered everything isn't quite what the employer will be looking for and means you haven’t thought about the bigger picture. Obviously don’t ask about working hours or how many sick days will you be allowed (we’ve had that too) but ask intelligent questions about the strategic vision for the company or department and even a simply why do they enjoy working here.

Advantages of a face to face interview

• As a hiring manager you can really get to know the individual you are looking to employ.
• As a future employee you get a feel of the working environment and your prospective employer and gauge if you can see yourself there.
• Allow for more in-depth data collection and comprehensive understanding
• Body language and facial expressions are more clearly identified and understood
• The interviewer can probe more easily for explanations of responses
• Interview length can be considerably longer since the participant has a greater commitment to participate

Disadvantages:

• Interviews are more time consuming to recruit and conduct, especially now that we have supporting technology which allows individuals to conduct the interviews from practically anywhere.
• Travelling to an interview can be expensive, especially if the applicant is currently out of work.

If you are currently hiring and are considering reintroducing face to face interviews why not consider a hybrid of virtual and in person interviews. Conducting initial virtual interviews will enable you to fast track these quickly, enabling you to arrange in-person interviews with the applicants who you feel are the best fit for the role. This will reduce wasted time and allow you to get to know your finalised applicants better.