This chapter uses the preparatory work you did in the previous chapter as a foundation to develop your skills in managing the candidate and the interview process. These new skills include everything you need as a new manager to perform at your peak in the initial stages of the interview. You will learn how to practice these skills outside of the interview so that you give an outstanding performance in the interview.
In this chapter, you will learn to be completely comfortable with the following:
- Making introductions
- Observing the candidate
By the end of this chapter, you will have all the skills and knowledge you need to manage your first interview to the point of asking questions, which we will deal with in the next chapter.
I know you prepared your foundation skills in the previous chapter, but the skills you will develop in this chapter are slightly different. You will need to practice these new skills in real social interactions. There is no substitute for interacting with living, breathing people. You may find this difficult at first—embarrassing and at times even awkward. I will give you all you need to know to practice and become competent and confident even before managing your first interview.
You will finally polish your skills through the interviews you conduct. Interviews have their own peculiar stresses and emotions. But the more you practice these skills, even outside of the interview, the more experience you will have.
You have to work hard to become a good manager. Let's get to it!
Making an effective introduction is an essential part of the interview. It is crucial that you help the candidate relax and also relax yourself. You need to set the tone. If the interview begins well, everything that follows should be much easier.
You need to make a good impression on the candidate from your first meeting. It is very difficult to change someone's first impression of you. Therefore, it is important to represent you and your company as competent and capable throughout the interview process. As a manager new to interviewing, you have to walk a tightrope balanced between being neither under nor overconfident, neither too personal nor too formal.
Human beings make a quick "friend or foe" decision when they meet someone. This is prompted by the Four Tens, of which you need to be aware.
The Four Tens are as follows:
- The top ten inches of you
- The first ten steps you take toward the candidate
- The first ten words you speak
- The first ten seconds
The top ten inches include your grooming, hair, and smile—your facial appearance.
The ten steps toward the candidate relates to your smiling, your hand coming up to make a handshake, and making eye contact with smiling eyes.
This also includes your handshake and the casual talk as you lead the candidate to the interview.
This all takes place in the first ten seconds as you make your first impression.
We did preparatory work on this in the previous chapter, and now you have to bring it all together in the Four Tens.
Try to continue the small talk as you show the candidate to his or her seat. You then need to introduce the other people on the interviewing panel.
The introductory speech needs to be done succinctly. The point of the interview is to listen to the candidate, not you. Don't let the candidate, or another interviewer, start a long rambling conversation. If that happens, you will need to stop their conversation politely but firmly. We will work through how to do this in Chapter 3, Conducting the Interview – Questioning and Scoring.
You practiced the introductory speech in the previous chapter. Now you can deliver that easily and concentrate on the candidate.
Now is the time to deliver the explanation of the interview process you have prepared.
Next, give your mini presentation on the organization, how the vacancy came about, and what the future may hold.
Ask the candidate if they have any questions about your explanations. As well as answering the questions, you should think about what the questions reveal, if anything, about the candidate's interest in the vacancy.
You will learn how to do this in the next section, and you'll discover why you have to be well versed in delivering those explanations.