I have shared critical skills in this chapter that will allow you to be fully aware of the informal and non-verbal communication in the interview room. You should be feeling much better equipped to properly conduct your first interviews.

I will repeat that you need to have practiced the skills in this chapter in any environment you are able to. You may find some of the techniques awkward at first, but it is better to get that behind you before the interview takes place.

You now understand how important it is to have learned and practiced these skills. In the interview, you are doing several things at once. As much as possible, everything you are doing should be automatic, almost unthinking, to allow you to observe the candidate.

We have covered a lot in this chapter, which together with the previous chapter will give you every opportunity to prepare for, and to be aware of, these important issues. If you thoroughly work through both chapters, you will have taken a big step toward gaining experience through practice. You will also be better prepared to learn quickly as you acquire more actual experience.

In Chapter 3, Conducting the Interview – Questioning and Scoring, you will learn and understand how the questions are used to get the candidate talking about their skills. The use of follow-up questions to clarify the ability and experience of the candidate is a key skill. We will work through several examples to make sure you can ask good follow up questions.

It is your job to ensure the candidate creates a factual impression. Much of this chapter has been about informal communication that gives rise to a subjective feeling that the candidate is right or not for the job. You need to understand what is creating this subjective feeling. When you understand the cause, you can test the feelings objectively through the primary and follow-up questions. In Chapter 4, After the Interview – Agreeing and Deciding, you learn about the consensus building skills you need to reach a common decision with your interview panel. The skills you learned in this chapter will avoid you having preferences that are not supported by your scoring of the candidate's answers. I want you to be confident in your final choice.

I know that if you have completed both checklists so far, then with the next chapter, you will be ready to manage your first interview. Together, we will make it a good one too!

Take a deep breath and move forward to the next chapter.