We know that the interview process can be tricky. How do you ensure you’re hiring the right graduate intern? Here’s some guidance from Graduate Advantage to help you interview candidates, and assess their ability to meet your requirements.
First and foremost, you need to know if your applicant has the skills and aptitude required. A competency-based question requires the candidate to give specific examples of how they’ve dealt with challenging situations in the past; how they got there, how they managed the situation, and what the outcome was.
Your first questions should cover technical or key skills. If your company requires expert knowledge for the position, it’s important to find the correct level of competency. This could include knowledge of any number of software programmes, or experience working with certain materials. It might be important that your candidate has project management experience and qualifications. It’s critical to go into this in depth, and get a real sense of the applicant’s experience.
Set questions on a candidates soft skills including communication, teamwork, negotiation, persuasion, leadership and report writing. Some soft skills may be imperative for your company, such as working under pressure towards tight deadlines.
You’ll want to know about the character of your candidate, and why they’ve applied to work with your company specifically. Question applicants as to their enthusiasm, well roundedness and genuine interest for their work. Here you’ll be looking beyond their answers, for body language, tone of voice, and the words they choose to emphasise particular interests.
In terms of the Equal Opportunities Act, remember; all candidates must betreated equally regardless of age, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, disability, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, political belief, or religion.
As you question the candidate, question yourself as to your assumptions about their answers. It’s easy to take your own stereotypical views for granted. Try to be as objective as possible; it’s unfortunate to miss out on a great candidate because of a presumption on your part. To avoid asking questions that are not relevant, prepare a template so you’re sure you’ve covered everything, including information on the candidate’s CV and application form.
