Standard, fulfilled interview process for HR and candidates

Interview process is one of the key factors affecting the recruitment’s results in enterprises. By this article, Viindoo will detail the steps of the personnel interview process and what is necessary to prepare for candidates.

Interview process is a group of steps that employers interact with candidates to capture the capacity and suitability for a certain job position. Each business will build its own recruitment process depending on the mechanism, business field, time or position of recruitment, etc.

The recruitment process will be varies within different companies. However, in general, there will be 3 common steps including:

• Electing: The recruitment specialist reviews the application and conducts phone interview with candidates to get more information.
• Face-to-face interview: Recruitment specialist will perform candidate interview process directly at the business office
• In-depth interview: The HR specialist conducts the interview after the candidate passes the first two rounds

However, some small businesses only apply face-to-face or online interviews and skip some of the steps above.

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Here is a checklist of steps to prepare before an interview that HR professionals need to know:

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After planning the interview, HR professionals need to schedule an interview, prepare documents, contact candidates, and report to superiors. And don't forget to check out the to-do list below:

• Notify the interview time to relevant people and the head of human resources department
• Send an interview invitation email to the candidate, providing important information such as address, profile, necessary documents to prepare, etc.
• Book a meeting room, prepare the necessary equipment for the interview
• Prepare some documents such as pens, notes, printed CVs of candidates

In addition, the interviewer should also focus on creating a comfortable atmosphere during the interview, helping the candidate reduce stress and answer questions honestly, through a few activities. For examples:

• Inform candidates about the interview schedule, ask them to attend the interview on time, if there is an emergency, they must report it immediately
• Make sure the interview room is airy, has comfortable light, and does not cause a sense of urgency
• Time reminder for the officer in charge of the interview
• Prepare or remind candidates to use a device with a stable network to avoid possible problems (Apply with phone interviews or emails)

Normally, the recruitment specialist will be responsible for posting job advertisements, electing resumes, preparing & organizing interviews. Meanwhile, the director of the company, head of the department, head of the human resources department will be responsible for asking questions, evaluating and selecting suitable candidates.

A standards interview process must involve of:

• Interviewer: To observes and evaluates the candidate's personality and suitability for the job.
• Head of relevant department and board of directors: To assess the candidate's expertise and prospects for the position

For the 2-round interview process, usually, in round 1, candidates will interview with the recruitment department, and in round 2, they will talk with direct management. The panel interview of each round usually consists of 2-5 people.

Every business will have different interview process. In general, the current popular process will still go through 5 basic steps as below.

This is considered an important thing in every interview. An impressive introduction will help candidates gain interest and trust in the company and vice versa. HR experts also noted that interview process will have a great impact on the candidate's perception of the company.

Above all, talents in the 4.0 era now have more choices and career opportunities. Therefore, a smart recruiter is the one who knows how to make a good impression and always appreciates each candidate he approaches.

Many employers believe that the atmosphere of a job interview should be as serious as a meeting. This makes the candidate stressed, not expressing himself in the best way. On the contrary, the relaxed, intimate atmosphere helps interviewers easily approach and exploit candidates effectively.

The interviewer may ask the candidate about his/her interests or information obtained from the CV. A gentle opening helps candidates express themselves more naturally and honestly. This approach is also relevant for online interviews.

Information collection is the next step in the interview process. At this step, the interviewer needs to be very skillful and subtle in asking questions, avoiding the chance of candidate feeling they are being investigated. Smart conversation also helps candidates perform their skills in the most confident way.

When the candidate answers the questions, the interviewer should pay attention to evaluate:

• Is the answer on point of the question?
• Is the answer organized and logically coherent?
• Does the candidate actively and confidently present the issues?
• How the candidate show their body language?

Interview process ia essentially an exchange between both parties. Therefore, the business should also actively answer candidates's questions about the company.

In addition, the interviewer should synthesize frequently asked questions when recruiting to easily face difficult questions of candidates.

Evaluation of the interview is also one of the mandatory steps included in the interview process standard. HR might consider using the following 3 rating systems:

• Overall assessment & analysis: Through the first impression, the applicant will have an overview of the candidate's characteristics. From there, the interviewer can easily tell whether the candidate is "qualified" or "disqualified".
• Rating scale: Each business establishes criteria and requirements for the personnel they want to recruit. Then, the human resources department will do a thorough assessment to find out which candidates meet the predefined criteria. In this step, recruitment personnel will set up a scale of 1 - 5 for each level of poor - excellent.
• Detailed rating scale: This is a more in-depth rating scale, helping employers understand more closely of the candidate. The most prominent is the BARS behavioral scale that helps assess the candidate's teamwork skills through the scale and attached notes. As a result, employers will have more objective and accurate assessments.
  

In reality, whenever your business recruit, the selected candidate is not necessarily the best but he or she is the most suitable for the position. Employers need to compare and analyze candidates comprehensively in all aspects, instead of choosing based on a certain outstanding aspect.

After that, the human resources department will send job offers to suitable candidates. In this invitation letter, HR needs to attach a professional job offer template with all the necessary information. At this time, HR staff should call the candidate before the official confirmation email. At the same time, content of the email also need to include the time to receive the job and provide specific instructions.

In addition, employers should send a thank-you email to the candidates who have been eliminated, expressing their appreciation for taking their time to participate in the interview. This will show the professionalism of the human resources department, contributing to building the image of the business.

Maintaining performance reviews as well as being ready to change policies to achieve the highest level of recruitment more efficient is also an important step that cannot be missed. Here are some methods that you can apply to evaluate recruitment effectiveness of a perfect and standard interview process:

• Based on the recruitment results, consider whether the enterprise has recruited the right person for the right job, how is the employee's attachment to the company?
• Collect opinions of candidates about the company's recruitment process. Through this, businesses will adjust the process accordingly based on the collected results.
• Survey opinions and views of members participating in the recruitment process such as the human resources department or other relevant departments.

After evaluating the effectiveness of the interview, the recruiter continues to consider adjustments to further improve recruitment solution and general procedures in the future. At the same time, the adjustments will also contribute to reducing recruitment costs and increasing the candidate's good experience at the enterprise.  

Through the above article, Viindoo has summarized the detailed interview process completely and specifically. Building interview process not only helps businesses make a good impression on candidates, but also increases the opportunity to recruit talents. Viindoo wishes your business can recruit suitable talents!

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