BOSS SPECIAL.......................... 5 WAYS TO Sharpen Skills to Interview

BOSS SPECIAL 5 WAYS TO  Sharpen Skills to Interview 

Managers need to ask the right questions to take critical calls.

Be it assessing the employee for the next promotion or getting someone on board. Preparing thoroughly and objectively can help them get sharper at it

1 Assess Your Role

Naveen Narayanan, global head, talent acquisition at HCL Technologies feels that in large organisations there may be multiple interviews and assessments and the distinction between multiple assessors gets blurred. “A specific interview could be about assessing business domains while another could be about gauging the cultural fit. As a manager, you need to know your part and what you are planning to focus on at the interview,“ he says.

2 Set Objective

 Expectations Managers need to steer clear of biases, and the halo and horn effect, and assess people objectively. “Some people may see a good personality and may get swayed by it ignoring key competencies while others may not like what they see and may perceive things negatively. They need to look for STAR during interviews,“ says Dhruv Desai, HR head at Angel Broking. Short for Situations, Tasks, Actions and Results, the STAR model helps managers ask for specific situations, actions taken, at the time of an interview.

3 Practice Beforehand

“If a manager is new to the job or the process, then he or she can't make a guinea pig out of the interviewee. Preparing a questionnaire which includes expected situations, and practising mock sessions can help one improve,“ says Desai.

4 Collect Information

Collecting information on the interviewee can help one in framing questions and benchmarking performance against required competencies more objectively. “Managers are good at collecting information which makes them good at questioning and getting insights. But, apart from that they also have to evaluate how that is linked to success needed in the current role. Besides getting details, a good interviewer can connect what's demonstrated and displayed to the current context,“ says Narayanan.

5 Be Balanced

Grilling is not the sole purpose behind an inter view. Narayanan feels many forget that while it is important to ask tough questions, the other half has to be about selling the job, the company. “I take an interview as an important means of selling my company, the role or the job to the interviewee. It could be about selling the prospect of working with me or the company. It also helps in building an emotional connect,“ he says.

Anumeha Chaturvedi ET140624