Evaluating a candidate in an interview means using special techniques to help you decide whether a candidate is a good match for an open position.
Hiring managers can evaluate candidates by assigning a score based on criteria or by observing their skills and behavior.
Furthermore, the scoring system used during the evaluation interview can help to hire managers to remove their personal biases.
In light of that, we can see how fundamental a good evaluation technique can be.
So, in this article, we will cover the evaluation interview process and provide several helpful evaluation techniques to help you find the right hire.
What is an Evaluation Interview?
An evaluation interview is used to see if a job candidate has the skills, experience, and qualifications needed for the position.
In the evaluation interview, candidates can discuss their career goals and job expectations. This interview is not meant to evaluate their job performance but rather to determine if they would be a good fit for the job and company culture during the hiring process.
On another note, evaluation interviews can be conducted for hired employees to evaluate their job performance.
Evaluation Interview Techniques
- Behavioral Interviewing
The purpose of behavioral interviews is to determine if a candidate has the skill set to work in specific circumstances and situations based on their past work experience.
According to Albright, Experiential Learning and Development Center, behavioral interviewing is considered to be a more effective technique than traditional interviewing because it is said to be 55 percent predictive of future on-the-job behavior.
Employers can better understand how candidates might behave in similar situations by asking about their past experiences.
A sample of behavioral interview questions:
- Can you give an example of a time when you had to solve a complex problem in the workplace?
- Describe a situation in which you used persuasion to convince someone to do things your way.
- Tell me about a time when you had to use your presentation skills to influence someone’s opinion.
- Tell me about a time when you had to adapt to a change in a work process.
- How do you prioritize projects under pressure?
- Competency-Based Interviewing
Structured interviews are a type of job interview that tests a candidate’s skills or abilities.
The interviewer has a list of premade questions focusing on specific skills needed for the job.
The candidate’s answers are evaluated against predetermined standards, like communication or problem-solving skills, and given a score.
Structured interviews are the same for each candidate, which makes it fairer for everyone.
This helps employers compare candidates and decide who is best for the job.
Samples of competency-based interview questions:
- Tell me about when you had to communicate a complex message to a team member or customer. How did you handle it, and what was the result?
- What would you do if you noticed a mistake made by a colleague at work, but you were the only one who saw it?
- Can you give me an example of a project you worked on where you had to collaborate with a team to achieve a common goal?
- When have you previously delivered excellent customer service?
- Give an example of when you had to change plans last minute.
- Situational Interviewing
Situational interview questions may resemble behavioral interview questions; however, the situational ones focus on the future, whereas the behavioral ones focus on past events.
Using situational interview questions can help you anticipate how someone will act in a future situation.
Sample of situational interview:
- How would you handle a conflict with a co-worker or supervisor?
- How would you handle a situation where a client has requested a change that is not feasible or in line with the project’s goals?
- How would you handle a situation where you must deliver bad news to a customer or client?
- How would you handle a situation where you faced an ethical dilemma at work?
- Imagine you are working on a project with a team member who needs to pull their weight. What steps would you take to address the situation?
- Strengths-Based Interviewing
Strengths-based interviewing is a new technique many hiring managers use to match a candidate’s natural strengths and working style to the job role they are applying for.
During a strengths-based interview, candidates discuss their strengths and the situations they feel most successful.
This type of interview focuses on what the candidate enjoys rather than what they can do.
Here are a few examples:
- How would your close friends describe you?
- Do you prefer the big picture or the small details?
- What was your favorite subject in school?
- Why are you suitable for this role?
- Is finding purpose in your work important to you?
- What do you consider to be your strengths as a professional
- Panel Interviews
A panel interview is when many interviewers assess a candidate, giving a complete picture of their abilities, experience, and suitability for the job.
It saves time and reduces bias by ensuring a more balanced and objective evaluation from different interviewers.
Moreover, it can help candidates understand the company’s culture and values as multiple representatives can participate in the interview and share their perspectives.
- Technical assessment.
Give an assignment representing the technical skills and knowledge required to perform a job successfully.
Depending on the job, the technical assessment can be different.
Examples:
- Live coding challenge (software engineers)
- Take home coding challenge (software engineers)
- Demo of a product they sold in the past (CS roles, Sales Engineering)
- Making a demo based on the company use cases
- Role-Play
- Proposed go-to-market strategy Presentation
- Presentation of a model
- Presentation of a strategy for team development
- Content writing sample (content writer, product marketing, etc.)
To Sum Up
Evaluation interviews aim to assess whether a candidate has the necessary personality traits, shares your goals and values, and possesses the required skill set for the position.
Using effective techniques and asking the right questions, interviews can reveal a lot of information about a candidate to aid in the hiring decision.
Moreover, if you need assistance in the hiring process, Stavreska Recruiting is a recruitment agency that can help you find a suitable candidate and set up effective feedback forms.
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