First time as the interviewer

[theguvernor15]

Morning All,

Due to expansion, we're looking to take on a trainee, to start with to assist in the general day to day department tasks, whilst training them up, eventually to be able to do what we do. (CAD/3D design / estimating based work).
We aren't looking for graduates or MENSA members, but the role would be ideally suite to say a school leaver or a younger person looking for their first full-time job, the pay is reflective of this initially, with a view to increasing with experience.

As it's going to be adding someone to my small team (currently 2 - including me + a director), i just want someone who is willing to learn & get on, with a good attitude & who's reliable.
However, I've never actually had to solo interview someone before, the last person i had to 'interview' (not on my own), turned out to be someone who had worked for us before, knew all our systems & processes & was the easy & ideal fit back into their old position, so it was more of a social catch-up.

I'm looking for some pointers/tips on interviewing without coming across as an arse, as i know some people get a bit of a kick about making it awkward/testing people.

I've got a few questions for them, that i would imagine are fairly standard.

For instance: what do you know about us as a company, have you done any form of this kind of work before, are you aware of our industry etc.

Any pointers greatly appreciated!

[ozzuk]

We always team up with HR for interviewing, for instance I needed an apprentice so I handled the technical questions and HR asked the competency questions. We then scored them at the end, discussed their merits etc.

You might want a similar approach - obviously you don't have a HR team but look up competency based questions - things like how would you react in xyz situation; how would you handle critisism.

Like you attitude was more important to me than experience so these questions were actually more important than the technical ones. I actually offered the role to somoene with hardly any IT experience, but the right personality - and he has fitted in perfectly.

[abzmike]

I think rather than have a 20 questions style, it's better to have more of a conversation - That will give you a better idea of the personality, which is more important in a smaller team. A youngster is probably going to be nervous, and maybe not terribly forthcoming, and may not have a lot of experiences to talk about (at least the ones appropriate to share...). Aside from a few essential questions I'd be having more of a chat around what he knows about your sector, what things interest him, how he sees his early career panning out, your expectations of him in the role etc. I think that will give you a better feel for the candidates.

[edc]

Start with the job description. Then identify the attributes, qualities, behaviours technical skills required to succeed. Construct your questions around these so you get some useful insight into the individual and so that the candidate has an opportunity to demonstrate these to you.

[MKnight702]

edc said:

Start with the job description. Then identify the attributes, qualities, behaviours technical skills required to succeed. Construct your questions around these so you get some useful insight into the individual and so that the candidate has an opportunity to demonstrate these to you.

This.

Establish what you want from a candidate and develop questions to find out if they meet them.

I leave the discussion of the JD to the end, otherwise you are giving the interviewee too many hints as to what you want to hear.

Also, remember that the interview is two way, they ought to be interviewing you too.

[Du1point8]

I used to do the bog standard questions, then I found I can identify the quality of the candidate better if I do case studies.

Ask a few techy questions to break the ice, get them to talk about themselves and then break open the case studies.... as they answer the case studies, I interrupt them to discuss different technical queries dependant on how they answer the case study.

So far I always get glowing feedback and the candidates actually appreciate a more laid-back approach as it's not just in your face... answer this, answer this and this and this!!

[Vaud]

Also a typical interview might not bring the best out in a candidate.

Another tactic is to ask them to present for 5 mins on a topic that you choose and give them a weeks notice (and limit them to say, 2 slides - or a flipchart)

Why? It tests ability to research a topic without support. It tests ability to communicate an issue. It tests confidence. You can make it clear that you aren't testing their content per se, just their other skills.