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How can an HR professional design and deliver an effective interviewer training? Know a step by step approach
58% Candidate reject offers due to poor interview experience - ICIMS report
76% Hiring decision makers say that unconscious bias affects their hiring decisions - Glassdoor report
One of the most important decisions companies make is who to hire. And the tools they rely on for this - Interviews. The interview is not just a one sided evaluation, it is a lot more. An interview is also a major brand impacting conversation, it is also meant for candidates to evaluate the opportunity and the workplace, it is a way for the organisation and the candidate to get to know each other well and understand if they fit in. So interviews are the single biggest factor in making accurate hiring decisions and having a great joining ratio.
An organization that has nailed the interview process and creates great experience for candidates consistently while making accurate and faster decisions has a major competitive advantage. We all know of examples of companies like Google, Netflix, LinkedIn and Salesforce who attract top talent by creating an impeccable reputation through a well structured, fair and rigorous hiring process. Google actively works to minimize bias by training interviewers on unconscious bias and ensuring diverse interview panels. Google's commitment to equity in their interview process has helped them build a diverse and talented workforce. Most of these successful companies have a process that is uniquely theirs but also great.
With so much riding on the interviewers’ performance, it's critical to equip them with the right knowledge, tools and confidence like for any other responsibility.
What is an Interviewer Training Program?
A training program that is for interviewers and equips them to achieve:
- Sharper hiring decisions
- Bias free interviews
- High candidate engagement
- Faster hiring cycles
For the organization, it additionally helps to:
- Increase the interviewer pool
- Improve brand equity
- Save time and cost
Interviewer training is also one of the most ignored areas in people development. A person great at their job is not by default a good interviewer as well. So what does an interview training entail? A good interview training would impart:
- important interview skills
- knowledge about structure of an interview, psychology and biases
- tools to build rapport and evaluate sharply
- pre and post interview steps
- may also include mock interview exercises
Also Read: Startup Jobs : A Guide to startup hiring
How can an HR professional design and deliver an effective interviewer training?
Now that we have seen how important and relevant it is for everyone to train the interviewers well, here is a step-by-step approach to designing a comprehensive training:
Step 1: Identify Training Objectives
Clearly define the objectives you want to achieve. These objectives may include enhancing participants' understanding of effective interview techniques, improving their ability to assess candidate skills and cultural fit, and promoting fair and unbiased hiring practices.
Step 2: Understand the Target Audience
Consider the backgrounds, experience levels, and specific needs of the individuals who will undergo the training. Tailor the content, examples, and exercises to match their level of expertise and familiarity with interviewing. Example in case majority of your hiring is for technical roles, the interviewing techniques would vary depending on that.
Step 3: Create an Outline
Organize the training content into logical sections. Here's a suggested outline:
- Introduction: Explain the importance of effective interviewing and its impact on the hiring process.
- Preparing for the Interview: Cover topics such as job analysis, creating interview questions, and reviewing candidates' resumes.
- Interview Techniques: Discuss active listening, probing, and rapport-building techniques.
- Assessing Candidates: Teach participants how to evaluate candidate skills, behavior, and cultural fit.
- Avoiding Bias: Be vocal about unconscious bias and provide strategies to ensure fair and objective evaluations
- Legal and Ethical Considerations: Highlight legal requirements and ethical guidelines related to interviewing and selection.
- Role-playing and Practice: Conduct mock interviews and provide feedback to reinforce learning.
Step 4: Choose Training Methods:
Use training methods that work with your audience. Example one the best ways to engage participants is to use the case methodology. One can also role-play in order to take into account nuances of what to say/not say during an interview.
Step 5: Develop Training Materials
Create visually appealing and user-friendly training materials, such as handouts, job aids, and reference guides. Include key points, tips, and relevant examples to reinforce learning.
Step 6: Engage Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)
Collaborate with experienced interviewers or training professionals to enhance the training content. Their insights and real-world examples will add value to the program.
And in the end deliver the training and follow up for evaluations and impact assessment.
How can Interviewer training be done through interview intelligence?
While interviews are predominantly a human led process, technology can beautifully compliment the human factor and increase the interview effectiveness multifold while reducing the effort and time spent. With interview intelligence, interviewer learning is a continuous process. There are many ways in which interview intelligence can enable upskilling of interviewers. Some of them include AI enabled simulations and feedback on interviewing skills, post interview feedback, building and presenting insights on key interviewer performance metrics, do’s and don’ts and best practices library.
In conclusion
Interviewer training is business critical. If interviewers and hiring managers win, companies win, candidates win. So time and money spent for interviewer skill building is a worthwhile long term investment which is bound to reap great returns.
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