E3Round UP- Interview Styles

E3Round UP- Interview Styles

You’ve advertised the role, shortlisted the applicants, now it’s time to suss out if those that are good on paper are actually suitable for the role. Interviewing is a time and resource heavy process, but by selecting the appropriate interview type and format, this will help you streamline the process.

Interview Types
Telephone Interview
Often companies request an initial telephone interview before inviting a candidate for a face to face meeting in order to get a better understanding of the individual before progressing to a resource heavy face-to-face.

Face-to-Face Interview
This can be a meeting between the candidate and one member of staff or more

The Panel Interview
These interviews involve a number of people sitting as a panel with one as chairperson. This type of interview is popular within the public sector.

The Group Interview
Several candidates are present at this type of interview. Candidates will be asked to interact with each other by usually a group discussion or complete a task as a team.

The Sequential Interview
These are several interviews in turn with a different interviewer each time. Usually, each interviewer asks questions to test different sets of competencies

The Lunch / Dinner
Interview This type of interview gives the employer a chance to assess candidate’s communication and interpersonal skills in an informal environment.

Interview Formats
All these types of interviews can take on different question formats:

Competency Based Interviews
These are structured to reflect the competencies the employer is seeking for the particular job which are usually detailed in the job specification. For example a team based question is: “Give me an example of a time you worked as a team to achieve a common goal.”

Formal / Informal Interviews
Some interviews may be very formal, others may be very informal, but it is important to remember that you are assessing the candidate and vice a versa so topics should be friendly and clean.

Portfolio Based Interviews
In the design, digital and communications industries candidates’ portfolios can be viewed in the interview. How it is presented and the work itself speaks volumes for the candidate.

The Second Interview
Interviewing can be a long process and if there have been numerous candidates interviewed it can be easy to forget certain responses. So when the top two or three candidates have been selected, invite them back. This is an opportunity to test them and meet other colleagues.

General Interview Preparation
Here’s a list of general top-level questions for use when interviewing:
• Why do you want this job?
• Why are you the best person for the job?
• What relevant experience do you have?
• Why are you interested in working for this company?
• What can you contribute to this company?
• What do you know about this company?
• What challenges are you looking for in a position?
• Why do you want to work for this company?
• Why should we hire you?
• What are your salary requirements?

If you would like advice on interview techniques or additional services such as behavioural and psychometric testing or salary benchmarking please contact a member of the E3 Recruitment team.

This article has been taken from E3Round UP Autumn Edition – to view the full magazine please click here.

16th November 2017

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