The Hiring Manager's Guide to the Interview Process
When you think about interviewing for an open position at your company, you probably spend most of your time deciding which questions to ask. While that’s the most obvious thing to consider (and definitely important!), the structural and logistical side of interviewing can be just as critical.
Here are some tips to make sure your interview process is seamless… and compliant.
Plan Your Interview Process
Hiring isn’t as easy as simply finding the candidate, asking questions, and deciding to make a job offer. Consider how you want to manage the entire process, focusing on topics like:
Who at the company is responsible for what? Deciding who to interview, scheduling the interview, setting up the interview space, etc.
How many rounds of interviewing will you have? And who will participate in each one? We recommend at least two rounds: a first discussion to weed out the unacceptable applicants, and a second round to pinpoint the best one.
Where will you conduct the interviews? Will it be phone, video, in the office, other?
This is just a starting point to make sure you think through all the steps and offer a smooth, consistent process for all applicants.
Build an Interview Panel
Include multiple company employees in the interview process, even if your company is small. Each person on the panel should be part of the decision-making process and come with their own set of priorities for what they’d like to see in the new hire. Then if you all agree on the best applicant, you know it’s coming from a broad perspective and it's not just a personal opinion! Also, if any interviewer raises a serious concern about an applicant, don’t ignore it. It could be that only one of you is sensing something that might turn into a serious problem in the long-run.
Tie Every Question to the Job Requirements
An important legal guardrail is to make sure every interview question connects directly to the requirements of the position. Here are a few examples of how to address topics that could otherwise get legally muddy:
Attendance – instead of asking about childcare, family obligations, or religious observances that might get in the way of an employee’s availability, state the actual schedule requirements (hours, on-call, overtime) and simply ask if the candidate can meet them.
Physical demands – don’t ask about medical conditions or injuries. Specify the physical tasks needed for the job (for example, “crawling through attics, climbing ladders, and working on rooftops”) and ask if the candidate can perform these.
Work authorization – you can’t ask where someone is from or their citizenship status, but you can ask if they’re authorized to work in the U.S.
As a general rule for phrasing interview questions: If you need to know whether someone can do the job, describe the job requirement and ask if they can meet it.
Continuous Improvement
Once you start interviewing for a role, always stick with the same process to make sure you’re offering each candidate a consistent (and legally-defensible) opportunity. But once you’ve filled a role, assess how the process went. Did everything flow smoothly? Would it be more efficient to rethink any part, like in-person vs. virtual interviewing or which company stakeholders are part of which round of interviews? Does the new hire actually perform as expected, based on the interview process, or should you add another interview question to better clarify what you need from an employee?
Interviewing is a lifelong skill, and your ability to make revisions and improvements – while staying within legal guardrails – will help you build the most effective workforce for your company.
