Before we move on to the candidate evaluation tips list, we wanted to underline an important idea which in our opinion is worth keeping in mind. 

“An Interview is a dialog on an equal footing”

The evaluation process is mutual and works both ways. Basically, the recruitment process is a way for a company and a candidate to present themselves and discuss the potential partnership opportunity, that could be beneficial for both sides. 

Do not start with questions

It is not uncommon that interviews start with “Tell us about your experience” or “Tell us about yourself” without any prior introduction. 

An interview is not an FBI interrogation. It would be much better, for the start, to tell about the company culture, team, products, and services or the latest news. 

Do not get carried away with a lengthy story, it would be great to mention just a few key interesting facts. 

This would give a good start and let your candidate open up during the conversation. 

In Vision-CV we added a function “Information and Hiring Videos”, so companies which are inviting candidates for interviews-on-demand can also share their story by uploading a video invitation and company video. It can encourage candidates to record on-demand video replies. Furthermore, in this case, the recruitment process is more candidate-friendly for both sides. 

Candidate working experience is not everything

One of the important elements of the candidate evaluation is not only working experience, but self-awareness and motivation. 

In our experience, I remember a candidate which we interviewed for a junior position, who openly mentioned that he knows he is lacking experience in some specific areas, however, listed 4-5 points why he is looking for this opportunity, clearly articulating his motivation. 

If a candidate has a working experience

In the case of a candidate with work experience, our favorite are the case scenario and problem-solving questions. It allows you to understand how a candidate can approach specific problems and solve them. 

The top 2 reasons why problem-solving questions are cool: 

1. You would see how a candidate reacts to the question, if it is something he/she handled before or, if it is a new situation, how he/she will deal with it. 
2. The questions can reflect your company’s real working situations, so that the candidate will have an understanding of what expectations your organization has and whether she/he is ready to solve similar tasks at work. 

During the interview with candidates, one of your goals is to receive clear answers related to the asked question. You can put the conversation in the right direction, reformulating the question.

E.q.: it may happen that you ask a candidate to give you an example of how he was dealing with an unhappy customer before. The candidate may start telling abstract things about “client support” with no concrete fact. At this point, you may politely stop and ask again, if he/she could formulate it a bit differently. 

Psychometric tests – an additional tool

Psychometric assessment techniques are a complementary tool that is suitable for looking at a candidate from a broader perspective. There are opinions for and against psychological tests.

It is a good practice to incorporate such tests into your hiring process, but not use it as the one and only answer. This approach may be good when the recruiter wants to evaluate leadership skills or creativity. 

We turned to Olga Prystaj a psychologist with 14 years of experience and a vocational trainer to find out which questionnaire can be used during the recruitment process as well as during personal self-digging. 

How to use it

Psychometric tests/questionnaires are not magical tools, which are going to do your job and make decisions about candidates instead of you. Moreover, it should not be used as a selection method. Use it as a part of the recruitment to better understand candidates, gather information about their motivation, creative thinking, communication style, etc. and weave this information into the interview, ask the right questions, which let your candidates open up. 

For candidates, we suggest looking at such tests as a way to understand yourself, your motivation, which job suits you best, and what your strengths are. Such tests are often used to find your gifts and talents, so you choose the career path suiting your skillset. 

• Holland Test will suit everyone to understand how to motivate a person and which type of tasks and activities are more natural for him/her to perform. Link to the questionnaire – https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/RIASEC/

• Torrance Test is a test of creative thinking, will suit in case if a recruited person has to offer some non-standard approaches at work. We found some examples here on Innovators-guide: Torrance examples test

• V. Boyko’s level of empathy in communication test – if a person has to work with clients or teams. It depends on what position we hire. 
• Thomas-Kilmann assessment – is helpful to determine the behavior in conflict situations. Link to the test – kilmanndiagnostics

• Myers–Briggs  – it is a personality test, which might be very helpful before the interview. Weave the candidate test results into further steps, such as live interviews, or adjusting the tasks and questions. 

You can take the test here – the Myers_Briggs  test

Getting acquainted with a candidate before a live interview

It is possible to tell about the company and job position as well as to meet the candidate without the need of face-to-face meetings with the help of new technologies. At Vision-CV we offer a solution that allows you to send invitations to video interview-on-demand. You can also record your hiring video invitation, present your team, office and tell more about the job position. Just simply add questions, set a response time, and candidates record their videos at any convenient time for them. Candidates’ responses are spontaneous, as they do not see them beforehand. 

And what interview and evaluation methods work the best for you? Share your thoughts and more ideas in the comments below!