5 Rules for Effective Interviewing

Clever Fashion HR Specialist and Business Trainer Nina Tarasova talks about the rules that a manager can follow in order to reduce errors in selecting professional and customer-oriented salespeople.

Rule number 1: Show openness and friendliness

The essence of the rule is to establish confidential contact with a person, which increases the likelihood that the candidate will be frank. True, this technique is only for those leaders for whom the result is more important than demonstrating their own significance. Be as open as possible and friendly to the person you are talking to. Do not try to demonstrate your status, do not rise above it. If possible, do not sit down at the table, thereby creating a barrier between you and the candidate. Show your readiness for communication, sit next to you. Forget about the specific questions “where was he born, where did he study, what did he work with”. Ask better how the person got, offer tea, talk about the weather and other insignificant things that are irrelevant. The topic of conversation can be found in the candidate’s resume, in the section “hobbies and passions”. For example, if it indicates that a potential employee likes to embroider, ask her where she takes pictures for embroidery, whether she buys ready-made kits or creates a diagram herself, how much time it takes to work. What is this all for? Speaking of a favorite pastime, a person opens up and shows us his true self, and not packed into a beautiful wrapper of a candidate. This is where his true personal qualities begin to manifest.

Rule 2: Ask the Right Questions

So, the contact has been established, it is time to find out from the candidate his experience and other significant points. How to ask? Once during an interview I heard from the interviewer the following question: “Are you a responsible person?” Well, who in their right mind answers “No, I consider myself irresponsible” ?! Do not waste time on empty questions, do not directly ask “What quality do you consider to be the most powerful in yourself?” Or “Why did you leave your previous job”. Use indirect questions to help you reduce your risk of getting socially expected answers. The methodology of indirect questions is based on aleatherg the candidate to reason not about himself, but about people in general or about some character. Speaking about other people, the candidate feels more secure, and his words are more frank, although in fact he still talks about himself and his experience. For example, to the question “Which seller can be called good?”, The candidate may answer “Sociable, cheerful, friendly, positive.” The answer seems to be excellent, because it is really good when the seller has all these qualities. But what does this answer say about selling and working with customers? Nothing, therefore, in this case there is a risk that the person who answered your question in this way will become the soul of the team, and you won’t be able to get him to work. But do not make hasty conclusions, do not make a diagnosis based on one symptom. Ask another question, for example: "You told me about a good seller, and now tell me about the excellent!".

Rule number 3: Be mindful of gestures

Open gestures are those in which hands are spread apart or palms are shown. These gestures tell us that a person wants and is ready to make contact. Closed gestures are those with which the interlocutor fenders off us, they say that a person is not quite ready to trust others and wants to hide something. I had such a case: after aleatherg about the reasons for leaving my last job, the girl suddenly took her bag from a nearby chair and put it on her knees, thereby intuitively creating a barrier between us. At the same time, her answer sounded very correct: “I worked at 5 for years and rested on the ceiling, but I really want to develop.” Her gesture was a signal to dig deeper. After several additional questions, the true reason for the dismissal was clarified: there was no desire to grow, but there was a conflict with colleagues and management due to the fact that she was often late for work. An attempt to conceal something from a partner or a feeling of disappointment can also occur in the form of fingers locked in the lock, arms or legs crossed. If upon hearing the question “Why do some people steal and others do not?” The candidate leaned back, crossed his arms or averted his eyes, this most likely means that the topic of theft is unpleasant for him and he wants to leave it. It is important to understand when you need to pay attention to non-verbal signals. Do not draw conclusions on static poses, evaluate them only in dynamics. Track any change in gestures after you ask a question. So you will notice that a person is revealed when he speaks on a topic that is exciting and interesting to him, or how it closes if the topic is unpleasant. Here it’s just possible to find out why a person closed: either he is insincere, or some personal experiences are connected with this issue, or everything is easier - it became cold by the open window.

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Rule number 4: Do not forget about spontaneity and surprise

This rule is especially true if we talk with people whose work in the future may be associated with unexpected changes and stress. Sales consultants, this applies primarily, because customers are different, and there is nothing worse than a confused seller who has fallen into a stupor. To test flexibility and the ability to quickly adapt, make your behavior unexpected: change the pace of questions, jump from topic to topic, and do not ask questions from one area in a row. The peculiarity of unexpected questions is that they are always asked after a series of serious ones, quickly, like a machine-gun line, not allowing the interlocutor to take a breath. What questions can be used in this case? Ask the interlocutor to tell a joke - so you find out the degree of resourcefulness and learn something about the personality of a potential employee. For example, some candidates are embarrassed to say that they can’t say anything because they remembered only obscene jokes. In addition to aleatherg for a joke, you can ask, “What type of clients do you think I belong to?”, “What do you think will be my next question?”, “Why do all the mannequins look the same?”

Rule number 5: Let the other person fantasize

This technique is widely used by recruiters. Fantasy about a specific situation, the candidate talks about what he would most like, therefore, we can conclude about his motivation. The key to the formulation of situational issues are two things: a description of the initial situation, and the word “if”, which can be replaced by the phrase “imagine”. Questions of this type can be asked in the middle of the interview or near its end. Here are examples of situational questions with explanations of what you can understand about the candidate by answer:

· “Imagine that you are a store manager. What would you do on the first day of your work? And in the first week? ”In the answer, you will see the presence or absence of a desire for career growth, as well as the person’s orientation - work on the result or on relationships within the team.

• “Imagine that the same customer comes to you every day. He doesn’t buy anything and does not even look in the direction of the goods, but he tells you about his life for an hour. What will you do? ”With this question you can check how customer-oriented and flexible the candidate is.
• “You work alone in the gym. You serve a regular customer who tries on everything for a very long time and asks to be sure to pay attention to him. Another client approaches you: he is ready to buy the goods, only he needs a size that is not on the window. Your actions? ”You can check the customer focus, the ability to prioritize work, the ability to behave in non-standard work situations.
• “If you were now in my place, what person would you choose for this position?” The question is good both for candidates for the vacancy of the head, and for ordinary sellers. With a high degree of probability, the proposed candidate is characteristic of himself, therefore, it is possible to identify the main qualities of the candidate as an employee.

You can also ask the candidate to fantasize about non-work-related situations. Here are examples of such questions: “If a book had been written about you, what would its name be?” And “Imagine that you are dead — it’s better to say“ God forbid, ”what will be written in your obituary? ". With the help of such questions, you will also check the inventiveness of the candidate.