Steps to Conducting an Interview—Preliminary Work

January 2006

For the last few months, we have been talking about the 12 competencies of a good interviewer. To learn more about that—and to see that Leita can’t count her way out of a paper bag—please see previous newsletters.

Now let’s switch gears a bit and talk about what goes on during an interview. Most folks like to have a step-by-step process for doing things—at least until they get the hang of it.

So for the next few months, let’s cover a handy dandy checklist of the steps of conducting an interview. If you have other useful things that you weave into the process, I would really like to hear about it. Please email me with your enhancements at Leita@auditskills.com.

Here is my version of the steps of the interview. This month, we will cover the preliminary steps. Next month, we will discuss the body of the interview, and in March we will talk about how to conclude the interview.

Step 1. Break the ice

One of the biggest mistakes you can make as an interviewer is to immediately sit down and start hammering the interviewee with questions. Everyone needs a little time to get used to each other; you need to feel out the personality of the interviewee (this lets you know how to approach communicating with them and what they look like when they aren’t fibbing ), and they need a moment to acknowledge that you aren’t that intimidating after all.

Give them the chance to see that you are a regular Joe just like them and that you are just trying to do your job.

So, start with something non-threatening and build common ground with the interviewee. Maybe you see they have kid pictures on their desk—and you have kids—and you have something to talk about. Maybe they went to the same school or a rival school. You can have some fun with that. Maybe you just ate at the restaurant across the street and you wonder how the place stays open; your goal is to come up with something in common that you can have a quick conversation about later when you see them in the hall. Try to find something in common that you can actually talk about with some knowledge. For instance, I don’t even start conversations about football or golf because I can’t finish the conversation—but I can talk about fishing, movies, Mediterranean countries, young children, and restaurants for hours.

How long should you spend on this? Depends on the cues you get from the client and your personal tolerance level for chit chat.

If the client is looking impatient, respond by getting down to business. If the client is enjoying the chat, keep it up for a bit. After five minutes, say something like, “How fun it is to talk to you—but I don’t want to spend any more of your time. We’d better get down to business so I can leave you alone,” or whatever feels comfortable to you. Yes, the transition may be awkward—but everyone understands that you came there for a reason.

Step 2. Brief the interviewee

Don’t assume that the interviewee knows why you are there. Just go ahead and explain why you are there. Who knows what they were told about the audit—if anything—much less what they understand about what they were told. Everyone likes to work within some sort of context, so give them one.

Tell them the objective of the audit and the purpose of the interview. Tell them what you hope to accomplish with this meeting. Then ask them if they have any questions. This makes sure that they are clear on what you are doing and establishes more equal footing—more of a peer-to-peer relationship instead of a scary-frightening-authority-figure-auditor-to-uninformed-victim-
interviewee sort of relationship!

Tell them about your status on the audit. Are you the “in-charge” or the staff person? Whom do you answer to? This is another equalizer and folks always like to know the status of the person they are communicating with.

But here is the beauty of your relationship with the interviewee: Even if you are a baby-faced, fresh-off-the-campus 23-year-old, you are the authority and have a higher status than the person you are interviewing. So don’t be afraid to admit you are the new guy.

This is a good time to hand over your business card. If you don’t have one of those, write down your name, phone number, and email address on a piece of paper for them to keep.

Also, before you begin, remind them of how long the interview will last. This is both polite and selfish; polite because it reduces their anxiety about when the pleasure of your company will end, and selfish because you may end up interviewing someone who won’t stick to the subject—and by putting a back end on the session you will only have to tolerate it for the scheduled time.

Step 3. Obtain background info from interviewee

Here is the interviewee’s chance to show their feathers—or establish their status. Remember, even if you are a baby-faced 23-year-old, you are still intimidating to the interviewee. So, giving them a chance to tell you how wonderful they are goes a long way to reducing their fear. Ask them to tell you about their:

• Job title
• Scope of responsibility
• Tenure

This is a good time to throw in a compliment of some sort, such as, “Wow! You really have moved up in the organization quickly. I really appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to talk with me. I feel like I am talking to the most knowledgeable person.” Do you feel like that is laying it on too thick? Try it once and see what happens; I think you will like the results. It is amazing how readily people take kindness, courtesy, and compliments.

Step 4. Ask interviewee if they have any questions

Before you begin with your questions, it is a good idea to ask the interviewee for their questions. Get all that baggage out of the way so you can have a clear, focused conversation.

How you phrase this makes a difference. Ideally, you ask, “What are your questions?” This has a much more welcoming and non-judgmental tone than, “Do you have any questions?”, “Do you understand?”, or “Is there anything you need to say?” Each of the last three questions could be construed as mildly condescending, implying that “Only a dork would have questions at this juncture and I hope you are not one of those!” So, repeat after me: “What are your questions? What are your questions? What are your questions?”