Interviewing tip
What a treat to participate in the “Nuts and Bolts of Hiring” series by Evelyn Canabal, sole proprietor of Professional Development Services. And thanks to Valley Industrial Association for sponsoring this event!
Much of the recent conversation about interviewing was already familiar to me, since interviewing is such a substantial part of my function as a staffing consultant. Even so, there’s always something more to learn or a different way to think about something familiar.
Evelyn was talking this week about the four parts of an interview: building rapport; gleaning information about the candidate; giving information about the company or organization; and closing the conversation. We discussed at length how challenging it is to build genuine rapport with an individual without stepping across the line into personal information that we cannot legally take into consideration (such as marital status, political affiliation, religious activity).
Evelyn remarked that many interviewers have stopped using that classic, generic rapport-building invitation, “Tell me about yourself” for exactly this reason. I suggested that an alternative would be, “Tell me about yourself as a worker/employee.” This still leaves the door open for rapport, but directs the conversation toward the employment-related nature of your interview.