Interview questions and structured interviewing
Username: Password:

Improve your interview technique

Ten Bad Listening Habits of Interviewers

  1. Rehearsing The interviewer is distracted, looking away a lot and failing to concentrate as they are framing or rehearsing the next question to ask.
  2. Point Scoring The interviewer spends time 'topping' the replies of the applicant with stories from their own experience or denigrates the applicants answer by suggesting it is not up to the 'usual standard'.
  3. Mind Reading The interviewer wears a 'middle distance' expression whilst looking straight at the applicant, trying to guess what is going to be said next and even completing a sentence or jumping in.
  4. 'Cherry Picking' The interviewer listens for a piece of information in an answer that they want and then switches off, or ticks a box and tries to hurry up or move on.
  5. Day Dreaming The interviewer uses all their spare mental capacity to idly daydream about subjects other than the interview or the applicant's responses, and loses focus and concentration.
  6. Dueling The interviewer engages in debate or 'sparing' with the applicant about the validity of their view or answers in general and continues to argue the point.
  7. Interrupting The interviewer jumps into any silence or half way through the applicant's response in order to change the subject or ask the next question.
  8. Counseling The interviewer can't help themselves offering guidance or advice about what an interviewee might have done differently or have tried, and moves into irrelevant territory.
  9. Labeling The interviewer puts one or more 'category type' labels on the applicant by the way they look or a few things that are said and stops listening to information that doesn't fit the label.
  10. Switching The interviewer switches the conversation quickly or asks another question without considering the last answer or even before it is complete, through an interjection.


 

 

 


Articles

Finding Candidates

Interviewing Basics

Interviewing Best Practices

Laws & Documentation

Line Manager / Recruiting Partnership

Post-Interview

Pre-Planning & Retention

Reading the Candidate

Recruiting Basics

Recruiting Best Practices

Useful Links