If you are someone who is going to take an interview with someone for the first time, then chances are that you might be even more afraid and apprehensive than the interviewee.
What you ought to realize is that no matter what it is that you are feeling inside, you should not let this fear show on your face, because after all, you are the one who needs to be impressed.
If you are someone who has a natural flair for taking interviews then you will have no problems at all, yet if you think you might flounder along the way then here are some essential tips to help you to interview like a boss.
What does ‘like a boss’ mean?
1. Professionally:
A person who has been appointed to take interviews has to have a professional stance because after all, he is representing the company and if he does not give a good impression then the person giving the interview might have second thoughts about, even joining the company.
If you are someone with some experience of working in the corporate field then acting in this professional manner is not going to be tough at all. Sometimes in the course of your interview, withholding a laugh, smile or even a joke might be a little tough, yet you must ensure that you maintain decorum at all costs, lest you will lose your respect.
2. Without any signs of nervousness:
A boss is someone who is very sure of himself and does not seek approval from others who are his subordinates. Similarly, once you have been entrusted with the duty of taking interviews you must ensure that you do it to the best of your ability with no fear in your heart as well as trusting your instincts.
If you display any signs of nervousness then you will immediately remove from the job as a person who is interviewing expect to be cool, calm, collected and a tad bit intimidating. The moment you show some signs of weakness or vulnerability, then that bound to bring about your downfall.
3. Having the charisma, the head of a company would have:
‘Like a boss’ means having the aura like ahead of a company is likely to have. A good boss will never ask you to respect him, rather how he conducts himself or how he works is such that he commands the respect of those people around him.
Similarly, you must try your level best to command respect from those who walk into your chamber to be interviewed. Remember throughout the interview you have to take a neutral stance and ensure that you are only asking things necessary and related to the job. A boss is someone fair and never lets personal malice get into the way, and neither should you.
4. Without displaying signs of being a newcomer:
No matter how new you are at taking the interviews of others, you should ensure that you do not let that influence your performance.
You must show that you are someone who was born to do this and the company should be happy that they have selected someone as able as yourself to carry out this responsibility.
If you are having some doubts at the outset, you need not worry as over time things will become clearer to you and you will get acquainted with the very intricacies of the job.
11 Tips to Interview like a Boss:
1. Dress in a manner which a boss is likely to dress:
It is often said that the first impression is the last, so the first thing a person being interviewed is going to see of you is your attire. Believe it or not. an interviewee is going to be judging you and making an assessment of the kind of individual which you are as well.
So ensure that you dress in the manner a person who is of such a high position is expected to dress. If your manner of dressing is slovenly and you look unkempt with unpolished shoes and messy hair then that is something shameful indeed.
2. Ensure your knowledge about the company is in place:
To do justice to your position, it is exceedingly important that you have an in-depth knowledge of the company. You should know what the company does, what it stands for, products it sells, etc because then only can you gauge whether or not the person concerned is answering properly.
In addition to this if the individual asks you a question and you are unable to think of any logical answer then that is just going to be the worst thing. If you have been working in the company at another position for a considerable period then you are bound to already know these answers.
3. Prepare a few standard questions from beforehand:
There are usually some standardized questions that are meant to be asked. Questions like the person’s greatest strengths and weaknesses, his most successful projects or even things like why he left his previous job, things like this are very relevant and they do give valuable insight about the individual.
So do ask these questions in the course of the interview and based on the answer you can gauge if the person can speak well or if he has a command over the language. Things like this are otherwise rather tough to detect.
4. Do not fumble as much as possible:
In keeping with your position of authority, you should ensure that your manners and words are in keeping with the same. It would be unbecoming of someone in your position to fumble a lot and to make use of colloquial language.
If your spoken English is not very good then you should try your best to change this as soon as possible as having good communication skills is very important in this field.
If you do not speak well, chances are that your questions are not even going to be comprehensible to the interviewee and if something like this does happen then it will certainly spell disaster for you.
5. Familiarize yourself with the persons resume from beforehand:
To ensure that your questions are not only good but properly applicable to the person concerned you should make it your business to acquaint yourself with his resume before the interview.
Taking the time out to do this will help you along the way. Yet if you do not have the time to do this for some reason or the other, what you can do is begin by asking the person to describe his resume to the best of his ability.
Based on his answer you can gauge whether the person can speak in a precise manner or whether he is someone who rambles.
6. Do not act like a friend or a buddy:
While as an interviewer you might want to put the person being interviewed at ease this certainly does not imply that you act around as though he is your long lost friend. If you end up acting too friendly then you might end up giving the person some false hopes and making him believe that he has been able to bag the job.
In addition to this, you should make it a point to be polite at all costs. Do not make personal remarks at any point in time. Do not make the company doubt their decision of choosing you as a recruiter. Always do the job as best you can and your efforts bound to appreciate.
7. Do not make promises in the course of the interview:
As mentioned above marinating a neutral stance is very important indeed, but along with this, you have to ensure that you do not make any promises to the person stating that he has a big chance of getting the job or that he is one of the best candidates that have applied for the job.
Saying things like this are not acceptable in any way at all. In addition to this, a person who is responsible for taking interviews, in the course of his career may be bribed by some people desperate to bag jobs, yet you must ensure that you rise above this and never do something which could put your name in jeopardy.
8. Ask some technical questions as well:
Make it a point to even ask some technical questions so that you can tell whether the person has some theoretical knowledge. Yet having technical knowledge alone does not imply that the person will be able to do the job well, do ensure that you ask some application-based questions to gauge how quickly the person can think on his feet and whether or not he fumbles under pressure.
A mark of a true genius in a field is when an individual can find some solution to the other even when big hurdles and obstacles happen to come his way. So ensure that you hire someone of this caliber.
9. Give the person ample time to answer; do not interrupt:
It is a well knows fact that persons who take interviews busy people and do not have a lot of time on their hands, yet you should ensure that you dedicate a proper amount of time for each interview and do not allow something as small as five minutes per interview.
If you do not give enough time per interview then the candidate is not even going to be able to calm himself down and speak accurately. Ensure that once you have put forth your question, you give him ample time to think about his answer and then deliver it properly and appropriately.
10. Do not make the interview about yourself:
No matter how much you have been able to achieve in the course of your career or how many awards you have been able to achieve, you should remember that the interview is not a time when you have to give your life story to the candidate rather it is a time when you have to gauge him as a person.
For the sake of being polite, he bound to listen to you but that does not mean that you take advantage of your position. The purpose of the interview is to find someone who is the best suit to join the workforce of the company and you can gauge his caliber by letting him speak more than you do.
11. Show the high regard you have for the company and brand name:
Finally, it is very important to show that you are someone who respects the company and values the brand name above everything else. At no point in time should you think that it is alright to speak ill of the company or let out any company secrets which outsiders did not allow to hear under any circumstances at all?
Once you have got into the thick of things and gained a little experience then you will find that the job is not very daunting at all and you can improvise and do things in your very own way.
There are no distinct standards according to which you have to act, but there are certain protocols that you must keep in mind at all times. Remember that the decision which you decide to take is going to impact the company greatly so ensure that you can try and gauge the individual to know how they are as individuals.
