Interviewing is a skill. You simply cannot assume your best sales managers to conduct effective interviews. Provide training and create a process for them to become better interviewers.
Here are six tips for helping your sales managers become better interviewers:
- Provide training: Consider offering training on how to conduct effective interviews, including how to ask relevant questions, evaluate candidates’ responses, and make fair and objective hiring decisions.
- Develop a set of standard interview questions: Create a list of standard questions that can be used to evaluate candidates consistently. This will help ensure that all candidates are asked the same questions and allows for more objective comparisons.
- Encourage the use of behavioral-based questions: Behavioral-based questions ask candidates to describe specific situations they have encountered in the past and how they dealt with them. These types of questions can provide valuable insight into a candidate’s skills and abilities.
- Encourage the use of structured interviews: Structured interviews involve following a predetermined set of questions and a specific scoring system. This can help ensure that all candidates are evaluated consistently and objectively.
- Encourage the use of multiple interviewers: Having multiple interviewers can provide a more well-rounded evaluation of candidates and can help reduce bias.
- Encourage managers to take thorough notes: Encourage managers to take thorough notes during interviews so that they can review and compare candidates more easily.