5 Interviewing Strategies Every Manager Should Master

As a manager, hiring the right person isn’t just about filling a position – it’s about making a long-term investment in your team’s success. Crafting a deliberate, thoughtful interviewing process can help you identify candidates who are not only skilled but also a cultural fit for your organization.

Here are some tips to help you make better hiring decisions.

Interviewing Strategies for Success: Enhancing Your Hiring Process

1. Focus on talent and fit rather than experience

Implementing effective interviewing strategies can significantly enhance your hiring process and lead to better team dynamics.

While skills and experience are important, prioritizing a candidate’s natural talents and cultural fit is critical. Talents are natural ways of thinking and acting. This could include what motivates the person (what drives them), what their thought processes are (structured or very fluid), and how they relate to others (trusting or reserved). The fit for the organization is less about the job description and more about whether candidates embody values that align with the organization, believe in the vision, can work toward a common goal, and would be a good match for the rest of the team.

Remember, you can teach skills, but you can’t teach passion or personality. Considering the types of skills you need will help you develop your interview questions to look for talent and fit. One factor that contributes to employee engagement is the ability for employees to be themselves at work and feel valued by a team. When you hire people who can maximize their natural aptitudes and they get along with others, you create a safe environment where everyone can flourish. Not only is this important for the new hire, it’s also important for the other employees who rely on you to bring in the right people for the organization and culture.

When you hire people who can maximize their natural aptitudes and they get along with others, you create a safe environment where everyone can flourish.

2. Ask how they’ve handled situations in the past to assess compatibility

Understanding how a candidate has navigated challenges in the past can predict how they’ll fit into your team’s culture. Over the years, I’ve found that forming questions in a way that allows someone to tell a story or describe a scenario helps me to understand their thought process. Through a story, a candidate can demonstrate how they apply their knowledge in real-life situations. I can observe how they describe other people and the language they use, and I can ask follow-up questions if needed. Questions like, “When have your leadership efforts not worked out and what did you learn from that?” or “When have you demonstrated effective communication?” can reveal insights about their work ethic, problem-solving skills, and interpersonal approach.

Aim to assess alignment with the values and vision of your organization. If your organization values a learning culture where people can make mistakes without judgement, regularly provides coaching and feedback to support growth and development, and employees feel safe to be innovative, then you can ask questions related to these aspects. For example, “What skills are you currently working on developing?” and “What are your expectations of being on a team and how would you reciprocate?” Consider making your questions engaging and get to the root qualities you are looking for. This will also help the candidate recognize your organizational values.

3. Emphasize diversity and unique perspectives

Hiring for fit doesn’t mean creating a monoculture. It’s essential to identify and celebrate differences that enhance creativity and collaboration. It is also true that diversity can cause friction between team members because of mixed expectations, perceptions, and goals. Challenges can stem from how people show respect, the frequency and type of communication, language used in the office, or how trust is built. One strategy to blend diverse backgrounds and cultures into a cohesive team is to hire individuals with skills that foster an open, transparent, empathetic, and adaptable environment.

Each team member should have skills in managing diversity, incorporating varying perspectives, listening to understand, and making accommodations rather than reinforcing their own opinions. Ask candidates how they’ve worked with people from diverse backgrounds and how they contribute unique perspectives to a team. They can provide an example of when someone had a different opinion than them and how that was handled.

I’ve asked the question, “When working within a team, what role do you usually take?” This is an open question that could show the following:

• Empathizer: I try to make others feel welcome.
• Leader: I try to get the group organized.
• Harmonizer:  I ask questions to learn about the members.
• Communicator: I try to be clear on what we are doing.
• Go with the flow: I wait to be assigned work.

Each of these approaches are necessary in a team and are used at different times to help with team cohesion and inclusion.

4. Listen for authentic passion and satisfaction

Employers benefit from having engaged and satisfied employees. This reduces turnover, costs, absenteeism, presenteeism, and sick time to name a few advantages. Some key attributes of satisfied employees are having autonomy over their work and how they do it, the ability to master their skills and become a reliable source, and ensuring their work is clearly tied to the organization’s goals and purpose.

Candidates who are naturally excited about the role tend to be more engaged and productive in the long run. You want to find out not only what excites them about the role, but what would bring them satisfaction in the short and long term. Listen to how they describe their favourite projects, how they define something they are proud of, or why they’re interested in your organization.

Look for genuine enthusiasm and alignment with what makes your team or company special. Consider asking them for their areas of growth and assess if this position will help them get there. I asked about this in an interview once and I later hired that candidate. She told me that she had another offer, but because I was asking about her growth and development in the interview, she chose my position!

Having engaged and satisfied employees means that leaders care about each person, want them to be excited to come to work, and they want to challenge staff to learn and grow. This means aligning the person with the role so that you maximize their natural strengths and motivation, while also creating the opportunity for development.

5. Be prepared and intentional

It’s essential to identify and celebrate differences that enhance creativity and collaboration.

Recruitment starts as early as the position posting. You can make your post engaging, descriptive of what you are looking for, and share information about the organization to attract applicants. When candidates apply, ensure the response email is appreciative and considerate (e.g., “Thank you for applying, I look forward to reviewing your application”). Applicants want to hear from you, and focusing on encouragement from the start shows that your organization is welcoming, kind, and respectful.

During the interview, I like to create a friendly environment that puts candidates at ease. Try to smile and start the interview with a little light talking about a random topic to ease tension. When a candidate is talking, actively listen with head nods, ask follow-up questions, and comment how you can relate to what they are saying. To stay present in the moment, I prefer to handwrite notes rather than type on a computer. Keep in mind, the candidate is also interviewing you, to see how you approach them. You need to put your best foot forward and hope they also choose you!

By refining your interviewing strategies with these tips, you can build a team that’s not only skilled but also engaged, motivated, and united in purpose. Thoughtful hiring is the foundation for long-term team success. Finding the right people for your organization is an important task and as a leader, you need to hire for the skills, talents, and aptitudes that foster the environment you want.

This is the 2nd blog in a series on interviewing strategies, from both sides of the table. Check out Deanne’s 1st blog, Navigating the Interview Process – 4 Tips to Help You Prepare.