How to Implement Four Different Interview Styles & Find the Best Candidate

A quick Google search will reveal various articles about interviewing, but one of the most important aspects of interviewing is often ignored – the interview style.  No, style isn’t exclusive to designer suits, power ties and brightly polished shoes – or even this guy. It even needs to permeate into the approach you take when giving an interview.

Yes, good questions are essential; but the art behind how you ask those questions is where the line is drawn between lovely and lousy interview.  Knowing the styles below will help you become a far better interviewer.  If you read this post periodically, you’ll probably develop an interview style of your own that leverages concepts from each of the below styles.

Let’s face it. Resumes, references and portfolios are all important parts of candidate screening, but nothing gives you as good of a gauge on someone than actually meeting with them face-to-face. I previously talked about a more interactive interview experience here, and I’d like to revisit the topic by exploring different interview styles.

It’s crucial that you make the most of how you conduct interviews—poorly executed ones can drive away good candidates and make terrible candidates look like hot prospects. But strategically-structured settings can help reveal the true strengths, weaknesses and personalities of your candidates. Review these four interview styles and leverage them to obtain valid answers and insights in finding the best candidate possible:

Relaxed Interviewing

This style creates a comfortable environment, utilizing techniques to help the candidate feel more at-ease, resulting in better, more open dialogue. Low-pressure and easy going, candidates are invited to act more like themselves rather than trying to impress somebody when experiencing this style. Conduct your relaxed interview by using these elements:

• Inform the candidate beforehand that business-casual attire is OK
• Greet the candidate warmly, and ask them if they would like something to drink
• Engage in small talk for a few minutes to set the tone before actually starting the interview
• When sitting, make sure you are on the same side of the desk or table—a round table, or even sharing a couch, works well. Also make sure your posture is relaxed, and be careful not to cross your arms
• Provide natural or incandescent lighting, or even consider taking the interview outside if weather permits
• Ask questions calmly, phrasing them evenly with as little corporate-speak as possible

Intimidating Interviewing

A complete 180 from the relaxed style is intimidating interviewing. With this style, you intentionally create an atmosphere that puts the candidate on edge. You don’t want to be a jerk about it, but the goal is to create an image of being “all-business” and then some. This is an effective tool for evaluating a candidate’s ability to handle stress, overcome hostile communication and work under pressure. Turn up the heat by incorporating these attributes:

• Position yourself at the end of a large table or across a large desk
• Don’t bother getting up to shake the candidate’s hand. Instead, ask them to have a seat upon entering the room
• Speaking of seats, make sure yours is higher than the candidate’s chair to create an appearance of being more commanding (yes, very shallow… but also effective)
• Bright, florescent lighting is ideal
• Start with extremely difficult and uncomfortable questions
• Maintain eye contact while showing little expression as candidates respond
• Challenge answers when possible to see if your candidate can handle on-the-spot pressure. Bold interviewers may even ask a candidate to sit up straight, speak up or use more formal language

A little less intimidating, but still a challenging experience is the panel style of interviewing. Create a team of several members, each of whom has a different approach to questioning candidates, to conduct the interview together. This method forces candidates to react to a variety of questions and personalities, and shows if they can handle a situation where diversity is a factor. Assemble these practices when conducting this style:

Panel Interviewing

• Pre-plan your list of questions, and who will ask each one. Be strategic with both questions and styles to be used by each interviewer. Make sure none of the questions cross any legal boundaries
• Pre-define a leader who will facilitate the process. If the candidate is not the right fit, the leader should cut the interview short to save everybody’s time
• Distribute candidate resumes or applications to all interviewers and discuss the desired characteristics of the ideal person
• Have panel members who are not asking questions take notes
• Allow the candidate to ask individual panelists his or her own questions
• Once the interview is over, engage in open debate about the pros and cons of each candidate. Consensus may not be reached, but the open dialogue will help identify the best ones
• Have the panel leader conduct one-on-one interviews with the top few candidates before making a final decision

“Friend” Interviewing

This fourth interviewing approach utilizes friendly, current employees to meet with the candidate. Some candidates are very effective at putting on the “interview face” and may seem like the perfect pick to a manager or supervisor, but this style increases the likelihood of his or her true personality being revealed. The goal is for candidates to feel relaxed and unguarded to determine if they fit with both the position and the corporate culture. Incorporate this style with these steps:

• Pre-determine the “friends” of the candidate based on potential interaction and parallel positions
• Have “friends” view the process as a casual discussion between future co-workers rather than an actual interview
• Make sure “friends” mix in talk about their current job duties with other casual topics of conversation
• Make it a round-table discussions or a series of one-on-one conversations—whichever the “friends” feel lends to the most effective method
• Round up everyone afterward to discuss the candidate together with the hiring supervisor
• Like with panel interviewing, have the ultimate decision-maker conduct individual interviews with final candidates

Once you become acclimated with these styles you can even shift gears as you see fit during the interview process. Case in point, I was recently prepared to conduct more of a relaxed-style of interview when upon entering the conference room where the candidate was waiting, the individual showed little respect by not standing up or even really greeting me. So right there, I decided to shift gears, and implemented a style with more intimidation. I raised my seat up, began peppering the person with questions, and challenged answers that were provided. The results showed that this person, aside from not initially showing much professionalism, had an inadequate skill set and handled pressure poorly.

So you interviewers out there, have you utilized any of these particular styles? If so, what were the results? Do you have a fifth style you could recommend?

Also, do you have any experiences being on the receiving end of one of these interview styles? How did you respond?

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• Posted by: CB Staff Writer on October 13, 2008
• Have a response? Join the discussion.
• Categories: Employee Attraction, Employer Advice, Interviewing