Recently, a seasoned HR professional shared a frustrating story: After conducting over 20 interviews in a rigorous hiring round, their company rejected every candidate—only to watch one of them join a competitor and become a top performer within six months.
“Where did we go wrong?” she wondered. Upon reflection, the issue wasn’t a lack of qualified candidates—it was that the interviewers themselves were unprepared.
In today’s digital recruitment era, interviews have evolved far beyond “CV screening + Q&A.” A poorly executed interview doesn’t just risk losing high-potential talent; it can also spark damaging social media posts like, “Their interviewers had no clue what they were looking for.”
The stakes are even higher with remote interviews, where unprepared hiring managers are quickly exposed:
How do you avoid awkward silences when the connection lags?
Without body language cues, how can you gauge a candidate’s true reactions?
When a candidate asks, “How do you see this role evolving?”—can you offer a compelling answer?
Every question and interaction silently shapes your employer brand. Below, we reveal the six strategies elite interviewers swear by.
Revisit the job description
Thoroughly review the job description, which will drive the job posting, even if you were the one who originally created it. Things can change so fast in the current business environment that key elements could now be out of date. If you skip this step, you could end up attracting the wrong people for the job.
The job description should describe the desired technical and soft skills as well as outline all current responsibilities and expectations. If you’re unsure about anything, ask people in the organisation who have most recently worked with someone in the role for their input. How to conduct a job interview as a manager starts with attracting the right candidates; posting an up-to-date job description makes that much more likely.
Closely review the candidate’s work history
One mistake hiring managers often make when conducting interviews is asking candidates to repeat information they’ve already provided. This not only makes you appear unengaged with staffing the position, but it also eats up valuable time in the interview. It will leave little opportunity to dig into questions that can help you evaluate whether the potential hire would succeed in the role.
So, prior to your meeting, thoroughly review any information the job candidate has provided to date. That includes their resume, cover letter and online profile. Note any areas requiring clarification, such as puzzling job titles or unexplained gaps in work history. When conducting an interview, you may also want to hone in on non-work activities that may reveal aspects of the candidate that could have a bearing on job performance.
Create a general structure for the process
Sketch out a basic schedule that will allow you to cover all the key areas you want to address during interviews. A well-organised process also shows candidates that you respect their time.
As for scheduling the interview, be flexible. You might think, with so many people working remotely now, finding a time to meet during the day would be easy. But for some people, it’s more challenging. If possible, offer a few time slots for the candidate to choose from. To simplify things further, you might even consider using an online appointment scheduling tool.
Prepare and memorise your must-ask questions
Write down the items you know you’ll need to ask the candidate about based on the job description and your hiring criteria. Try to commit these core questions to memory. Then, you can focus on maintaining eye contact with the candidate, whether you’re meeting in person or by video. That can help you create an interview experience that’s more conversational and relaxed.
Use a mix of question types
In addition to your must-asks, leave room for other questions that can help you develop a better picture of the candidate overall. Try using some combination of these interview question types:
Closed-ended questions call for a simple, informational answer — sometimes just a yes or no. An example: “Have you worked in an industry different from ours?”
Open-ended questions require thought and oblige the candidate to reveal attitudes or opinions. For instance: “What interests you most about this position?”
Hypothetical questions invite the potential hire to resolve an imaginary situation or react to a real one. Here’s one: “If you had an opportunity to revise your early career path, what would you do differently?”
Behavioral questions focus on past experiences to provide insight into how a candidate might handle similar situations in the future. For example: “Can you tell me about a time when you had to resolve a conflict within your team, and how you approached it?”
Practice how to conduct an interview
Just as you expect candidates to be polished during job interviews, they expect the same of you, too. In-demand professionals are going to be selective about their next career move — your tone and degree of professionalism matter.
This can take practice. You could rehearse with a colleague over a video call, practice with a friend or family member at home, or run through a mock interview in front of your webcam or a mirror. This process will help you build more self-awareness of your communication abilities. At the same time, this will clue you in to opportunities for improvement.
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