Acquiring Talent? Here is How Entrepreneurs Can Improve Their Interviewing Skills

Nascent entrepreneurs generally have very few resources in hand. So, while burning or investing in these resources, every move should be given a second thought.

The rules remain the same while acquiring talent in the company. Considering the tedious hiring process from getting the right candidature to getting him/her on board, none of us would like to regret getting an unfitting talent on board.

While some accidents cannot be avoided, what at least as the founder of the company you can do is to take some precautions at a preliminary level. So, here is the guide for entrepreneurs to upgrade their interviewing skills.

Do Your Home Work

Before you enter the interview, keep a list of questions centring the job role handly to asses the candidate better. These will help keep all your biases at the bay and judge the interviewee rationally.

Additionally, Kapil Gupta, CEO, Shella Consultants says just as you are looking for eye contact and appropriate dress, the candidate is looking for those unspoken signals from you. So, make sure your tone of voice is appropriate and professional.

"Dress as you normally would, and pay attention to manners. You are a representative of your company and department, so make sure your actions reflect this," he added.

Communicate Your Mission

Giving the hype around startups, people are generally very enthusiastic to join a startup. However, this can be plus point for the company, it can make you fall flat on your face if the expectations are not met. Hence, it is extremely important to communicate the brand's mission along with your vision for the role.

"It's important to provide a realistic job preview to each candidate. Sometimes entrepreneurs are rushing to complete many things in a hurry and do not do enough to lead the task of talent attraction themselves. They leave it to their HR team to do the talking to potential employees and conserve the time for the entrepreneur. This is not a good idea, "Aditya Narayan Mishra – Director and CEO of CIEL HR

While on the other side, it also important to communicate the upside of the opportunity during the interview to prospective candidates across levels in the organization.

"The upside of the opportunity normally covers the uni-vocal problem that the business intends to solve by way of the offering (product or service). The most competitive businesses differentiate themselves aggressively in the uniqueness of the solution being offered or their approach to solving the problem," Neeraj Sharma – Senior Director – HR, FourKites shared while adding that, "The next is to highlight the impact that this problem being targeted is solved uniquely by the company and how this could result in creation of significant value – both short and long-term as a business entity for its stakeholders/shareholders."

Human Touch

Try to understand the person as a human being as the interviewee's values and beliefs are as important as his/her expertise and experience. This will help you understand if the candidate can fit into your organisation's culture.

"Sometimes, interviewers limit their conversations to gather facts about the candidate's experience and want to understand the willingness to work with them. In this process, they miss understanding how the person would respond to typical situations the role would handle. As they say, a ship is tested when it's sailing, not when it's anchored in the shore," Mishra noted.

Having said that, remember to not get too friendly or chatty with the interviewee.