The Headhunters Interview

Here at Eagle Headhunters we have undertaken thousands of interviews and as such feel that we are more than competent in assessing and validating potential candidates. I do feel however that on occasion some of our clients do not have the necessary skills to be able to make that vital hire. I will explain what I mean.

The first thing that a client must understand before a candidate interview is that the candidate in question has been head-hunted for the role, they have been courted and as such the client is being interviewed by the candidate just as much as the client interviewing the candidate. If a client conducts a stringent, focused and unfriendly style of interview then there is a risk that the candidate will be put off so it is a fine balancing act of assessing the candidate as well as attracting the candidate. We have been frustrated on many occasions where the client has been too bullish in the interview and the candidate has lost interest.

The second issue relating to interviews is the questions that a hiring manager asks. It is very understandable that a client wants to verify the background of an individual so it is very typical that the CV will be on the desk and questions will be asked in a chronological order about the candidates background. That in itself is fine but it is very limiting – surely the questions need to be how the individual will adapt to your company and the role that they are going to be responsible for. For example how do they see the recent changes in the sector affecting the business and how would they deal with the challenges that those changes have forced. It is much more relevant to ask questions in the interview that relate to what the candidate will do rather than what they have done