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You've finally got the top job, and now you're the one doing the hiring. Think that means you're off the hook when it comes to prepping for interviews? Not so, says recruitment specialist Allan Welyk.

"Too many companies go into the interview process a little too ad hoc, and it comes out," says Mr. Welyk, who is president and managing partner of Fusion Recruitment in Vancouver. "Resumes aren't ready, the questions are all over the place, the message isn't consistent through different layers of the interview process. All of that does not bode well as far as marketing the company to the potential employee."

And when you're trying to hire the best talent out there, marketing to the employee counts, he says.

The risk of not having an effective interview process can mean having to fill the same position multiple times, says Mr. Welyk. And that translates into precious time and dollars wasted. In his experience, the cost of filling a job can quickly add up to half the position's salary.



But effective interviewing can do two things: First, it can help ensure you're hiring the best person for the job. Second, it can help ensure they stick around.

Employee retention is driven largely by a good cultural fit, says Mr. Welyk. And outside of required competencies to do the job, establishing cultural fit should be the priority of any interview.

"Ten or 20 years ago, we saw five, 10, 15-year tenured employees. Now if you get two or three years, you feel like you're ahead of the game," he says.

Cultural fit is something Claudio Rodrigues and Brad Wolff have learned to seek out in the eight years they've been hiring staff at their company, Retail Media Group, a media and marketing firm in Calgary with about 50 employees. Last year, they doubled their sales staff and filled nine positions simultaneously.

"Our philosophy has really changed from when we started," says Mr. Wolff. "Initially, we didn't understand how important culture is. In our last round of hiring it became a big part of it."

The types of questions asked in an interview can go a long way toward uncovering what type of work culture a candidate is comfortable with, says Mr. Welyk.

He advocates beginning with a straightforward question in which the interviewer simply asks the candidate about what they're looking for in terms of company culture. "It's not happening enough, but that simple question of what type of dynamic they're looking for can reveal a lot," he says, adding that open-ended questions that allow the interviewee to talk freely are most effective.

Mr. Rodrigues and Mr. Wolff try to discern whether a candidate will fit into Retail Media's culture by generally not discussing skills during the first interview.

"We're not there grilling them about the job," says Mr. Rodrigues. "We want to get them to open up about who they are so we keep it informal. It's just a couple guys hanging out. It encourages people to talk about what they want, not just corporately but also personally."

To keep the mood light, Mr. Rodrigues and Mr. Wolff hold first interviews in a casual setting like a coffee shop or even sometimes over a beer. They talk openly with candidates about their families and personal interests. "Some people want to talk about the marathon they just ran," says Mr. Wolff. "Some people want to talk about their kids. We see where the conversation goes."

At a certain point, the conversation does need to go to technical skills. A trend Mr. Welyk has observed in recent years is that of testing skills early in the interview process. "Tests used to happen at the very end, but rather than investing time and energy only to find out that they don't have the skills you need, it makes sense to deal with this earlier," he says.

A trend he doesn't like, on the other hand, is a drawn-out interview process that can take as long as eight weeks.

Some companies want key staff members to meet a potential employee, and that might require as many as seven or eight interviews, says Mr. Welyk. "I don't have a problem with several interviews but they should be completed in three weeks," he says

Stringing along candidates you're genuinely interested in is a good way to lose them. "They start to wonder if it's really the kind of organization they want to work with and what it'll be like to actually get things done there."

When it comes to the human resources department's role in the interview process, Mr. Welyk likes to see them involved but not right from the get-go.

"You run into challenges when HR does the initial pre-screening of candidates," he says. "What happens in a general sense is that HR doesn't know exactly what the VP of marketing, for example, is looking for. Only that manager knows what they're after." He recommends HR be brought in at the end of the process.

In addition, targeting a search can make the interview process a lot easier, says Mr. Welyk. Social media has made it possible for any and all candidates to apply for a position, whether they actually qualify.

"The industry, recruitment as a whole, has become kind of lazy because of social media," he says. "Going directly into the marketplace and targeting individuals that you know have the right background makes the interview process more meaningful right from the start."

Five questions every interviewer should ask

  • What are the top two motivators that make this position interesting to you?

When you ask for the "top two" rather than just a single reason, you're more likely to get the truth, says Mr. Welyk. "A lot of candidates try to answer this the way they think you want them to," he says. "Asking for multiple options provides more insight and gets the candidate talking."

  • Describe the kind of organization you want to work for.

This is the first step toward establishing cultural fit, says Mr. Welyk. "Before we even get into specific opportunities with an individual we get them to answer this question for us."

  • What can you tell me about your background that isn't on your resume?

This is a question Mr. Welyk is seeing more and more organizations ask, as they strive for a good cultural fit. "When you ask this type of question you encourage a potential employee to open up about their personal life." Getting a candidate comfortable with you in that way means that when the conversation turns to their professional skills, they're more likely to open up as well.

  • If you could make an improvement on one key aspect of your current employer what would that be and why?

This question, says Mr. Welyk, endeavours to uncover why the candidate wants to leave their current job. "But the hidden agenda, so to speak, is to see if that candidate will speak negatively about their current employer," he says. "Because if they're talking negatively about their current employer, then there's a chance they may be talking negatively about you in the future as well."

  • If there's one reason we shouldn't hire you, what would that be?

"This puts people on the spot. The key here is not to let people fluff around it. Try to get the individual to give you an honest answer," says Mr. Welyk. "I've heard every answer you can imagine."

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