When companies want to add to their team of workers, they advertise job openings and invite applicants for interviews. Interview questions for each applicant need to be consistent to give them equal opportunities to prove their worth. It helps interviewers to correctly evaluate every candidate fast. The interviewers should write the essential questions that will help them capture the key qualifications of each candidate. An interview questions template helps them keep track of evaluation criteria. It benefits a company in various ways.
Contents
- 1 Interview Templates
- 2 What is an interview guide template?
- 3 Interview Questions Templates
- 4 Advantages of using an interview questions template
- 5 What are the different interview formats?
- 6 Interview Format Templates
- 7 How do you format an interview?
- 8 Interview Guide Templates
- 9 How to make a job interview a success?
Interview Templates
What is an interview guide template?
The interview process is crucial in a company’s hiring process. It helps employers determine if a candidate has the right skills or experience for the job. Every company should set the right interviewing procedures.
They should understand what types of questions a candidate should be asked or not asked during an interview. To make it a smooth process, the interviewers should prepare an interview format template to guide them on the right questions to ask and the interview time.
An interview guide template is a document that guides interviewers during a hiring process. There are many different types of job interview templates that employers can download online and customize according to their needs. Generally, an interview guide template helps the interviewing panel as follows:
- It contains the candidate’s personal information (Name, position they have applied for, contacts)
- Interview questions for the candidate
- Total time for each interview section
- Criteria for awarding interview scores
- Space for extra notes or questions if needed.
Interview Questions Templates
Advantages of using an interview questions template
An interview questions template benefits both the candidate and the interviewing panel.
- It makes the hiring process easier
Without an interview score sheet template, the hiring process can be tedious. The interviewing team can be ready with the first few questions, but after that, they might get confused about what other questions are important. The federal law prohibits employers from asking certain types of questions to candidates during interviews. It is easier to ask a prohibited question if the team has no interview score sheet template to guide them.
- It provides a standardized evaluation criterion
An interview guide template should have standard evaluation criteria for all candidates. It ensures no candidate is favored during the interview process. When creating the interview score sheet template, the employer should ask themselves questions like:
- What makes a good interview?
- What makes a bad interview?
- How will the interview compare two strong candidates?
- Should there be a scorecard to quantify each candidate’s qualifications?
Some interviews take several days to complete, especially when the candidates are many. During the first few days, the interviewing team is usually energetic. As the days go by, they could become weary or fatigued. This is the time when the team can have a mix of all sorts of questions for the candidates. The interview score sheet template helps the team to have consistent questions regardless of how exhausted or energetic they could be.
- It helps to keep the interview process on track. Too long interviews can drain the energies of both the panel and the candidate. The standard length of most interviews is between 30 to 45 minutes. That means there should be a preset time limit for each question. Some questions should take less than one minute, while others can take up to three or more minutes. This ensures that all questions are covered within the interview’s time limit. An interview notes template helps the team prepare the questions and set a time limit for each.
- It helps to ensure every question is covered. An interview notes template contains all questions that an interviewee needs to be asked. The interviewing panel can easily forget some of the key questions that must be asked during the interview. If such questions are omitted, the panel might hire a less qualified candidate when there is someone more qualified.
- It provides an easier way to score candidates. An interview score sheet template contains questions and space for recording scores. Each question is given a certain score and then the overall scores are added to know how the candidate performed. Without the template, it would be hard for the team to know how to award scores to the candidate.
- It provides a reference. Many companies do a series of interviews with job applicants. During each interview series, more candidates drop out and those who qualify proceed to the next phase. The interview guide template plays an important role in the process. The panel can merge the templates for each candidate in every phase.
The candidate may give conflicting answers to specific questions from the previous interview phase. It is easier for the panel to refer to what answers they had given and ask for clarification. The interview questions template is customizable, which means the employer can tweak the question to fit different job interviews.
What are the different interview formats?
Each company can adapt a unique type of interview format. The format the employer chooses determines the interview questions template that shall be used. An interview can adapt any of these formats.
Multiple round interviews
An employer may decide to conduct multiple-round interviews. These kinds of interviews take the candidates through several rounds of interviews. This type of interviewing process is good in situations where many applicants sent their interest in a particular job advertisement.
Since the panel wants to give every applicant a fair chance, they take them through a fair elimination method. The panel prepares a different interview score sheet template for each interview phase.
A candidate must score a certain pass mark to move on to the next interview phase. Depending on the number of candidates who qualify for the next phase, the interviews can take up to five phases. Each phase comes with stricter series of questions and a new interview score sheet template.
Individual interviews
Individual interviews are one-on-one kinds of interviews. Typically, they only involve an interviewer and a job candidate. The candidate is mostly interviewed for behavioral or situational skills. The questions in the interview notes template for this type of interview may ask the candidate about:
- Their background
- Experience
- Strengths
- Academic qualifications
- Problem-solving skills
- Role-related questions
Technical interviews
An interview format template for technical interviews is prepared for candidates qualifying for jobs such as:
- Information technology
- Engineering
- Computer programming etc.
The template contains technology-specific questions like data analysis, road construction design, software design, security systems designs, etc. The questions might also contain complex math calculations, situational skills questions, and other technical-specific information.
Group interviews
In a group interview, one candidate gets invited to an interview and sits before a panel of interviewers. Each panel member asks specific questions covering a specific section in the interview format template.
The purpose of these types of interviews is to evaluate how the candidate would perform or interact with a group. The questions measure the candidate’s interpersonal and communication skills. The questions may differ from one candidate to the next but they will generally revolve around issues such as:
- Teamwork
- Collaboration
- Communication problem solving
- Critical thinking
- Strengths
- Career goals and progress
Informational interviews
Informational interviews involve one time or a series of discussions between a job candidate and an interviewer. The interview process is set in a way that it will look like an ordinary conversation. Regardless, the professional will have an interview score sheet template as a guide. The two can discuss issues such as:
- Company culture
- Job roles
- Qualification for working in the company
- Job-specific tasks
Telephone interviews
Before inviting candidates for an in-person interview, most employers conduct telephone interviews. In this type of interview, the employer prepares questions in an interview guide template and asks the interviewee over the phone.
Interview Format Templates
How do you format an interview?
You need to have an interview questions template to effectively format and interview. Here are the steps you must follow to format an interview.
Prepare the introduction
This section focuses on how the interviewer will break the ground before the process begins. It might not be possible for the candidate to enter through the door and you begin asking them questions in an instant. It is good to prepare them and help them to relax while getting ready for the questions. This is what the introductory part is all about.
The interviewer may welcome the candidate and introduce themselves. They may also introduce the company to the interviewee. At this juncture, the team may share a few minutes to know each other and make the candidate feel relaxed. The interviewer will be recording the key things they learn about the candidate all through.
Prepare the interview questions
Depending on the job the candidate is being interviewed for, there is a wide variety of questions the interviewer can prepare. The questions must be specific to help the interviewer to learn a lot more about the candidate. The main purpose of this section is to get the following information:
- If the candidate’s qualifications match the job requirements
- If the candidate is serious about the job
- If they are the best fit to be hired or there could be another alternative.
The interviewer may ask the candidate questions such as:
- To describe themselves
- To provide a brief background about themselves
- How they learned about the company
- The best work environment they prefer
- How do they deal with stressful circumstances, etc.
Leave space for the candidate to ask questions
To avoid making the interview process look as if it is one-sided, give the candidate a chance to ask questions too. The team must be prepared to answer any type of question the candidate might have but it must be job or position related.
Prepare the conclusion
Although the candidate may not know if they passed the interview in an instant, the conclusion helps to prepare them for the best or worst. The interviewer should thank the candidate for attending the interview. They should explain to them the next process to follow.
There could be more interviews the candidate should expect. They might also have to wait until every applicant is interviewed before they get the results. Let the candidate know the interview process is over and release them.
Interview Guide Templates
How to make a job interview a success?
As much as the job applicant prepares themselves for the interview appointment, the employer and their panel should also get ready. This is what ensures the interview process is a success. Even with the interview notes template ready, the process can fail if the team doesn’t portray energy, enthusiasm, and knowledge. These steps will make an interview process successful.
Organize the questions well
The questions should be asked strategically to avoid confusion. In the interview notes template, divide the questions into sections. For example, let there be a section for:
- Personality questions
- Qualifications
- Experience
- Soft skills
Search in several websites to help you know which questions will apply in each section. As a general rule, make the process friendly without creating tension. If the candidate answers questions wrongly, do not outrightly show them they have missed the point.
Show enthusiasm
It is possible to once in a while meet job interviewers who are not enthusiastic about the company at all. They may begin to speak negatively about the company to an interviewee. If you portray this kind of an image to a candidate, they will immediately lose interest in the job. They may even intentionally answer the questions wrongly. The panel should be enthusiastic about making the candidate feel hopeful about the company.
Make the process more of a discussion
If the interview process is questions-oriented, it can make candidates feel intimidated or out of place. It might portray the wrong image of the company. The interview room should portray friendliness at all levels of interviews. Using yes and no answers is not the best way to interview candidates. Instead, create room for discussion while observing the interview time for each question.
Conclude nicely
The best way to conclude an interview is not to tell the candidate they have failed outright. If they have qualified, it is okay to break the good news to them. It will make their day joyous. If you break the bad news outright, you will make their day gloomy. Let them know they have tried answering the questions to the best of their knowledge. Also, let them know communication will follow soon.
