Living and working as a recruiter can be at the same time extremely rewarding and backbreaking. While getting to know new people and weeding through thousands of resumes establish new bridges, having to deal with the applicants in person puts a lot of pressure on the interviewer, same as the interviewee; that's when the mock interview comes in handy!
Even scrolling through dozens of results on Google, and other search engines, won't do any interviewer any good in finding the benefits of mock interviews for recruiters because of its scarcity. 99% of the content scattered out there focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of mock interviews for interviewees, acting as though interviews are made of iron and fuses, and don't experience even slight anxiety or stress during an interview session.
If you ask even the most qualified interviewers with years of working experience under their belt, they will get back at you with the phrase "the stress is always there." Setting down one on one with a new applicant who sometimes doesn't really fit their descriptions written in their application forms and resumes forces interviewers into an awkward position. A mock video-recorded interview with applicants can wash away some of the unpleasantness of strange sessions and help the recruiters get their gear up. If the whole process is still evading you and you've got no clue about how it works, here are some pros on how a mock interview can help recruiters shortlist the best candidates.
Usually, the interviews go the same way, despite the fact that not in a hundred years, the two consecutive applicants show the same personal characteristics and values. It's not uncanny to say that recruiters tend to turn the process into a robotic ritual where the same questions are asked of utterly different individuals.
To sort out this highly increasing issue, which has even penetrated the most experienced interviewers' ranks, recruiters should run a trial mode (mock interview) before inviting applicants for an in-person meeting.
In a mock interview, recruiters can tailor the core position values/candidates into general or specific questions to be asked in a process of video recording passive interview by machine and get the responses recorded. They have time to analyze each person upon their recorded video and set the settings to save time for recruiters to shortlist easier and candidates to warm up for the upcoming in-person interviews.
You need to come up with these preparations way before the applications start and put in careful considerations into it to avoid mistakes. You can also ask any of the Recruiter's team to check the recorded video and leave their thoughts, scores, and reviews to calibrate the next move.
When we talk about consistency, we're pointing out leveling the elements involved in an interview at any given time. If you hope to get great results from an interview and to conduct one as a professional does, you have to play on the same field every time.
We all have one of those days! A fight with our significant other, car keys lost, or even a brawl with the neighbor right before we hop into the car. These unfortunate episodes are the cause of inconsistencies.
Besides those, physical alternations can too harm the interview process; like a sudden change of the interview location, or its time, or the people attending it. A mock interview helps the interviewer by presenting them with the opportunity to test these conditions before they actually happen.
By running a trial interview before the candidates walk in, you can set the tone in the right way, and, by calming yourself down, regain control over everything.
During an interview, spotting biased behavior is easy for the candidates. Remember, they are smart people.
It's hard-stuck in human nature to seek out the lookalikes, and there's no shame in that. We hopelessly lean towards the people we deem "equivalents in thoughts and culture" and tend to step back from those who don't think like us. It's hard-wired for us to crave common traits and values in others.
In the interview, however, hosting bias can destroy the chance of hiring the chosen one for the company. If you let bias take over, you will scare away the candidates, and, eventually, ruin your career.
To help resolve this problem, you can take advantage of a mock interview before meeting the applicants. Ask one of your colleagues to set aside from you (as the interviewee), and start the fake interview. Ask them to be completely open with you and point out any problem they see in your questions, focusing mostly on biased matters. This way, you have cleansed yourself from biased and unwanted thoughts, and have a clear head.
Scanning hundreds of resumes, or application forms, on a digital display is one thing, having to run an interview with the actual individuals, ask questions, and evaluate them is happening on a whole universe.
The first physical issue that interviewers can run into is fatigue; a long devastating day of none-stop conversations with strangers about their qualifications can bring even the strongest of all to the knees.
If you line up a ton of interviews for one day, you need to be prepared and ready to mingle. Otherwise, all the candidates won't get the same attention and time, with the first ones being the lucky ones and the last, the doomed!
Get the mock interview rally started before the real day comes. Try to sit through long hours of staying still, and asking the same questions over and over again. To stop yourself from falling into a fatigued state, schedule regular breaks, and cut down the total number of interviews one day. You can also try to spread out the meetings throughout the day for your mind to reset and get back to its primal, most-efficient mode.
"Everybody lies in their resume" is what "joey" from the popular late ninety's tv show "Friends" used to say, when confronted about the realistic skills he had written on his resume. Although nearly two decades have passed since then, the statement still stands correct, something that we all have either done or seen.
If you want to learn why candidates inherently lie, you have to walk in their shoes. In an extremely-competitive recruiting game, everyone wants to win and land a job with the best companies.
Spotting an accomplished lier through just a 10-minute interview surpasses the skills of even the most qualified interviewers. More importantly, and also by a slim chance, they manage to recognize a lier from the truthful applicant, the method of moving the interview forward can save the company from destructive aftermaths.
Try to be vigilant and keep a close eye for anything fishy. Mock interviews help you talk to as many fake-interviewees as you would like, helping figure out who's honest and who's not.
