An interview is a crucial decision making process and HR professionals do not underrate the importance of multiple rounds of interview to filter out candidates through different screening tests and then zero on the perfect hire for the job role.
During the process of recruitment, the candidates are interviewed on a string of capabilities, skills and experiences as stated on their resumes to probe deeper and seek the real insights, cross-verify facts and thus come up with sound judgement towards the end of the series of interviews.
Some people might think that a single interview is effective enough to make the best hiring decision based on experience and recruit the most appropriate talent on board. Only if recruiting was as easily executed, then the role of HR manager would not be garnering so much attention and importance in the professional world.
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Second round of interviews help HR managers to allow candidates to illuminate on their ideas better, decide for the best cultural fit to meet organisational demands, and seek for genuine intentions to learn and be a part of the vivacious team seeking long-term growth prospects with the company or if the job in itself is a “short-gap arrangement”.
The cost of a wrong hire is quite an expensive proposition for successful companies, as a lot of time and energy is invested in training the candidate, once the individual gets on board. Here are some reasons for HR managers to realize the importance and need to schedule second round of interviews, before making the perfect hiring decision:
During the first round of interview, there might be only few interviewers involved such as HR staffs and some managers. However, in the second one, HR managers could ensure for group interviews with active involvement of 3-4 members from core team such as – the operation manager, the top management and the team in-charge of the department such as accounting manager, IT project manager and so on.
Since 3-4 persons are involved, HR manager can look for more opinions and better considerations could be gained to ease the process of recruitment and simplify decision making with consensus from the top management.
Most often in the first interview rounds, talented creative professionals can impress you with their skills for few hours or less. However in the second round, their real performance and skills can be put to test during longer working hours. The chances are those who performed extremely well in the first round, might not possess endurance and commitment to work for longer hours and spend half-day at work. This shows their real attitude, performance and dedication towards the job role. It is hard to disguise your feelings when you are put to work in a workplace setting for half-day and given an opportunity to prove your mettle to impress and perform.
This round will help you draw a clear understanding between the real ones who are committed, and the fake ones who want to work only for the sake of money.
During the second meeting, the talent is certainly better-prepared. Through observation, the prospective candidate is able to relate to the company’s culture, and inner workings. They understand if colleagues are friendly and hostile or lack concern to provide support systems for a new hire to assimilate with the company culture
Therefore, second interview is the right time for HR managers to discuss more critical issues and seek candidate’s perspective on job description, obstacles, novel ideas and ask for suggestions to perform optimally within time constraints and fast-paced environment under pressure.
Given a preset time frame to complete a specific assignment related to job position they applied for, you can carefully gauge a candidate’s skill, proficiency, talent, speed, ability to understand and deliver with accurate responses.
For example, the interviewer could offer a specific assignment for an IT position to a candidate seeking employment with routine tasks that include coding, dealing with java script, technical documentation and more to be accomplished on the same day.
If the candidate manages to successfully complete the task within the assigned time frame with accurate results, then the chosen candidate could be selected as the next prospective hire. This simplifies hiring decision making process for HR managers to measure, monitor and evaluate candidates better.
The hiring team could use the second interview as a moment to open up the real expectations from the new hire on job and explain workplace culture in detail to selected candidates for the second round.
Some colleagues at work could also share their job description and experiences of working with the company, the daily routine tasks to be accomplished and invisible culture that implies everyday to reflect in employee’s attitude towards challenges at work. This further allows the new hire to understand and learn more about the company, the people with whom they would work, all before they accept the job offer.
While second interview can still be an optional one, the decision is entirely dependent on the requirement as predetermined by the HR managers and business leaders. All, we would like to advise – “Think twice before you hire right!”
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