With the role of human capital becoming more crucial day by day in any industry, especially knowledge industry, the business entities cannot afford to make a wrong selection during the time of recruitment. The selection process should be standardised and free of flaws. The individuals involved in the recruitment process must be highly trained as a wrong selection can prove to be costly to an organisation.

After the initial screening process of tests and group discussions, the probable candidates are called for the interview. The one-to-one conversation between the candidate and the interviewer determines the final selection of the probable recruit. The questions should be so drafted so as to highlight the skills, talents, attitude, etc of the aspirant. The interviewer must be first aware of the job involved and the job specifications that require new recruits. He should possess the knowledge of the task involved to get the job done along with the key performance criteria. The technical interview questions must be standardised to make evaluation of the applicants easier. Before conducting the interview one should scrutinise and familiarise the resume of the candidates who are short listed through tests, group discussions and other selection processes.

Companies generally conduct a technical interview to assess how the aspirant performs in a situation and an HR interview to judge how he fares in a team. The interview should be held on time and must be concluded within the specified time limit. Initially the candidate must be put at ease. The interviewer must not dominate the conversation, but must excel in getting the required information through an open ended conversation.

The questions are so formulated that the candidates are coaxed to explain their previous work experiences. The questioner must analyse whether the candidate had performed a detailed work or a general body shopping. The past work experience gives an insight on the generic skills of the individual. Where the work involved is not similar, care should be taken not to take it as the decision criteria. The way adopted by the individual in a critical situation, his analytical mind, managerial capabilities, listening skills, etc must be investigated. Care should be taken to avoid deviation from the job related topics. Questions should not be discriminatory. How flexible the probable recruit is should be questioned if the job involves travel.

Giving a real time problem tells how he fares in an actual situation. The speed at which he reaches a decision, its impact, his body language, communication skills, relationship with the team, all can be put into focus. His style of doing the work, the attitude and the actual outcome, all act as a decisive factor on his selection process. Such an environment also helps to realise how the candidate have understood the situation and whether he had reacted in the way expected of him.

On the conclusion of the interview, the candidate should be thanked for his presence and he should be informed of the time within which further communication can be expected. Before moving to the next candidate, the skills, both positive and negative of the candidate must be documented for quick and easy reference. The fact that the interviewer should bear in mind is that a right question alone can give the desired answer.