We take a candid look at interviewing and why the meaning of your communication is the response.

If you don't ask the right questions, how can you get the right answers? If you don't get the right answers you will employ the wrong person. That costs time and money. Interviews will help you decide whether a candidate has the skills and experience you need and the better prepared you are the more successful you will be.

An interview should:

Encourage the applicant to display their communication skills.

Recruiting for a senior manager's role, the competency-based interview had been based on the job description and designed to pull out the people skills most needed for the role. One applicant was particularly stilted in his response. A dentist would have had better luck. He picked his fingers through out with the exception of ten minutes spent arranging his paperwork so that it sat precisely on top of his diary! As an accountant, you would know he would dot each 'I' but manage people?

Unearth more on the person's level of knowledge or experience.

A few years ago, a mature lady responded to, "Give me an example of a difficult problem you have had to solve" with her single-handed resolution to the power crisis. She had brought in the generators that saved many a business. She also explained that she was responsible for the Auckland power crisis because she had the company's initials embroidered on her shirt.

Help you decide between equally qualified candidates.

An successful sales person responded to "What is your greatest professional challenge?" with the admission that he hated presenting, to the extent that he shook uncontrollably and refused to talk. Confronted with a key account presentation he would be unable to perform.

Determine whether the person can work with others in your company.

When asked if there was any reason why I shouldn't employ him, an candidate announced that he had just been released from jail. He had apparently been erroneously found guilty of aggravated rape, and was currently searching for the victim in order to get her to retract her statement.

Allow the applicant time for questions, it can also reveal so much about them.

There are always the ones who even before they have the job want to change the hours, or tell you that that they are intending to move to Australia in six months. Then there's the one who asks about the salary then says, "Well that's quite good, but I am looking at two other jobs and I'll pick the one that pays me the most." Or the real humdinger, the woman who wanted six weeks maternity leave per year. It turned out she bred dogs and insisted on being at home for the birth and after care.

Be modified to suit the purpose.

Design your interview questions around the job description, you wouldn't ask the chemist advice on watering your Pohutakawa, so why ask a clerk if they like travel.

Ask each applicant the same questions in the same order. It is tempting to veer off the path and into the trees but you will only end up lost in the woods.

Watch out for the "halo effect". Fancy hairstyles, flash suits and winning smiles can be very impressive. There's often less than meets the eye behind a veneer that can obscure your view.

Keep your questions open. "Are you good at customer service?" will elicit a "Yes." Far better to ask " Can you give me an example of a time when you had to deal with a difficult customer, what you did and what you learned from it?"

Be aware of your own prejudices. We are all naturally attracted to certain types of people whether it's hair colour, height or weight.

Finally questions must relate only to the job and the candidate's ability to do it. Asking when someone plans to have a family, how old they are or what religious beliefs they have is discriminatory. I once employed a lady who had cerebral palsy, it affected her gait not her brain.