When it comes to hiring for your dealership, choosing the right interview style can make all the difference. It’s not just about ticking off a list of skills; it’s about understanding a candidate’s potential, their fit within your team, and their long-term aspirations.
Two common approaches are structured and conversational interviews. Each offers unique advantages, but understanding their nuances is crucial for making informed hiring decisions.
Structured interviews: the checklist approach
Structured interviews follow a preset list of questions, ensuring every candidate is assessed on the same criteria. This approach offers consistency, reduces bias, and makes it easier to compare candidates based on the answers they provide. Structuring your interviews streamlines the interview process, making it more efficient especially when interviewing multiple candidates. By including questions that focus on the specific skills and experiences relevant to the role, you can acquire the specific information you need about the candidate to better assess their suitability for the role.
However, structured interviews have some limitations that it’s worth keeping in mind. This style of interview is quite rigid and can feel impersonal and limit spontaneous conversation. It may not reveal a candidate’s personality or cultural fit due to only giving surface level insights, which may lead to future issues within the workplace if the candidate is chosen for the role without this information.
Conversational interviews: the deep dive
On the other hand, conversational interviews are more like a relaxed chat, allowing for open-ended questions and a natural flow. This can offer a deeper understanding overall of the candidate and reveal more of their personality, communication style, and problem-solving approach. Conversational interviews may allow you to better assess the candidate’s potential cultural fit within your workplace and gain insights into how they might integrate into your team. Without the rigidity of a structured interview, you can create a more comfortable environment for the candidate to showcase their potential and build rapport.
Naturally, conversational interviews also have drawbacks. It is both easier for the outcome to be influenced by interviewer bias with this more casual and subjective approach, and harder to compare candidates objectively. This process can also become more time consuming, as interviews may take longer and require more skilled interviewers.
Finding the right balance: the semi-structured approach
A semi-structured interview combines the best of both worlds. It involves a set of core questions to ensure consistency but allows for follow-up questions and a more conversational flow. This approach allows a more comprehensive assessment as interviewers gain both specific information and broader insights into a candidate’s personality and fit.
The flexibility of combining aspects of both structured and conversational interview styles allows for a deeper exploration of relevant topics while still maintaining a degree of structure, allowing the interviewer to compare candidates objectively.
Tailoring the approach to your dealership
The ideal interview style depends on the specific role and your dealership’s needs. For technical roles such as mechanics and parts interpreters, a structured or semi-structured approach might be suitable for assessing their technical skills and experience.
Sales and management roles may better suit a semi-structured or conversational approach as this can help evaluate communication skills, leadership potential, and cultural fit.
Key considerations:
- Interviewer training: Equip your interviewers with the skills to conduct effective interviews, regardless of the chosen style.
- Clear evaluation criteria: Define the essential skills and attributes for the role to ensure consistent assessment.
- Candidate experience: Create a positive and welcoming interview environment to help candidates showcase their best selves during the interview.
By understanding the nuances of different interview styles and tailoring your approach based on the individual role, you can make more informed hiring decisions and build a high-performing team for your dealership.
Teamrecruit is Australia’s most established recruitment agency specialising in truck, earthmoving and agricultural machinery dealerships in Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific and Southeast Asia. Find out more about Teamrecruit and how we support employers and candidates in the dealership industry.
