BY MARY LOU JAY

Good employees are key to your car wash’s success, so it’s crucial to fill any vacant positions with the right people. To find the best people for your company, try these techniques to encourage jobseekers’ honest answers during interviews.

1) Provide details in advance

Reduce candidates’ stress by letting them know beforehand what to expect.

“Prepare candidates up front by telling them who will interview them, how long the conversations will be, what the tone will be like and what to wear,” said Julia Pollak, Labor Economist at the jobs marketplace ZipRecruiter. “People are more comfortable when they know what to expect.”

2) Set the stage

Be on time for the interview. Before you begin, offer the candidate water or directions to the restroom. Thank them for coming in and acknowledge that interviews can be uncomfortable for both of you. Be flexible, and let conversation flow naturally.
“Frame it as a chat,” said Pollak.

3) Be prepared

“You should know well in advance of the interview what you’re looking for, what your questions are going to be, and how to ask them,” said Claudia St. John, President, Affinity HR Group.

If you need to hire a detail person, stay focused on finding someone with the right skills. No matter how personable or friendly an interviewee is, don’t hire them unless they meet your requirements.

4) Get multiple opinions

Have at least one other person conducting the interview with you. Invite the site manager and a peer to sit in with the hiring manager when you’re talking to front line candidates. St. John said the “informal authority” at the office, the one who knows everything that’s going on, could be a good interviewer choice.

Whether to make it a group interview is debatable, and depends on the situation and the position.

St. John recommends a group interview. “When one person is asking the questions, the other person is listening and observing,” she said. Since body language is 55% of human communication, the person who’s listening can concentrate on the physical cues the candidate provides.

However, Pollak likes another approach. “It’s better to have candidates meet with interviewers one at a time, and for interviewers to write up their thoughts about each interview separately,” she said. “Candidates won’t feel as though they’re on-stage making a presentation, and interviewers will be less likely to succumb to groupthink.”

5) Establish rapport

You can ask someone, “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” but you might get better results if you start by sharing you own, said St. John.

For example, admit that details aren’t your strong point, but that you’re good at relating to people. Then segue into, “What would your employer say are your weaknesses and strengths?” St. John said she tries to project her own personality, admitting her own shortcomings, so that the candidates feel it’s OK to be honest.

Watch for signs that a candidate isn’t being truthful. If they say their biggest flaw is that they’re too dedicated to their job, you have reason to be skeptical.

“If you think you’re spectacular and you have no liabilities, or if you think that I only want to hear that you’re spectacular, neither of those is a good signal,” St. John said.

6) Use behavioral questions

Avoid yes/no questions like, “Are you OK with handling difficult situations?”
Instead, get candidates to reveal more about themselves by asking how they would deal — or have dealt — with certain situations.

“The best interviews I’ve seen were ones where the candidate was asked how they would solve a problem that the employer had grappled with,” said Pollak. “On several occasions, I’ve seen candidates come up with better solutions than the employers had found.”

St. John prefers to ask about past experiences with questions like, “Tell me about a time when you’ve handled angry customers or a difficult coworker.” Don’t settle for a broad statement; ask for details.

7) Don’t dismiss FAQs

You don’t have to avoid the frequently asked interview questions found on job listing websites.

“If candidates have prepared answers, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It means they’ve had time to reflect and come up with an accurate answer,” Pollak said. “Faced with an unexpected question, nervous candidates may blurt out an answer that’s not what they meant to say and that isn’t accurate.”

To move candidates past canned answers, relate questions to their resumes and to the particular job.

8) Listen

Don’t talk too much during an interview; give the jobseeker a chance to ask questions, Pollak said.

Candidates’ questions can be revealing. One prospect may only want to know about pay and benefits, while another requests information about opportunities for advancement.

9) Use behavioral tests

St. John recommends behavioral testing because it provides additional insights into candidates.

Interviews aren’t good predictors of future behavior. “The only thing you are truly able to assess in an interview is whether or not a person does well in an interview,” she said.

“We believe in one-third of the hiring decision should be based on whether you think they can do the job, one-third on whether you like them, and one-third on the results of behavioral testing,” St. John said.

10) Time it right

An interview should last anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour, depending on the position you’re hiring for.

Pollak thinks about 45 minutes is optimal. “You want to have enough time to build rapport, but not so much time that you run out of things to discuss,” she said.

St. John recommends 20 to 30 minutes for front-line staff interviews, since there are often multiple vacancies there. “You need to streamline your time and your resources,” she said. An interview for a receptionist might take an hour, since you anticipate they will stay longer in the job.

“The goal should be to have as thorough an interview and hire as skilled a population as you can get,” she said. “They are going to last longer, your turnover will be lower and the exercise of hiring will be reduced because you’ve got a steady employee base.”