How to take an Interview of your competitor?

**Sharon** · 10-04-2012

Hey guys I am currently working in a small firm and I have lots of work to do in my office. Currently I am in publishing department and I deal with works like editing, having a talk with our clients and also look out for the interviews as well. Lots of multitasking I must say that. Handling the interviews has been a very easy task for me especially involving the fresher’s and now I am in such a stage that I don’t take interviews of the fresher’s I tell me junior staff to do that. If anyone comes up with the experience then only I am consulted. So a few days back my boss came to me and said that I had to interview a person who earlier used to work with a competitor of us. We both companies are competitors against each other and if I say then in out area particularly we two companies are the best in publishing. Hence that’s why it becomes increasingly difficult to ask a person with the similar background and that too belonging to the same profession to ask some interview questions because he/she might be knowing what I am talking about. So what I want from you all is that can you give me some tips or some ways by which I can handle this interview very easily. I know it’s a bit difficult thing for you all but I am sure you all will be having some answers for the same. Should I take some help from my BOSS about this? well there is one more confusion out there if I ask my boss to help me out with this then there is a risk of my increment being turned down. That’s why I have come here in this forum to take some advise from you all. To be frank I am a bit nervous as of now as the interview is conducted tomorrow and I haven’t prepared anything for the same. that’s why I want some way by which the boss gets impressed by me and also the candidate out there whoever is coming may feel an actual interview is going on. So do reply out guys its really urgent. Thanks in advance.

**G-MAT** · 10-04-2012

Ok take a chill pill? To begin with if I were you then I would have certainly begin with the introduction of the concerned person and would ask him/her to describe themselves in 5 words. The 5 words will give you a quick idea of how quick a person is in terms of answering. You know that is a very smart question to ask first when you are running out of the questions. The candidate will definitely think about it as a smart move then you can start with, ‘what was the current position in the earlier company that you worked with’? ‘ what was the reason behind you left that job’? ‘what made you think about this company only and not anything else?’ you know these are some of the questions he might have expected you to ask. So that’s why go a bit in detail to all those stuff and get to know why exactly he/she has come here. so that will give you an insight of the person and you can decide whether the guy or the gal is suitable for this company or not. one more interesting stuff that you can ask you out is ‘what have you heard about this company’? And ‘what do you know about our current company’? Tell him/her to be frank on this because that will determine how genuine the person. Besides that you can discuss it with your senior persons and decide a set of questions which you all can prepare. Believe me you can take some suggestion from your boss as well if he is ready to talk to you on this. The input that you get from him/her will be really helpful for you to gain some confidence and also you will get some knowledge. So do follow the steps that I have sketched out here hopefully I can say this should be helpful for you. Since your interview has been conducted tomorrow only these are some of the quick points that will be helpful. Anyways all the best for your interview and do well. hope it works.

**Recruiter** · 10-04-2012

Dude interviewing a competitor is a very simple task since you know that the guy who is coming also knows about what are you working and hence you can ask some questions which are related to your work only. If you find his work matching to your industry standards then appoint him. Its but obvious that after taking so much interviews you should have some experience on how to start with the interview. Like the above person said you can also being with a formal introduction of the candidate and then slowly get into your work basis. Ask what all work have you done there and all such stuff. Since you have said that you are in the publishing business I am sure you all will be dealing with the writing and editing stuffs. So ask him/her to edit a article or write a article in front of you and given a particular time limit within which the article should be completed. That’s when you will get to know about the persons work quality. Believe me majority of the good companies select their candidates by throwing down a situation for them and looking at how well they come up with a solution, they are being hired and paid equally well. You have said in your above post that you are working on a small firm ask your boss to monitor the interview that will give a certain idea to your boss as well to judge how the candidate is. so what benefit you will be getting is you will be carrying on with the interview as well your boss would be impressed by such tactics. So throw down some situation which was unexpected to the candidate and ask him/her to solve it. That’s a real part of the interview. While questions like ‘ what was the reason behind you left that job’ and all are somewhat expected by the candidate and he will come prepared for such type of questions. so expect the unexpected that should be the rule while taking a interview. that will really add some fun during the interview. I hope all these suggestions does helps you a lot.

**lust-rous** · 10-04-2012

Here are some questions which I think would be useful for you and I have listed them down over here. do read it and let me know if it was helpful.

- What was the pay package that you were getting?
- How was your working environment there?

- Can you show me some piece of work that you had done in your earlier company, published stuff and all for example.

- How to manage a team in tough positions?

- What was the reason behind leaving the earlier job?

- What’s the reason behind applying for this job?

- Can you work in a simple firm?

- Small firm does not mean big growth then why have you opted for this company?

- What is your basic moto in life and what you plan to be?

- Are you planning for further studies and when?

**Educated** · 10-04-2012

Here are few tips for you which I think would be useful for you while conducting the interview. here you go

1) Prepare yourself thoroughly: it is very important for you to prepare yourself before the interview. One such good example is the reviewing of the resume in front of the candidate before the interview. it is not a good thing to review the resume first it looks a bit rude to the candidate and at the same time you are wasting a lot of time of yourself as well as the candidate. It will not give a good impression of the organization that you are working in right now.

2) Stick to the time: if you have one or 2 hour scheduled for the interview then you should stick to the same time. expanding the time limit won’t be benefit at all. If you have got the idea of a candidate of how he/she is then stick to that expanding the time limit won’t be of any use for you. So always stick to the time.

3) Prepare a set of questions: always important to prepare a set of questions before going for the interview. yes it may sound a amateurish but it is always important to prepare a set of questions before conducting the interview. always ask a candidate a mixed set of questions like "Tell me what led you to apply for this position." After that you can ask for "we work according to the targets and we ensure that every candidate who is working here completes the target and then goes home no matter how much late he/she has to sit, are you ok with that?" then “share some experiences of yours where in you have completed the deadline in a given frame of time”? so the mixed set of questions will definitely give a fair amount of idea of how the candidate is?

4) Listen to your inner voice: very important step. There are some questions which might confuse the candidate and he/she will not be able to answer it but they definitely give a impression whether they are suitable or not. that you need to decide when they walk out of the interview.

5) Always mention the points: whatever you like or dislike about the candidate and if you think that is important then you should mention it down somewhere best place to write it down Is the resume only. Mention it down as when you are taking the interview. it will help you recollect the points during the selection process of the company.

6) Always be soft spoken: very important thing always be soft spoken and set the tone right at the beginning of the interview. make the candidate feel comfortable and then begin with the interview.

**Sharon** · 11-04-2012

Ok that’s a good amount of response that I have got here best to refer them all and work on it accordingly. Yes many of my friends have given me some human resource books to refer to and I am currently into that only. Very much busy so can’t reply to you all in detail.

**Björn** · 12-04-2012

Hey there is a particular blog called as askamanager which I found and I thought I should refer this to you. Hopefully you will be able to get some important points from them. Do read it and let me know if it was helpful for you.

As I can see majority of the points have been covered out here. Still do read it and let me know if it was useful.