You have the list of interview questions ready for the evaluation of candidates. You think everything will be OK; everything will be as you expect. But, do you know that the success of an interview depends not only on the questions but on many other factors as well?

Here are some small tips to help you make a really good preparation for your interview:

1. Before the Interview:

· Clearing up the initial shyness; as a candidate shall often feel nervous at the start of the interview, you should make a quite enjoyable environment for him/her to feel relaxed. Then, you should start with simple questions so that the candidate may feel naturally and become more confident.

· Don't evaluate the candidate by the first impression. Making such an attractive first impression is not easy to many candidates but they may be very excellent employees. Therefore, you should not rush to the decision about the candidates just by their outlook; let experiences and skills decide their real value.

2. During the Interview:

· Introduce about the job: you need to tell the candidates about their duties, direct managers, departments, difficulties and challenges they may encounter during working and especially, the standards to evaluate the employee's performance in the company.

· Don't hesitate to "change": you have prepared a list of interview questions but you do not have to totally rely on such questions. You may depend on the information the candidate gives you to ask such questions in relation thereto, which shall help you to understand more about the candidate's experience.

· Always Listen: Don't talk too much during an interview and let the candidates speak as much as well so that you may assess their real ability. Normally, in an interview, 80% of the time should be spent on listening to the candidate whereas only 20% should be spent on asking the candidate and introducing about your company.

· Record necessary information: you should prepare paper to record important information of the candidates such as outstanding achievements and special skills. This will make the evaluation of candidates fairer and more correct.

· Encourage the candidate to ask: You shall find many interesting points about the candidate with such questions! The questions by the candidate shall help you understand why he/she decides to apply in your company, for attractive salary policy, holiday system or the wish to develop in a dynamic environment, etc. If the candidate doesn't ask any question (especially high qualified candidates) which means he/she may not find interested in working with your company.

· Avoid Sensitive questions: You should just ask questions relating directly to the recruitment and absolutely avoid questions of regional discrimination or racism...

· Find more and carefully about the candidate's experience: Such questions as "Tell me...?" or such requests the candidate to solve particular situation at work will help you understand more about the candidate's real ability to work.

3. After the Interview:

· Reply to the candidates: many candidates often claim that they have to wait for a long time for the employer's reply after the interview or are invited to the next interview round but there is no employer there. If you have decided to choose any candidate, you need to inform him or her of the schedule of the next interview. This shall be very convenient to you as such candidate may be "hunted" down by other companies. In case the candidate is not suitable, you should find proper way to conclude the interview, but be very clever and sincere to appraise the strong points of such candidate (such strong points shall be more suitable to another job). Never promise any candidate any call later if you don't mean it.

· Make good impression in the Company: recruiting talents is becoming more and more competitive among companies. Remember, a good company's image is the most important factor to attract many talents. There are some methods of promoting your company's image such as never being late to the interview or others. Many companies lost their potential candidates for such purpose of not creating a good impression in the candidate due to their unprofessional.

Be an "ambassador" to your company by conducting professional and fair interview. You shall not only recruit such talents but also create a good "prestige and image" of the company, which shall attract more talents later.