Interviewing candidates can get old really fast, particularly if you have a stack of applicants to go through. At times, it feels more like an interrogation than a productive method for getting to the root of a candidate’s core personality and skills. If only there was a secret to conducting interviews successfully.

The good news is that there is a way to vastly improve your ability to interview more effectively and with better results. Consider this your trick to interviewing success.

Limit the questions and listen longer.

Yes, that’s correct. It’s common for interviewers to create a list of interview questions and then fire them off in rapid succession. This puts candidates in the hot seat and it does not give time for the candidate to answer fully.  Basically, it defeats the true purpose of the interview process – learning more about the candidate to see if he or she is a good fit for the open assignment.

Instead, take the time to develop less than 10 good questions that relate to the actual role you are interviewing for. Ask a couple of personality type questions, but keep the overall focus on the job at hand.

As you ask each question, fight the urge to interrupt of skip to the next one. Instead, give the candidate full five-minutes to answer each question. That’s right – five minutes of you being silent and interested in what the candidate has to say.

Typically, this is what will happen when you use this method, and it’s why this interviewing trick is so effective.

The candidate will deliver his or her canned answer. Then will eagerly await your response. Instead of jumping to the next question, ask the candidate to elaborate. This will either make the candidate squirm or the candidate will be able to think on his feet and talk more about this topic. The candidate may even start asking some questions about the company and the assignment at hand. Then you know you have a good candidate to work with.

A candidate who sits there silently is likely neither a prepared candidate nor someone you will want to spend more time interviewing. Try this method a second time and expect a better result. If you don’t get a reasonable effort or response from the candidate, simply wrap up the interview politely and move on to the next candidate.

See how this secret trick makes you more efficient as an interviewer, and it lets you hone in on the best candidates?

Now that you are an effective interviewer, you’ll be able to appreciate that Davis Staffing sends you pre-screened candidates who have a strong background in your industry. This can give you a head start on staffing your business and growing it with the best help.