You’ve seen countless tips and articles on how to prepare yourself for an interview as a candidate… But how do you prepare if you are the one conducting the interview? Conducting a great interview is often an overlooked skill that many hiring managers don’t actively develop. Many don’t put in the effort to prepare for interviews and it can often become a thoughtless, routine task. A thoughtful preparation can result a great interview that will convince the best candidates to be at your company. Here is a checklist you can do as a hiring manager to get yourself ready to conduct a great interview:

You may have been in the process of writing up the job description or maybe not. It’s key to look over the exact job description so that you can plan your interview and the questions accordingly to find the candidate that will successfully fulfill the job description. Knowing the specific requirements will help the interview go smoothly for you as the hiring manager because you will know exactly what you are looking for and what qualifications (experience as well as culture) the candidate needs to have.

Anything that the candidate has sent you, resume, cover letter, or LinkedIn profile; take time to look at it and get to know who you will be interviewing.  What experience or skills they have that relate to the job they are interviewing for? Take note of things that you may want to ask questions about and get more information about. Pay attention to their hobbies or other traits to gauge the cultural fit for your company.

Create a general outline and schedule for how you want the interview to go. Most of the time, the actual interview will stray from the outline, but it is important to create a schedule so that you have time to hit all the points that you wanted to cover in the interview.

Questions are the most important part of the interview. Sometimes it’s easy to ask the same questions in every interview and it becomes a routine. Think of the specific questions you want to ask the candidate beforehand so you can effectively screen them. Look at the background of the candidate and develop questions in areas that you want to investigate more. Get them to sell you on why they are the best person to fill the position. Make a list of open-ended and close-ended questions that reveal the attitudes and opinions of the candidate.

Make sure you are comfortable in the interview setting. This has to do with both the time of the scheduled interview as well as the actual physical setting. Set up a time that will be void of distractions and interruptions from other employees. Choose a physical setting that you feel comfortable in. Generally, it may be better to conduct it in a conference room or other private office, not in your office where the phone might be going off or other things that would distract your attention.