Most common interview mistakes (made by interviewers)

(Also see part 1 where I went over a few typical mistakes I have seen candidates make during interviews.)

Over the past years I have done a large amount of shadow interviews and in those I have seen some recurring common mistakes made by the interviewer. Most of them I have also made myself in the past when I started conducting interviews 10+ years back. If you do interviews, maybe these lines resonate with you and help you get better.

(Disclaimer: this is my personal view only)

But before, what is a shadow interview? A shadow interview normally comprises two interviewers, main and secondary (aka. shadow). The main interviewer is generally someone starting interviewing for the first time (at the company). The shadow interviewer role is to ideally not intervene during the interview, form their own idea about the performance of the candidate and most importantly take lots of notes that will serve as feedback to the main interviewer.

(It is important to note that one can have plenty of years of experience interviewing and yet need to be shadowed in interviews in a new company. I find this a very good practice as it ensures that all interviewers in that given company conduct the interviews in the same manner)

These are the common mistakes I have seen while shadowing interviews.

#1 — No greetings, no intro no pleasantries, no expectations

TL;DR Greet the candidate and allow for 5 minutes chit chat before the interview

When starting as an interviewer it is very common to cut right to the chase and start right from the get go with the interview questions. We need to be aware that an interview will always be stressful for the candidate and giving 5 minutes to exchange some casual intros and pleasantries helps a great deal making the candidate feel a bit more comfortable.

I also find it very important to greet the candidate when we first meet them. I find shaking hands very appropriate and necessary, I will not enter in the psychology behind shaking hands, but to me it clearly sends a nonverbal affirmation of non-hostility.