Interviews: How to be effective while remaining efficient

Over the past four years, I have been a part of multiple interviews; both on the side of the table receiving the questions as well as asking them. Over this time, I think that the biggest fault in the interview process is thinking you know someone based off of a half a dozen questions. 

The point of an interview for an interviewee is to make yourself stand out so that a prospective employer will want to bring you on board. While this is great, I believe that people feel somewhat obligated to stretch the truth and show their best side. One of the best interviews I was ever a part of actually focused on my weaknesses and failures first, before they asked me about my strengths. Questions such as, “What is your greatest weakness?” and “When was the last time you considered yourself to fail and what were you doing?” were questions that really made me think and prompted genuine responses. I think that this company had very much catered the questions to providing the best employees for their company, which shows validity. 

Being on the other end of the table asking the questions, I make a point to ask all candidates the same questions and try to to stray off topic in case I hear something that the interviewee wants me to hear (small talk about hobbies, etc.) In doing this, I try to be a reliable interviewer so that all applicants have a fair shot at being picked up by the company. 

When it comes to internship interviews specifically, a lot of companies fall short of asking relevant questions. Although many incoming interns have little to no on the job experience they do have life experience in situations that still are applicable on the job. 

If I could go back and tell these interviewers/companies how to improve the effectiveness of their interview, I would tell them to make sure to keep the playing field level, and only be selective on candidates when the needed positions are low; there is no unicorn that will solve every problem.