What is involved in a second interview? Hint: it isn’t just a repeat of the first interview
First of all, it’s important to distinguish between first and second interviews. The first interview is usually much more surface level – your goal is to eliminate all the candidates who clearly are not a fit for the role. In the second-round interview, you have an opportunity to dive much deeper. The goal is to get to know the candidate better, understand how they think and how they might react in different situations.
These interviews are usually conducted on site, face to face, although with the rise of remote roles and video conferencing in recent years, virtual interviews are becoming increasingly common. They are typically longer than first-round interviews, often lasting an hour or up to a full day. Generally, you shouldn’t invite more than two or three candidates back for the second round. Otherwise, the process can become very drawn out, as you’ll most likely need to conduct a third round of interviews.
Conducting the interview: here’s a plan you can follow
1. Prepare
It’s a good idea to review your notes from the first interview and to share those notes with the other interviewers. You should also discuss your thoughts and impressions of the candidate. However, it’s important that the interviewers are as objective as possible and make up their own minds about the candidate’s suitability for the role.
The timing is important: if you can, try to interview candidates on the same or consecutive days. This will make it easier to compare the candidates, as the interviews won’t be as fresh in your memory if they are too far apart.
2. Welcome the candidate and make them feel comfortable
Unless answering questions in high-pressure situations is one of the core skills you’re looking for, it’s important to put your candidate at ease right from the start. You don’t want your candidate to be wracked with nerves throughout the interview – this will just make it harder for you to properly assess their personality and abilities. So, it’s a good idea to do some small talk at the start of the interview. Simply talking about the weather, asking about their trip to the office or offering them a drink is often enough to calm those pre-interview nerves.
3. Outline an agenda
People are much more likely to be relaxed if they know what to expect. So, make sure you tell the candidate what’s going to happen in the interview before you fire away with your questions. A typical agenda for the interview might look something like this:
- Recap of what was discussed in the first interview
- Question time: you ask the candidate pre-prepared questions
- You provide information about the position and company
- You offer the candidate an opportunity to ask questions
4. Recap
Then, as per the agenda, briefly recap what you discussed in the last interview. You can then ask the candidate if they have any specific questions about the position or company. This is a good opportunity to sell the role to them. Try to make your answers detailed and use examples. Be positive, but not misleading.
5. Question time: ask the candidate your pre-prepared questions
Now it’s time to get down to the nitty-gritty and ask the candidate a set of questions that you have prepared in advance. You should aim to ask behavioural questions. Skip to the example questions below to find out more about behavioural questions. Asking this type of question will help you better understand the candidate’s skills and abilities, as well as personality traits. These questions focus on the candidate’s past experiences, which can indicate how they would perform in the role they’re applying for.
6. Pre-employment assessments
These are optional. But if you are including pre-employment assessments in the second interview, make sure you let the candidate know in advance, so they have some time to prepare. Some employers like using pre-employment assessments, such as skills tests and psychometric tests, because they are seen as objective, and they can give you a good idea of how a candidate will work with others and cope with the stresses of the job. They give employers an extra layer of certainty that they’ve made the right hire. If you use them, you should make sure they are relevant to the role and are non-discriminatory.
7. Question time again: ask if the candidate has any questions about the role or organisation
Be ready to answer questions about salary, commission and other benefits, such as leave and flexible work arrangements. The candidate’s questions are often a good indication of how interested they are in the role. Try to give enough detail in your answers to give a good impression of the company and demonstrate that you support the concept of full disclosure.
8. Outline the next steps
Ask the potential future employee about their availability, for example, how much notice they would need to give their current employer. This could be a factor in your decision-making if they won’t be available to start for several weeks. You might like to give the candidate a conditional job offer at this point. This will let the candidate know you’re serious and also give you an idea of how strong the candidate’s interest is.
9. Wrapping up: end the interview
Whatever you do, try to avoid closing with ‘Don’t call us, we’ll call you’ or ‘Thanks, we’ll let you know’. No one likes being left hanging. Tell the candidate if you are going to be interviewing other people and when you’ll let them know if they were successful. Let them know they can email any questions they might have in the meantime.
After each interview, you might like to write down some notes about the candidate. This will aid the decision-making process and also allow you to provide accurate and constructive feedback when you let them know whether they were successful.
Second interview questions: 5 examples
It’s important to have a list of questions for the second interview ready and to make sure you ask the candidates the same questions, so that you can compare them fairly. The questions should be more in-depth than for first-round interviews. Try to focus on asking behavioural questions.
What are behavioural questions?
These questions seek to identify situations and problems the person has faced at work. The goal here is to understand how the prospective employee handled the situations, which gives you an idea of how they might handle similar situations in the new role. Examples include: ‘Tell me about a conflict situation you were in and how you handled it.’ Or ‘What’s your greatest achievement?’
Here are some examples of questions you might like to ask:
1. ‘What attracted you to our company?’
This is a great question to open with. It will allow you to see if the prospective employee has taken the time to research your company. It indicates whether they place value on where they work.
2. ‘Tell me about a time you had to make a difficult decision. How did you go about it?’
Making difficult decisions is highly stressful and they demand strategic thinking. This question will show you whether the candidate was able to create a strategic plan and take responsibility.
Look out for confidence and critical thinking.
3. ‘Tell me about the project or task that you would consider your greatest career accomplishment so far.’
Look out for whether the candidate is confident in their work and professional choices, but also whether they’re humble enough to attribute some of their success to others. Also, listen out for whether they explain how the achievement benefitted the company. This shows how committed they are to the organisation they work for.
4. ‘Tell me about a time when you had a heavy workload and not enough resources. What did you do in this situation?’
This question will give you an idea of how well they deal with pressure and how flexible they are.
Look out for specific examples of how they stayed calm and persevered to see the task through.
5. ‘Tell me about a time when you made a mistake.’
No one wants to make themselves look bad in an interview, so the instinct for many is to give an answer along the lines of: “I was just so committed to A, that I neglected B.” They try to cover up their mistake to avoid exposing a potential shortcoming. This question will help you see whether they can own their mistakes and learn from them.
Look out for whether they admit to making a mistake and describe what they learnt from the experience.
