There are several steps that need to be taken to ensure an effective interview process. First, you must appoint the executives in your company that will participate as interviewers, together with the immediate supervisor of the position and the project manager. The latter must coordinate with the former ones the interview schedule with sufficient advance notice. Interviewers should set aside the date and time agreed and avoid coming up with last minute changes. Reschedules will always hurt someone else’s planned activities, and it is not a graceful thing to do.

Secondly, some interviews may be done individually and others may be done in a group. It all depends on whether a consensus is being sought or if you also wish the candidates to have a chance to meet other relevant people but not make it an overly long process. If the position to be filled is a supporting staff position, like the (head) Manager of Human Resources, you should include business unit managers as interviewers, for these are the some of the clients / stakeholders to serve. Whereas in the case of a Chief Security Officer, the number of interviewing executives may be significantly less. Usually the first interviewer is the project manager and will meet candidates alone.

You may also include the consultant in all or most interviews, unless you have a well experienced and qualified professional in the company. In a big organization this person would normally be the head of recruiting or the Human Resources Manager. Their participation is important to ensure that interviews are kept on focus and to provide guidance to inexperienced interviewers. The consultant would also benefit from learning the reasons that favored some candidates and the rationale for turning down others.