Mastering the Art of Effective Interviewing

When I started running interviews, I treated them like tests: technical answers = hire. After attending Nineleaps’ Effective Interviewing Skills program, my approach changed. I learned to treat interviews as evidence-gathering conversations that reveal how people think, learn, and collaborate — not just whether they can code on demand. This article captures the concrete lessons I took away, the changes I made to my interview process, and the simple checklist I now use every time I interview.

The Foundation — The outcomes I aim for as an interviewer

Interviewing is most useful when it produces clear, repeatable outcomes. Since the program, I focus on five things every time I interview:

• Structured & fair evaluation. I use the same assessment framework for every candidate, so decisions don’t come down to gut feeling. Takeaway: consistent criteria = fairer comparisons.
• Constructive candidate engagement. I aim to make interviews a two-way conversation where candidates can show their best thinking. Takeaway: A respectful conversation gives better signals.
• Objective documentation. I write one evidence sentence per criterion immediately after the call so my notes are accurate and useful. Takeaway: write while it’s fresh.
• Collaboration with hiring teams. I share observations and run short calibrations with co-interviewers to align expectations. Takeaway: hire as a team, not a single judge.
• Advocacy for strong candidates. When I see potential, I document why I think they’ll succeed and push for the next step. Takeaway: Advocating helps good candidates get a fair shot.

How I use the 5-Why method to go deeper

This iterative questioning technique serves as a powerful tool for checking the depth of knowledge and understanding. The method involves progressively deeper questioning across five levels:

Basic Knowledge: Surface-level understanding of concepts and principles.
Practical Understanding: Application of knowledge in real-world scenarios.
Problem-Solving Ability: Systematic approach to addressing challenges.
Design Thinking: Creative and innovative solution development.
Continuous Improvement: Integration of learning and adaptation into ongoing practice.

Wearing multiple hats — my “multi-hat” interviewer approach

A good interviewer shifts roles during a single conversation. I consciously move between these hats:

• Technical Assessor. I test domain knowledge and problem-solving with focused probes.
• Cultural Ambassador: I describe the team and observe if the candidate’s values align.
• Emotional Intelligence Evaluator: I notice collaboration style and empathy during scenario questions.
• Future Performance Predictor: I ask about learning and adaptation to see long-term potential.
• Candidate Experience Manager: I keep the interaction human, clear, and respectful.

Being deliberate about which hat I’m wearing helps me ask the right follow-ups and reduces bias.

Unconscious bias — what I watch for and how I fight it

Even the most experienced interviewers are not immune to unconscious bias. These subtle, automatic judgments can quietly influence hiring decisions, often without our awareness. Recognising and addressing them is crucial to building fair, diverse, and high-performing teams.

Bias shows up in small ways. Here are the common traps I guard against and the practical fixes I apply:

Common biases I look for

• Affinity bias — favouring similar backgrounds.
• Confirmation bias — searching for evidence that matches my first impression.
• Halo/Horns — letting one trait dominate the whole evaluation.
• Anchoring — over-weighting the first answer.
• Contrast effect — unfair comparisons between back-to-back candidates.

How I mitigate bias (my playbook)

• Structured interviews & scorecards. I ask the same core probes and use a 1–5 scale for Technical, Communication, Collaboration, and Learning Agility.
• Work samples & real tasks. Whenever possible, I prefer small, role-linked tasks to purely test.
• Document evidence immediately. Short, factual notes beat fuzzy impressions.

Those tactics let me make hiring decisions that are more consistent, fair, and defensible.

Candidate Experience = Employer brand (how I make interviews exceptional)

 

Every interview communicates what our team is like. I use a simple interviewer checklist to make candidate experience consistent:

My Interviewer Checklist

• Prepare & show up: read the CV, be punctual, eliminate distractions.
• Warmth & human connection: 1–2 minutes of small talk to settle the candidate.
• Clear communication: explain the format and what you expect.
• Fairness & bias awareness: Ask the same core questions across candidates.
• Growth mindset & encouragement: Normalise “I don’t know” and judge curiosity.
• Closure & transparency: Explain next steps and timelines.

Practical scripts I use

• “Explain however you’re comfortable — I want to understand your logic.”
• “Connection’s flaky — want to switch to audio or take two minutes?”
• Paraphrase example: “So you debugged by isolating the module — got it.”

These small moves improve candidate comfort and give me clearer signals.

Aligning interviews to our Organisation's values

At Nineleaps, we use IMPACT (Impact, Inclusion, Mettle, Pioneering, Accountability, Collaboration, Trust) as a north star. I explicitly map interview questions to one or two of these pillars so hiring decisions reflect our culture and not just technical fit.

• Inclusion: Respect diversity, open communication
• Mettle: High quality, perseverance
• Pioneering Spirit: Innovation, calculated risk-taking
• Accountability: Ownership and transparency
• Collaboration: Shared success
• Trust: Integrity and realistic commitments

Building a Consistent Interviewer Capability

The program showed me that interviewing can be learned and improved. After I started using simple, repeatable frameworks, our hiring conversations got clearer, we reached an agreement faster, and we had fewer mixed-up recommendations. The result was better hires and a stronger reputation for the team.

What this delivers (my observed outcomes)

• Better hires: We made decisions based on facts, not just gut feeling.
• Happier candidates: People left the interview with a respectful experience.
• Lower risk: Basic fraud checks and small work samples helped catch issues early.
• Stronger interviewers: Regular practice and short calibration chats made everyone better.

The Nineleaps program turned interviewing from a gut exercise into a repeatable craft for me. When I interview with structure, empathy, and an eye for learning agility, I consistently find candidates who not only fit the role technically but who grow and multiply team impact.