15-minute Interviewer Survival Kit

We hear a lot about candidate experience for good reason. Interviewing for a job is stressful.

But what’s often overlooked is how challenging it can be to conduct interviews—especially for founders, business owners, and hiring leaders at growing companies who don’t interview often and may have never had formal recruiting training.

If you’re a founder, CEO, business owner or team leader, you probably didn’t get to where you are by mastering interview techniques. You’re an expert in your business.

We don’t expect our clients to be experienced recruiters. That’s our job.

We’ve conducted thousands of interviews, and we know what works. Small shifts in your approach can make a big difference—leading to better conversations, clearer insights, and ultimately, smarter hires.

If you’ve got an interview on your calendar today and you’re not quite sure where to start, here’s our 15-minute Interviewer Survival Kit. It’s a quick plan to help you lead a more confident, effective interview that leaves a lasting impression on the candidate and gets you the info you need to make the right call.

15-minute Interviewer Survival Kit

• Start with clarity. What exactly are you assessing in this interview? Don’t wing it.

  • Ask yourself: What are the attributes and skills that would make someone successful in this job? What attribute or skill am I trying to assess in this interview?

• Prep for 15 minutes. Don’t skim the resume while Zoom is loading.

  • Read the resume, scan LinkedIn, and prepare 3–5 situational or behavioral questions.

  • Lofi music is optional, but encouraged.

• Be consistent. Asking the same core questions across candidates helps you compare apples to apples—and make faster, better decisions.

• Make it human. People think more clearly when they feel comfortable. Interviews should be structured conversations, not interrogations.

  • Find moments for human connection. The weather, the interests section of the resume, and recent vacations are great topics.

• Remember it’s a 2-way street. Candidates are evaluating you, too. Be ready to share why your team is worth joining.

You can be a great interviewer without being a recruiting expert. It’s about having the right mindset, structure, and intention. When you approach interviews this way, you maximize your chance of not just finding someone who can do the job—you maximize your chance of hiring the right person the first time.