Preparing beforehand is the key to a successful interview. Here are some steps to take:

There are distinct parts to an interview, and each of them is important. To make sure that you cover all the bases in your interview, use this outline as a guide:

Once you've gathered the information you need from applicants and you've reviewed it, you're ready to start making some appointments to interview the most promising candidates.

If you have an office, it's probably best to conduct the job interview there so that the applicant can see the working environment.

This script was developed from Dr. William S. Swan, Interview Guide; Mary Rudder and Dale P. King, "Interviewing and the ADA: How Do You Get Beyond Strengths and Weaknesses," Americans with Disabilities Act Forum on the Progress of Implementation, Washington, D.C., January 25, 1993. These guidelines apply to all interviews. You can use — or eliminate — any of these questions, but be careful about adding any that aren't business related.

Employment interviews may be highly structured, completely unstructured, or somewhere in between. Whatever form the interview takes, it involves the interaction between you and the applicant to determine whether you are suited to one another.

You can't, of course, stop people from quitting on you. But you can, if you want:

At the time that you make a job offer to an applicant, you will want to mention the salary that comes with the job. You may have already discussed it in the interview. If you have, use the job offer to confirm what you have told the candidate.

Right! ABC Company can't refuse to consider Jane based on the interview alone. There is no indication that Jane is not qualified or that her condition is a direct threat to the safety of others. The interviewer, however, should ask questions about essential job function, as well as open-ended questions that will get Jane to talk about herself. For instance, in this situation, if the job is a high pressure job with daily deadlines, the interviewer may ask:

Okay, so you've done some investigation into what the job entails via job analysis and you've decided what you need. These skills and areas of knowledge should then be translated into your job qualifications. You'll want to keep these qualifications in mind as you review applications and interview people for the job. Consider the following in defining your job qualifications: