How Can I Make My Interview Questions Softer and More Polite for Freshers?

Hi, can anyone please help with the questions I need to ask during an interview? My manager has asked me to be softer and use "CAN" or "COULD" instead of WH-type questions in the telephonic round of interviews. For example, instead of asking questions starting with "WHAT," "WHY," "WHEN," such as "What is your profile in your current company?" or "What does your father do?", how can I rephrase these questions to sound more polite and soft?

Guidance for Conducting Softer Interviews

I am new to recruitment and typically conduct telephonic interviews for fresher IT candidates. I would appreciate any guidance.

Thank you.

Hello Ujjwala,

What your manager is referring to is this: Use requesting wordings rather than 'ordering/curt/direct' wordings. For example, 'What does your father do?' can be worded as 'Can you tell what does your father do?', etc. Hope you get the point. And by the way, you do seem to have a good manager who guides you well. All the best.

Regards,
TS

Steps for Conducting a Telephonic Interview

Try to follow these steps, as it's a telephonic discussion, and you need to adhere to some basic ethics:

- Confirm that you are speaking with the right candidate.
- After confirmation, greet him/her (Good morning / good noon / good evening) and ask if he/she is available to discuss the openings.
- After the greeting, inform the candidate where and how you found his/her profile.
- Next, ask the candidate to introduce themselves; usually, all freshers will start with their name, education, family, and project.
- Then, inquire in detail about the project. If you find the candidate excellent and suitable, you can schedule the next level of discussion.
- Typically, the call will last for a maximum of 12-15 minutes if the candidate elaborates on themselves; otherwise, it will end in 5-8 minutes.

Please let me know if you are unclear about any of the steps.

Regards