Job interviews can be very useless if you don’t do them right. The interviewer asks some questions and the applicant tells the interviewer what he thinks the interviewer wants to hear. It is all so worthless. But, you can ask personality and thinking questions where there is no right answer. I find that interviews do not tell me which candidate will do well in the end, although it tells me who I like and who communicates well.
But, most bosses fail to understand the art of attracting good workers. Large companies succeed where many small companies fail because people might feel that they have a good future at a large company. Many feel that at a tiny company, there is nowhere to grow. This is not always true, but it is about the impression you make and not about reality.
A smart boss lets the prospective worker know what they can expect to get from the job, and what they can learn from it too. This way the applicant feels that they will develop their career at the job and that it will lead somewhere. Most applicants want to go in a direction, and if they can’t see that direction clearly, they might take a job from somewhere else which pays a lot less.
Another factor not to ignore is asking the prospective employee where they want to go with their career. If your offering somewhat matches where they want to go, you might have a match. The important thing is that a job is not just about the money. It is about the experience, who you will meet, what the office looks like, and what can be learned. If your interview doesn’t focus on all of that juicy stuff, you are missing the point.