Curran & Associates

Before you start

It is important to remember that an interview is for the benefit of the employer and the candidate and should be a two way process. An interview is an assessment of a candidate's ability, not a test to catch them out.

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Some employers seem to treat the interview like a test with "trick questions" that they expect the candidate to understand. Also, they often don't think to prompt candidates if they are not getting the answers they require e.g. they get a response at a strategic level and then give interview feedback to say that the candidate could not give examples at an operational level (or vice versa). It does not mean the candidate does not know the operational answer, they just thought that is what the interviewer wanted. Therefore, it is ok to say "that's great at a strategic level, what would you do at an operational level"? This may sound obvious but people think it is leading them rather than just finding out more information about the candidates abilities.

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The interviewing framework

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There are three questions you need answered:

 

Can they do the job?

Start by assessing and rating the candidate based on the critical competencies of the job. The criteria are set after discussion and agreement at the start of the recruitment cycle.

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Will they do the job?

Here you are looking for signs that the candidate will be there for the long haul. Assess their interest in working for you and ensure their motivations are sound. If the role is for a contract period, can the candidate commit for that period?

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Will they fit in?

Getting the best results requires an understanding of how things are done in the business and the management style of their supervisor.

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What do you want to know?

 

You must decide what it is you want to find out. The best way of doing this is to have a job description that details fully what the person is meant to do, what important personal attributes and skills they need to have and how you will decide whether they are doing a good job or not. These are known as key performance indicators (KPIs) or KRA's (Key Result Areas).

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Information included in a job description typically consists of:

• job title
• who the position reports to
• who the person interacts with
• responsibilities (e.g. manage Team Leaders, work force planning for 600FTE etc)
• personal attributes (e.g. ability to work without supervision)
• skills (e.g. intermediate Microsoft Excel)
• salary or salary range
• key performance indicators (e.g. Customer Satisfaction, Employee Engagement)

I would say that in at least 50 per cent of the placements we do for clients the job descriptions are not specific enough for the role. I am not sure why clients don't wish to spell out the role.

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The commitment of documenting the role is for you and the candidate to have clarity on what you expect from them and what they can expect from you from moment zero. That is the first time they meet up with you. There is no problem later if you wish to change the job description that just comes down to negotiation. Perhaps having to negotiate is what people are afraid of and choose to keep the job description in their heads.

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After deciding on a list of skills, attributes and KPIs, the next step is to write down questions to ask each of the candidates that will give you some insight into whether they can meet your list of requirements.

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For example, to address the KPI of improved Employee Engagement you could ask 'Can you give me an example of a situation where you had to improve Employee Engagement? Please give details of the project and of the outcome.'

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If they say they have not worked on this sort of project you can ask them to give you an idea about how they think they might tackle it. This will indicate whether or not they would be able to complete the task. Once you are in the interview you need not limit yourself to the questions on this list. However, having a fairly structured line of questioning helps ensure that you do not forget to ask important questions, and that you keep on the right track throughout the interview.

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Asking the same questions to each candidate is a good way of assessing each candidate objectively.

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Icebreakers

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We want the candidate to relax when they are about to do the interview. A good tip is to find something in their resume that you can open with. Like, 'I see you went to Melbourne University - I went there but it was a while ago now' or 'Did you have any trouble finding our offices?'

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Making good notes

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For each of the questions, write down the response. I have found the memory lets me down if I have to interview several candidates. Another useful thing to do is to have a rating of 1-10 on the important key performance indicators, skills and personal attributes. As you receive the response from the candidate place a rating against that attribute.

If you don't have the time during the interview then take some time immediately after to note your impressions. Do it soon after as the memory will fade and impressions of candidates will slide into one another.

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Other questions you can ask

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Remember that you must tie your questions to your skills, attributes and KPIs. The questions you ask and the information you receive from the candidate must be relevant to the position if it is to be of any real use to you.

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• Discuss the candidate's current and previous positions and their major duties there, the technology they used, why they left
• Go through the duties they performed in each of their last three roles and if unsure of any of the duties ask the candidate to explain
• Ask about the duties they most enjoy performing and what they do not enjoy so much, and the ideal sort of position they would like
• Perhaps present them with a few 'tell me about a time when' scenarios, to see how they have coped with difficult situations in the past. For example in an Centre Management role how they coped with getting buy in on initiatives and projects from other departments who did not place the same emphasis on these initiatives
• Ask questions about practical things which may be important to you, such as have they been required to travel in their previous positions, and would they be prepared to do so in this position
• And one of my favourites, ask them what feedback was given in their last performance appraisal. If they don't address any of their weaknesses in the interview then ask 'what do you think your Executive Manager would say is the biggest challenge in managing you?'
• Ask the candidate where their role finished and their supervisors started. You will find this simple question sorts out very quickly what your candidate has really been doing

Create an assumption-free zone

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Ask questions, don't make assumptions. Just because a person has an education qualification (industry relevant), do not assume they know everything. They may know lots of things but not the one thing that is crucial for your role.

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If a candidate in an interview says something like 'I had to performance manage some of my team', it's very important to stop and ask what they mean by that. My favourite question to this would be 'I think I know what performance management means, however can you explain what you mean by it?'. Sometimes we are on the same wave length, other times the candidates will surprise me with a completely different definition. You can learn so much more by seeking clarification.

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To ensure that you have understood, it can be useful to give feedback to the candidate on what you have just heard. Something like, 'so it sounds like you had monthly one on ones and documented areas for improvement, then presented them to your manager for their approval, is that right?'

 

A knowledge base

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The bigger picture for this approach to the recruitment process is that once you have done a few, you start to document a process for your business. This will help get uniformity into the process, improve the quality and provide a pathway for the inexperienced on how to conduct the recruitment process.

With so much now being put back on the line managers to conduct the recruitment, anything that makes the process faster will free the senior manager or partners to move onto other things.

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Closing the interview

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It is always important to "sell" your business and job opportunity. Either party may decide that this opportunity is not right for them, however if left with an informed and positive experience about your organisation, candidates will refer on your business and your paths may cross at a point in the future. Things to highlight when selling your business: career development, culture, social activities, free car parking, bonuses, and morning tea on a Friday etc.

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The perfect interview

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There is no such thing as a perfect interview, but rather it is about ensuring you are able to get the information you require to make an informed decision. A lot of our clients have missed out on good candidates searching for the perfect interview. I believe that working towards a flawless interview is a work in progress and it starts with your next interview.