Power Pack

INTERVIEWING

Recharge your recruitment skills

part of the Recruiters’ Essentials from:

Interviewing

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Using this Power Pack ......

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Interviewing is clearly an integral part of the job of a recruiter. The better you get at identifying good people on behalf of your clients, the better your reputation. Unfortunately some corners of the recruitment industry do not have a particularly strong reputation for their interview selection process. There are some recruiters who will select and present candidates to their client purely based upon the occurrence of the right keywords. This can secure interviews though if you have ever heard the feedback:

“looked good on paper but wasn’t what we were looking for at interview” (or similar)

There is an ever pressing requirement of third party recruiters to add value to their clients. One of the greatest opportunities to do this is by aligning your own interviews to the client organisation’s.

• What will they be testing for at interview?

• How much of that could you deliver for them to ensure better quality shortlists?

• How skilled do you feel you are at conducting interviews?

• Could you help a client to develop their own interview processes?

Within this Power Pack we share some thoughts on interviewing, an introduction to Competency Based Interviews, a structure for a 3rd party recruiters interview and 99 interview questions to add to your armoury.

If you feel you would benefit from additional training in this area, feel free to contact us and we would be delighted to help.

A Guide to

Interviewing

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Interviewing

The purpose of any interview is to gain enough information so you can predict the future behaviour of your candidate.

It is essential that you follow a carefully planned structure when interviewing candidates. This structure will enable you to obtain all the necessary information you require from the candidate and ensure that you maintain control and establish the criteria for measuring the candidate’s commitment.

By interviewing in a structured and professional manner, you will have committed, well-screened and well-briefed candidates to present to your clients in total confidence. Recruiters also find that those candidates who are interviewed properly will be less likely to come up with a last minute deal breaker and will also respect the detailed professional screening that they receive – not to be underestimated given that many candidates become clients later on.

If the candidate has marketable skills or the skills to fill a specific role and you believe that you can work with him/her, then 30-45 minutes should be sufficient for a well-structured interview.

On the odd occasion an interview may take a little longer with a candidate who is quite obviously going to be worth your time. If you need to take a little longer with a candidate in order to gain his/her full commitment then do so but remember to avoid having the interview turn into a general conversation. A simple rule to remember is the 80:20 rule – 80% of the time you should be listening and 20% of the time asking questions.

However, if the candidate does not have the skills/experience that you are looking for, or does not have ‘something to sell’ then you should not spend more than 20-30 minutes with them. Spend this time gaining information (about employer, industry etc) and then explain to the candidate that you will be unable to help him/her and explain exactly why.

This should be a rare occurrence as candidates should be telephone profiled properly before being invited in for an interview with the recruiter to avoid ‘waste of time’ interviews.

How long should a good interview last?

A well-structured and controlled interview will enable you to answer the following:

1. Does the candidate possess the required skills, experience and personality to successfully fill a specific role that you are working on?

2. If they do not meet the above, or if we do not have a specific role in mind, is the candidate marketable, i.e. does he/she have something to sell (rare skill-set, unusual experience, etc)?

3. Will you be able to control the candidate throughout the recruitment process, ensuring that he/she will be committed to working with you on your terms?

4. What are the candidate’s motivations to move, and if he/she gets a job offer through you, will they accept and move on?

5. What other information can you obtain from this individual to help you develop your business further?

The Purpose of the Interview

There are limitations to the traditional interview - information is gathered from the interview in a relatively unsystematic manner and judgements may be made on candidates for a variety of reasons.

Here are some reasons as to why the traditional interview has been criticised:

Self fulfilling prophecy effect

Potential employers may ask questions designed to confirm initial impressions of candidates gained either before the interview or in its early stages

The stereotyping effect

Potential employers sometimes assume that particular characteristics are typical of members of a particular group. In the case of sex, race, disability, marital status or ex offenders, decisions made on this basis are often illegal

The halo and horns effect

Potential employers sometimes rate candidates as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ based on one defining comment and therefore reach unbalanced decisions

The contrast effect

Potential employers can allow the experience of interviewing one candidate to effect the way they interview others who are seen later in the selection process

The similar-to-me effect

Potential employers sometimes give preference to candidates who they perceive as having a similar background, career history, personality or attitudes to themselves.

The personal liking effect

Potential employers may make decisions on the basis of whether they personally like or dislike the candidate

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Interviewing Pitfalls

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Interview Structure - for 3rd party recruiters

Introduction

Agenda

Open Questions Regarding:Career/CV

Open Questions Regarding:Role Sought & Expectations

Open Questions to Assess:Competiton

Present Relevant Opportunities

Agree Action Plan (Clarify)

Close

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Assessment Reliability

A range of different methods can be used to assess candidates such as an in tray exercise, a role play, a presentation and work sampling. These vary in their reliability as illustrated by Saville and Holdsworth’s table below:

Many companies are now using more methods when recruiting e.g. assessment centres, group exercises and Competency Based Interviewing (CBI). The more methods that are used the better chance an employer has in predicting how the candidate will perform in the job as the impact of poor selection can be very expensive

• An increase in staff turnover

• New starters depart in the first 6 months

• Cost of recruiting, inducting and training new starters

• Claims for unfair selection

• Risk of employment tribunal

Towards perfect prediction 1.00

Assessment centresAbility tests/group exercises

0.65

Structured application formsCompetency based interviewing/in tray exercises

0.32

Cut off point 0.30

Typical employment interview(single scales of personality)

0.13

Graphology/astrology/phrenologyRandom prediction

0.00

An Introduction to

Competency-BasedInterviews

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Competency Based Interviews

Introduction

Competency-based interviews (also called structured interviews) are interviews where each question is de-signed to test one or more specific skills. The answer is then matched against pre-decided criteria and marked accordingly. For example, you may want to test the candidate’s ability to deal with stress by asking first how the candidate generally handles stress and then asking the candidate to provide an example of a situation where he worked under pressure.

How do competency-based interviews differ from normal interviews?

Normal interviews (also called unstructured interviews) are essentially a conversation where you ask a few questions that are relevant to what they are looking for but without any specific aim in mind other than get-ting an overall impression of you as an individual. Questions are fairly random and can sometimes be quite open. For example “What can you offer our company?” is meant to gather general information about you but does not test any specific skill or competency. In an unstructured interview, the candidate is judged on the general impression that he/she leaves; the process is therefore likely to be more subjective.

Competency-based interviews (also called structured or behavioural interviews) are more systematic, with each question targeting a specific skill or competency. Candidates are asked questions relating to their be-haviour in specific circumstances, which they then need to back up with concrete examples. You can then dig further into the examples by asking for specific explanations about the candidate’s behaviour or skills.

Which skills and competencies do competency-based interviews test?

Here is the list of the more common skills and competencies that you may ask a candidate to demonstrate:

Skills and competencies for competency-based interview• Goal orientation

• Influence

• Business development

• Commercial awareness

• Integrity

• Situational empathy

• Relationship building

• Planning

• Teamwork

• Emotional intelligence

• Communication

• Presenting

• Creativity

• Work ethic

• Tenacity

• Attention to detail

• Risk taking

• Decision making

• Listening

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Competency Based Interviews

How competency-based interview questions are marked

Before the interview, you will have determined which type of answers would score positive points and which types of answers would count against the candidates. For example, for questions such as “Describe a time when you had to deal with pressure”, the positive and negative indicators may be as follows:

In some cases, negative indicators are divided into two further sections: minor negative indicators, i.e. those which are negative but which don’t matter so much; and decisive negative indicators i.e. those for which they won’t forgive you e.g. not asking for help when needed.

Marks are then allocated depending on the extent to which the candidate’s answer matches those negative and positive indicators. Here is an example of a marking schedule for the table above:

If you feel that there are areas that you have failed to address, you can help the candidate along by probing appropriately. For example, in answering the question above “Describe an example of a time when you had to deal with pressure”, if the candidate focussed on how they dealt with the practical angle of the problem but forgot to discuss how they managed their stress during and after the event, you may prompt them with a further question such as “How did you handle the stress at the time?”. This would give the candidate an opportunity to present a full picture of their behaviour.

Positive Indicators Negative Indicators• Demonstrates a positive approach towards

the problem.

• Considers the wider need of the situation

• Recognises his own limitations

• Is able to compromise

• Is willing to seek help when necessary

• Uses effective strategies to deal with pres-sure/stress

• Perceives challenges as problems

• Attempts unsuccessfully to deal with the situation alone

• Used inappropriate strategies to deal with pressure/stress

0 No evidence No evidence reported

1 PoorLittle evidence of positive indicators

Mostly negative indicators, many decisive

2 Areas for concernLimited number of positive indicators.

Many negative indicators, one or more decisive.

3 SatisfactorySatisfactory display of positive indicators.

Some negative indicators but none decisive.

4 Good to excellent Strong display of positive indicators.

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Scoring the Interview

STAR model

To prepare for a competency based interview, the potential employer would firstly review the job descrip-tion carefully and identify the skills and traits likely to be assessed. They would need to ask the candidate to identify some situations and experiences that they can refer to in order for them to demonstrate these skills and traits.

The STAR methodology as shown below is often used to provide the interviewer a defined structure to con-duct the interview.

Situation

Identifying an example/scenario

Task

Outlining the tasks (objectives) involved

Action

Assessing what actions were taken to achieve the objectives

Result

Probing the outcome

Sample STAR questions

CBI is looking for past examples and real life situations. Give the candidate plenty of time of think of good examples and spend enough time ensuring you have a specific situation. Here are some competency based questions based on an example Planning and Organising competency:

S Highlight a time when you had to achieve a task/project within a certain timescale?

T What were you trying to achieve?

What was your objective?

A How did you go about it?

What were your specific duties?

What obstacles did you have to overcome?

R What was the outcome?

From what you learnt, what have you since put into practice?

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An Example Competency Framework

TeamworkCo-operates and supports each other to produce better results. Takes responsibility to build and maintain positive relationships and values the opinion of others.

Level 4

Level 3

Level 2

Level 1

– Demonstrate openness – Listens to the contributions of others – Collaborates effectively with others – Demonstrates empathy with colleagues – Responds to requests for help and support – Treats others with respect

– Promotes the use of teams to deliver – Recognises the input and value of others – Contributes to the team consistently – Raises difficult issues with team with a view to positive

outcome

– Demonstrates collaborative approach to business development and other activities

– Promotes teamwork to increase group performance – Collaborates with other branches and divisions – Proactive in seeking and giving help

– Promotes cross team working as a principle means of delivery

– Builds and promotes a climate that values collaboration and teamwork

– Promotes team outcome above individual performance – Seeks out successes in others teams to model

Negative indicators:• Silo mentality or behaviour

• Puts own interests/agenda before those of others/team

• Takes credit for what rightly belongs to others

• Is uncomfortable sharing ideas with others

• Blames others when things go wrong

• Openly critical of others without suggesting how things could be done differently

99 Powerful Interview Questions

AchievementTell me about a time when you went beyond the call of duty

Tell me about your recent work accomplishments of which you are most proud

What challenging experiences have you had?

What do you consider to be your most important accomplishment and why?

What is the most difficult take you have undertaken?

What were your most memorable accomplishments with your last employer?

What was your greatest disappointment?

MotivationsDescribe to me a time when you felt that you were most recognised by your employer, how did it make you feel?

How important is responsibility to you?

What makes you put forth your greatest effort?

What motivates you in accomplishing difficult tasks?

What has you last employer done that motivated you to work harder?

What motivates you to be successful in your job?

How important are promotions and advancement to you?

How do you know when you are doing a good job?

When was the last time you were rejected, how did you deal with it?

Sense of SelfDescribe a recent situation in which you have been most successful

How do you define ‘success?’

How would you describe your standards of performance?

What are some of the reasons for your success?

What does ‘failure’ mean to you?

Tell me about your recent successes.

What makes you better then your colleagues/co-workers?

RelationshipsDescribe a conflict with an employee and how you handled it.

Describe a (recent) situation in which you had to quickly establish your credibility and gain the confidence of others? What did you do?

Describe a (recent) situation when you didn’t know who you needed to speak with in an organisation and to get something done. What did you do?

Describe a (recent) situation on you last job that you did not handle as well as you might have.

Describe a time when you simplified or clarified a situation by putting your finger on the key issue.

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Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a rude person at work, how did you deal with the situation?

When was the last time you challenged your supervisor, what was it over?

Experience/ResponsibilitiesDescribe your current job for me.

Describe your typical workday.

What experiences have taught you the most?

What experiences led you to choose your career path?

What have you learned from your mistakes?

What kind of projects using leadership skills have you done?

Which of your jobs presented the best (learning) experience?

OrganisationTalk me through your current priorities, how do you decide what to do first?

When was the last time a major unexpected event occurred at work, how did you deal with it?

How do you plan to achieve your career goals?

What plans do you have to correct your weaknesses?

Tell me about a time when you organised a project where you were responsible for delegating tasks to others.

Analytical ThinkingDescribe a time you had to make a quick decision.

Tell me about a recent problem you had to resolve at work, how did you approach it?

When was the last time you felt you made the wrong decision at work, what did you learn from it.

When did you last get stuck on a problem?

When did two priorities last compete for your time?

ProgressionHow did you move up within the company?

How do you feel about your career progression?

How has your job prepared you to take on greater responsibility?

In what ways has your job changed sine you began it?

What do you think determines a person’s progress in a good company?

What kind of responsibilities would you like to see added to those you have already in your next job?

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GoalsHow did you chose your last employer?

How did you decide on this profession?

How have your career goals changed over time?

How often do you set goals for yourself?

If you could start your career over, what would you do differently?

Tell me about your most important long-term goals. What are your long range career goals?

What are your mid term goals? What have you done so far to achieve them?

What goals have you set for yourself?

Why did you chose these?

What goals, other than those related to your occupation, have you established for yourself for the next 10 years?

Flexibility/AdaptabilityWhat recent surprises have you had to deal with at work recently?

When did you last have to cope with change?

How would you change your current working conditions?

Tell me about a time when you had to make a decision for which no procedure existed?

What changes would you make in your current job?

What is the most difficult change you’ve encountered in your career?

What job responsibilities would you like to avoid on a new job?

What do you do when starting a new job?

Benefit to a CompanyHow could you contribute to our company?

How would we benefit if we hired you?

What did you do particularly well in your last job?

What did you spend most of your time doing in your last job?

What skills do you bring to us and how can you put them to work?

Why would you be an asset to our company?

Handling Stress/PressureHow do you cope with stress on the job?

Describe the type of pressure you face at work and how you have coped with a recent stressful event.

When were you last given an unclear assignment?

Think of a particularly hectic day. How did you handle it? What do you find frustrating?

What part of your workload do you find most challenging?

What was the most frustrating thing about your last job?

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QualificationsDescribe one reason I should hire you over a more qualified candidate.

If you were hiring a person for this position, what qualities would you look for in an applicant?

Tell me your (specific) qualifications that make you the best candidate for this job.

What are the skills you need to work on most?

What characteristics do you think a person must have to be successful in your field?

What skills do you think this position requires?

You’ve had little experience in this field. How do you intend to learn?

Self-Knowledge/AwarenessHow do you handle compliments?

How would you describe yourself as an individual?

If I were to speak to your manager/colleagues/reports how would they describe you?

What are some of your weaknesses, things you’re still working on?

What in your life as given you the most satisfaction?

What do you consider to be your greatest asset?

What criticism of you has helped you the most? Who was it from?

What are the aspects that you would like to further improve on yourself?

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• How to Headhunt

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• Outperform your Competitors