Once you have shortlisted your candidates (we recommend around 4-6 if possible), you can begin the process of interviewing and understanding more about each candidate.
The interview process is the opportunity to assess the candidate in more detail and with more face-to-face evidence against the person specification. Again, it is important to remember this is about competence, character and chemistry. The Interview for each candidate should use the same format, involve the same people and have the same questions (follow up questions can be used for more detail).
As standard at Safe Families and Home for Good the candidates will be sent the values question in advance with an explanation that as part of the interview:
For the first part of the formal interview I have attached two file (attached below). The first is a list of values. I would like you to consider these and choose which 2 are most important in your
life, then come ready to talk on “what you are passionate about” – inspired by these values. The second attachment is a chapter from Brene Brown entitled Living into our values. There is absolutely no requirement to have read it but you may find it helpful for context.
The interview will have 3 distinct areas
- Part 1 (first 10ish minutes) - This part should be targeted specifically at putting the interviewee at ease. Introduce yourself at the start. Ask very general questions that the person can answer without feeling they have started the interview. The process is to “warm-up” the candidate in preparation for your questions. Practical housekeeping things should be covered here such as, offering them a drink, telling them where the toilets are located and how long the interview will last. The first two interview questions (ie. The pre prepared values one and the “how does your story and experience lead you to be applying for this role?” question) form part of this section.
Part 2 (next 30-40 mins) - This part is focussed on asking questions that will find out about the candidate's suitability for the job. Questions should be targeted at the specific job requirements and criteria established previously and avoid questions that are not relevant to the work or job in question. It is perfectly acceptable to ask questions about hobbies etc as it will give information about their attitude and motivation away from work which will give you an indication of their “real or true self”.
Questions should be “open“. This means that they should be structured in such a way that they cannot be answered with either a yes or a no which encourages the interviewee to speak and give a fuller answer than they may otherwise give.
Types of Questions - You must ensure that you are selecting candidates on their attributes, qualifications and experience so ask questions that relate to those topics. To avoid potential discrimination issues, select people based on skills, knowledge, capability, potential performance and qualifications and do not ask questions that are related to race, sex, age, religion etc.
Ask about their previous work experience, why they are applying to join this organisation, what work they have done previously, what qualifications they gained, what was good about their previous employers, what was not so good, and why they decided to leave?
For our core roles we have pre prepared standard questions that relate to the person specification.
When reviewing the interview questions always pause to think is there is anything specific you want additional clarity on regarding a particular candidate. These questions can be added as additional questions and do not need to be asked to every candidate.
Part 3 (final 5 mins) This part is the wrap-up part, designed at allowing the candidate to ask questions that they may have about the company and package on offer and to confirm specific questions related to things like notice period or salary expectations.
To finish, thank them for their time and ask if they have any further questions that they would like to ask you.
The interviewer should bring the interview to a close by thanking the person for taking the time to come to the interview, indicate how long it will take before a decision will be made and communicated to the candidate, and in what form this will take; letter, phone call, email etc. Do not make a job offer during the interview. Take time after the interview to score the candidate and think through the offer before making the decision.
During the interview the interviewers should make concise notes. These can be shorthand notes, or memory-jogging words that do not need to be a verbatim summary of the whole interview. This will greatly aid the scoring exercise that follows. These notes should be uploaded to the database.
Scoring the candidate
As soon as is practicable, the interview panel should review the answers and “score” the candidate. By referring to the notes made in the interview and the criteria that you were looking for score each criteria on a scale of 0-10 (where 0 is no evidence of that characteristic, 5 solid ability-average score, 10 - highest possible score)
For each of the typical Safe Families and Home for Good roles we have a standard scoring grid (see attached). For new roles you will need to develop this grid prior to the recruitment process.
Informal Interview
In addition to the formal interview Safe Families and Home for Good will often also do an informal discussion stage. This is an opportunity for a different group of people; often the peers that the role will be working with or the team that the person will be line managing, to meet the candidate.
We describe this as “There will be an opportunity after the interview for you to meet a number of the team (explain their relevance to the role); this will be your opportunity to ask any further questions you want, find out what’s it’s like working for Safe Families and Home for Good and get some different perspectives. This is not a formally scored part of the interview but feedback from this session will be provided to the interview panel”
It serves two key purposes:
1. It is an important conversation for the candidate to get a much better feel for the organisation in an environment where they hopefully feel freer to ask a deeper range of questions.
2. It is an important opportunity to see the candidate in a different type of environment.
This is a particularly important stage for leadership roles and an opportunity to gain knowledge of that person’s leadership style; how do they lead the conversation or do they take a much more passive role waiting for one of the team to take the lead. How much to they talk and how much they listen?
After the informal stage the lead recruiter will speak to the panel or a representative of the panel to gather their feedback. This information is not formally scored but may feed into the overall scoring.
Making a selection
When you have interviewed all the candidates you will have a completed grid. There must be at least two interviewers making the decision (often we will have 3).
The interviewers should score the candidates separately and then have a discussion over any differences that they noticed in an effort to come to a consensus.
The scores should be the main reason to make the decision, but other factors may also come into play that should be considered. When is the person able to start? did they only want full time or part time work and does that fit with the current operational requirements?
If two candidates are scored the same and can both do the role – you can choose to invite back for a second interview.
Keeping records
Records of interviews, offer letters, scoring grids and applications should be kept for 6-9 months after the recruitment campaign has ended; this should be uploaded onto the staff database job page. The data needs to be kept in case an unsuccessful candidate makes a claim that you did not select them by virtue of their race, colour, sex etc (any of the discrimination laws). Your data will allow you to prove that the decision was made on grounds of competency and skills. After that time has elapsed the documents relating to unsuccessful candidates should be shredded or disposed of securely (electronic records will be deleted).