Good Morning All,
About a year ago I asked a question about hiring and interviewing. I received many responses and also obtained some great resources from the Clearinghouse. I don’t think I ever shared the results of what we developed as a result of that research. We held one of our Management Academy workshops yesterday and it focused on employee handbooks, hiring, etc. Since I’m sending this out to our participants, I thought I’d pass it along to those who may be interested.
It’s not like we’ve hired many people here since I’ve been on board (4) but each time we’ve learned from the interview process and tried to improve it. I’ve found that when you interview a lot of people (or even a few) it can become difficult to remember them. You start to ask things like, “Did you write down Jim’s response to that question the other day. I can’t remember what he said.” This forms breaks down the questions into categories. You then rate each category on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being most important. For us, competence, experience and attitude were the most important. You rate the candidate as you go along and total up the score at the end. This was a very easy and informative approach for us and worked very well. Of course, you would adjust several categories with questions that reflect the position you’re looking to be filled.
This form may seem like a 2 hour interview, but you can easily get through it in 45 minutes or under. In Maureen’s own words, “it was very efficient and professional”.
<<Interview Questions for Office Assistant 2004.doc>>
6 Benefits of Improved Hiring Skills
1) higher staff quality
2) improved decision making
3) increased credibility
4) reduced turnover
5) reduced chance of legal action
6) more rewarding environment
3 Critical Factors in Selecting
1) do they have core skills
2) will they thrive in this (our) corporate culture
3) does this job meet the candidate’s needs
6 Reasons Why Interviews Fail
1) we don’t get enough information (first impressions) out of questions
2) applicant doesn’t understand full requirements of job
3) we fail to evaluate resume, past performance = future
4) we settle for superficial answers like “I’m a people person…”
5) we’re only concerned with skills – other areas are key also
6) we forget qualities of candidate – fail to keep score – take good notes
4 Essential Components
1) define job accurately – provide prior to interview
2) evaluate resume fully – highlight – mark it up
3) ask right questions and ask them effectively – follow-up to get beyond rehearsed answers
4) key score and quantify your results
Interview Questions for Office Assistant 2004.doc