Brilliant Questions for Great Interviewers

CHAPTER 1: AN INTRODUCTION

Hiring new employees has never been more challenging; employment law changes have limited the types of questions that can be asked. More people are retiring earlier than in the past and permanent levels of sickness absence have increased, limiting the supply of labour. Equally, the UK leaving the European Union has limited the supply of people, especially those previously employed in minimum wage work. The COVID pandemic led to a 'work-from-home' culture in many organisations, and now post COVID, many employees no longer wish to work five days a week in the workplace. While many employers would like to return to pre-COVID work arrangements, many employees are insisting on 'hybrid' working (part in the workplace and part from home) and in tight labour markets, this has added to the challenge of hiring. Further, stubborn poor levels of UK productivity add to the challenges, as employers aim to seek out the best available talent to help improve organisational performance.

This environment has added to the risks of hiring. One bad hire in a critical role can have catastrophic impacts on an organisation. Becoming more cautious to ensure the correct hire by elongating the process by having multiple interviews may become de-motivational to candidates who withdraw, leading to a loss of good potential recruits.

Good candidates will usually follow the path of least resistance, and hence, the more straightforward and speedier the selection process can be, the greater the chance of finding the best candidate. This book has been designed to help the hirer do just that.

CHAPTER 2: RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION PROCESS

Recruitment and selection are a key activity in any organisation.

Simply put, the aim is to obtain the required number of people with the requisite knowledge and skills, usually at minimum cost, to satisfy the workforce needs of the organisation.

There are three key stages to the process, namely:

Workforceplanning

Actionplan(attractingcandidates)

Selection(includinginterviewing)

The table below explains the three-stage recruitment process.

While this book deals with one critical part of the process – namely the interview and brilliant questions to ask – I would say that from my experience and evidence of the labour market, the process does not work as well as it should.

Insufficient attention is placed on workforce planning, which if undertaken properly, will build in the need for greater employee productivity for the future.

Internal promotion is often held back by limited training and career development opportunities.

This all leads to greater competition for the best talent, or any talent, to 'right size' the organisation for ongoing success.

Recruitment and selection: three stage process:

CHAPTER 3: THE JOB INTERVIEW, AIMS AND STRUCTURE

The job interview is by far the most common selection technique form. It may be part of a detailed structured process or virtually a one-off event, but whichever it is, it is the only two-way communication part of the selection process. Interviews are all about getting the required information you need from each candidate, as well as enabling a frank exchange of views, in order to decide who to hire. In order to achieve the most reliable result, candidates should be asked the same questions so that answers may be compared and effective decisions made.

Many people involved in selection interviewing have never had interview skills training. They carry on in their own sweet way, often losing good candidates due to their unprofessionalism or hiring candidates who are not competent to carry out the work effectively.

This book aims to help improve an interviewer's capability and accelerate the hiring success rate.

Aim of Interview

There are three main aims of the job interview, namely;

Screening

Gatheringandgivinginformation

Selectiondecisions

Screening often takes place by studying application documents such as CVs, application forms, detailed letters of application and possibly qualification certificates, and comparing that information to the needs detailed in job descriptions and person specifications. However, on occasions where there are fewer applicants or where there are a group of potentially strong candidates, a screening interview may be of real value. It provides an opportunity to obtain a 'feel' for the candidate as to the seriousness of the application and the interest he or she has for the job and organisation.

Gathering and giving information is a vital part of the interviewing process. Providing information about the company and the job ('selling the company') is important in confirming the candidate's decision to make the application and especially important in 'tight labour' markets. Equally, obtaining information about the candidate should enable judgements to be made about future performance and enable comparison with other candidates.

The third aim is to make a selection decision. For this to happen and to ensure a successful hiring, the interview will need structure.

Interview Structure

By and large, there are two types of job interviews: structured or unstructured.

Unstructured interviews tend to follow a natural process of dialogue where the candidate is encouraged to talk freely in response to questions. In doing so, the candidate may feel more comfortable and make more interesting and informative responses. Unstructured interviews require little preparation and allow the interviewer more listening time. They may be useful where time limited hiring is involved and in smaller businesses where hiring processes tend to be shorter. However, this approach may fail to secure the necessary information required to make a final selection judgement, and as a result, structured interviews are considered best practice.

Structured interviews tend to fall into two main types, situational or behavioural. In situational type interviews, candidates are asked how they would deal with hypothetical situations. The idea behind this is that the interviewer may be able to assess how the candidate deals with different situations such as pressure, planning, organising, employee relations, problem solving, and the like.

Behavioural interviews work on the basis that past behaviour is the best predictor of future behaviour. As a result, questions tend to focus on the candidate's competencies or behaviours, and candidates respond by setting out how they dealt with something in the past. Here, the interviewer will be attempting to determine how successful the candidate has been in solving problems in the past.

There is no one right interview method. A structured interview could comprise of both situational and behavioural questions. All have pros and cons and all have validity in leading to a good hiring.

All well-structured interviews require research and decision taking before the candidate is seen. That will include a detailed examination of candidates' backgrounds compared to the job description and person specification (if available, or knowledge of the requirements if such documents are not available) in order to establish the questions to ask. This approach should ensure you have adequate information to make a successful selection decision at the end of the interview or process.

Essential Interviewing Requirements

Many people, especially those in senior positions or human resources, believe they are expert interviewers, some with limited or no training. Successful interviewers need effective training to acquire the skills to interview efficiently and effectively. In order