RESOURCING TALENT Unit no/s: 3RTO Level:3 Name: Firdaus Bustamam CIPD No:55566165 Word Count:1700 Activity 3 Introduction Engaging with people directly reveals a tremendous amount about the way they think and the values they hold. Sometimes these thoughts and values are not even obvious to the people who hold them, and a good engagement can surprise both the designer and the subject by the unanticipated insights that are revealed. The stories that people tell and the things that people say they do—even if they are different from what they actually do—are a strong indicator of their deeply held beliefs about the way the world is. Good designs are built on a solid understanding of these kinds of beliefs and values. Visually, the interview process might look like this: Michael Barry model. Stanford University Design Guidelines – Interviewing 1. Opening The Interview Opening the interview in a clear, relaxed and open way is important for a number of reasons: • • • • • It gives candidates information about what to expect; It helps nervous candidates to settle down and relax; It gives you a chance to start building a rapport with the candidate; It provides a professional image of you and the organisation; It sets the tone for the rest of the interview and encourages the candidate to talk openly about themselves. A good way to do this is to start with the following: • Welcome the candidate, thank them for coming, show them to their seat etc; • • • • • 2. Ask a straight-forward question whilst they settle in to help put them at ease, e.g. 'how was your journey'? Introductions from yourself and other panel members - keep this brief; Outline how the interview will progress. Explain approximate length, who will be asking questions, that there will be opportunity for the candidate to ask any questions they have at the end, and that the panel will be taking notes during the interview. You may wish to provide a brief description of the job at this stage to set the scene, perhaps particularly for more senior roles. Alternatively, you can check whether the candidate understands the role when they have the opportunity to ask questions at the end. If there are any issues surrounding the job that are particularly important or that you anticipate may not be fully clear then it is worth spending some brief time covering these points. Examples could be: Clarifying that a job is on a fixed term contract or that although it is on a 'permanent' contract it is subject to fixed term funding; clarifying hours for a part-time job and discussing any flexibility or constraints in work patterns. Putting The Candidate At Ease and Building Rapport. Research shows that the best way to find the most suitable candidate for the job is by putting all the candidates at ease and allowing them to talk in a relaxed and comfortable way about their experiences and behaviour. How we do this is a matter for personal preference, but always begin an interview by at least greeting candidates warmly and introducing our self. Rapport is the connection between two people; the spoken and unspoken words that say ‘we are on the same page’. It is the art of making someone feel comfortable and accepted. To create rapport, we need to know how to connect with others regardless of their age, gender, ethnic background, mood, or the situation. This skill is never more important than in an interview, where someone’s immediate impression of you is critical. Creating a connection with your interviewer is likely to have a large impact on whether or not they wish to do business with you – so learning the skill of creating good rapport should be one of your priorities as an interviewee. We tend to be attracted to people that we consider similar to ourselves. When rapport is good, similarities are emphasized and differences are minimized. Rapport is an essential basis for successful communication – where there is no rapport there is no (real) communication! We naturally experience rapport with close friends or with those with whom we share a common interest. However we can learn to create rapport and use it to facilitate our relationship with anybody, even with those with whom we profoundly disagree. 3. Using appropriate questions (detail 3 questions you want to ask and a brief summary of the response you would expect for a candidate to be successful). a. Tell me about yourself This is a common introductory question. It is designed to get candidate talking about something they know –it is A big mistake usually made by the majority of people is that they focus on their family, children, hobbies or home life. We expect the answer this type of question based around their own personal achievements, educational background and ongoing studies. It is good to say that they are motivated or enthusiastic. For example they might say, “I am a motivated person – whilst working for my previous employer I achieved ‘XYZ’, which enabled the company to achieve its goal in relation to increased profit margins etc.” And also we expect the answer from candidate using some of the following key words when structuring some of answers: • Motivated • Self-starter • Responsible • Enthusiastic • Dedicated • Committed • Reliable • Trustworthy • Initiative • Team player • Organised • Focused Some good response that we expect for example: “My strong points are that I am focused, enthusiastic and dedicated. For example, whilst working for my current employer I was successful in achieving my annual appraisal sales target with 4 months to spare. I like to ensure that I maintain a healthy balance between my personal and professional life. This helps me to maintain a high level of performance at work. b. What are your weaknesses? We expect the type of response is to identify that they have a weakness, but also identifies a number of strengths. They must show that they have the ability to look at them self and make changes where needed. Accepting constructive criticism is one thing, but doing something about it is another. This also leads on to another possible ‘strength’ quality in the fact that they can identify their weaknesses and do something about them. Here’s an example of a response to this type of question we expect: “In my previous job I found it difficult to delegate work to others. I can be a bit of a perfectionist at times and I like a job or task to be done correctly to a high standard. Unfortunately this lack of trust caused problems within my team and a member of staff approached me to tell me they were not happy with the way I was working. I took their comments on board and decided to ask the rest of the team if they felt the same. The feedback I received was along the same lines – that the majority of people felt I should delegate more work and responsibility to them. Following this feedback I decided to change my style of approach and began to delegate more work, placing greater trust on my colleagues. This had a very positive effect and the workload increased dramatically as a result of this change. Morale within the team improved too and now I hold regular feedback meetings with my colleagues to see how we can improve.” c. Why have you decided to apply for this job? The responses that we expect such as “I’ve wanted to work in this kind of role since I was a child”, and “This job just really appeals to me”. These types of standard responses will gain them few marks. We consider the following points from candidate answer: The knowledge about the job role. We expect the candidate demonstrate the key skills required to perform the job competently. An example would be: “I understand that this role requires very good communication and team working skills. I believe I am very strong in these areas, and therefore I would be a valuable asset to the team. Having researched the job and organisation extensively I have noticed a common theme appearing time and time again – professionalism. I have also spoken to people who already work within this team, and the feedback I have received has been excellent. I really want to work for this team and the skills and experience I have already gained will allow me to contribute towards the organisation’s goals in a positive manner.” 4. Controlling the interview without dominating. • Listen to nonverbal cues. Be aware of body language and emotions. • Don’t be afraid of silence. Interviewers often feel the need to ask another question when there is a pause. Sometimes if you allow there to be silence, a person will reflect on what they’ve just said and say something deeper. • Don’t suggest answers to your questions. Even if they pause before answering, don’t help them by suggesting an answer. This can unintentionally get people to say things that agree with your expectations. • Ask questions neutrally. “What do you think about this idea?” is a better question than “Don’t you think this idea is great?” because the first question doesn’t imply that there is a right answer 5. Closing the interview The closing section of the interview should have three elements: The opportunity for the candidate to ask any questions they may have - remember the interview is a two-way process. You may also at this stage want to ask if the candidate has any questions on terms and conditions of employment and employee benefits. This is an opportunity to then promote and confirm this information, which can often be an important factor in people's decision-making process. An explanation of what will happen next and an indication of timescale. Don't commit to something that you won't be able to achieve for all candidates e.g. "we will ring you tomorrow". Thank the candidate for attending. 6. Making the decision to appoint or not. Making a decision • • • • • • At the end of the interview process the panel will need to discuss who is the best candidate and whether they are appointable. It is worth structuring this stage properly to help you make an objective and sound decision: Each panel member should initially take some time to refer to their notes, including the scores and summary comments on the Candidate Interview Assessment form. Independently, each panel member should then rank the candidates in order; The panel should then come together and discuss how each candidate performed in relation to the selection criteria. You may want to look first at whether there are any candidates who are clearly not appointable or less suitable than others, although make sure you have a full discussion before deciding on this. If you have used other selection methods alongside the interview such as tests or presentations, make sure that performance assessments of each candidate also inform your final decision. A panel operates best if it works as a team to come to an agreed decision. The Chair's role is to ensure that there is a full discussion, that all have their say and that any differences of opinion are debated. Ultimately the Chair will make the final decision if there is unresolved disagreement on whom to appoint. When you assess a disabled applicant’s suitability for the job you must take account of how reasonable adjustments could enable them to do the job. If, after taking reasonable adjustments into account, they would not be the best person for the job, you do not have to • • • • • offer it to them. Always contact Human Resources for advice where you are considering a candidate with a disability. Sometimes if there is a large amount of discussion or the interview day has been long, you may feel that its best to take some time out and reconvene the next day. If there is still uncertainty over the first-choice candidate, or if you are finding it hard to decide between two or more candidates, it is often a good idea to call them back in for a more focussed follow-up discussion so that you can come to a more final and fully informed decision. This should involve at least two representatives from the original panel and should be arranged as soon as is possible. It's often the case that although there is a first-choice candidate, there are also others who would be appointable. Make sure that you establish who falls into this category and in what order so that you can move quickly if your first-choice candidate does not accept the job offer. A further discussion with the rest of the panel before making any further offer is normally sensible. Finally, if the panel has significant doubts about the ability of any of the candidates to fulfil the role effectively - don't appoint. It may not seem like it at the time but it far better in the long run to go through a second recruitment process and find the right person than to appoint the wrong person and have to deal with the consequences. If you are unable to make an appointment for whatever reason, you may wish to readvertise the vacancy.
