And the more requirements in a job description, the less applications are sent in. This can be a source of frustration to recruiters and employers, and result in rather irrational choices whenever a candidate who seems to meet all the initial requirements shows up. The temptation to hire the seemingly adequate applicant in the face of a vacancy and when the suitable candidates for a given position are few and far between, is immense. This is just the moment to take a deep breath and stay calm, always checking exactly whether the applicant is the right candidate we are looking for.

 

What is helpful in such circumstances? A precise description of the position offered and clearly defined goals that the employee has to achieve. A job description helps define the competencies necessary to perform the tasks effectively while the goals will help us find out whether given individuals and their actions will add value to the organisation. Once we have established who we are looking for and why, it is time for verification of the potential candidate. There are many tools available for checking an individual’s skills, but no matter what set of tools we chose, a recruitment interview will always be one of them.

 

A correctly conducted interview should consist of two parts: a competency based and a biographical one. In some sense a biographical interview is intuitive because questions about choices made in the past and facts about the professional career come to the mind of the employer automatically. It is important, however, that the questions be open-ended and begin with “How”, “When”, “Why”, etc. Closed-ended questions (beginning with “Did you…”, “Were you…”, etc.) limit the candidate’s choices and determine the answers, so at this stage it is worth asking them only when we want to confirm facts or check the candidate’s skills, e.g. “Can you use application X?” After a series of open-ended questions we can ask some detailed ones, e.g. “You said you were in charge of project implementation in your company. Could you tell us what those projects were and what your role was in the process? What were your duties?”

 

In the final stage of the interview we ask close-ended questions, e.g. “Were you the only one reporting the status of the projects to the management board? Did the management hold you directly accountable for the budgets of the projects?” When we get to know the candidate’s history and motivations for their choices, there comes a time for a competency based interview which should begin with questions about the key competencies for the position advertised. If the ability to work in a team is the key competency for a position in a project team, it is important that the said competency be defined in advance, i.e. what it means in the context of the position, e.g. “the ability to share information with the group, express opinions in such a way as not to hurt others’ feelings, work with people who have a different approach to doing things always having the company’s good and goals at heart.” Only when a list of behavioural competencies has been clearly defined can we begin an interview. Remember to ask candidates about their past, not what they would do in a given situation. The “What would you do if…” questions put candidates in a wishful thinking mode in which they are inclined to talk about who they would like to be rather than what they are really like.

 

Bearing in mind that we should always refer to the candidate’s experiences from the past, the questions we ask should be based on three elements: the candidate’s situational context, their behaviour and actions, and the results of these actions. For example if we want to check the “teamwork” competences, we can ask the following questions: “Can you tell us about a time when you didn’t get on well with the rest of the group, what you did about that and what the results of your actions were?”, or “Can you tell us about a ‘tricky colleague at work’, what made him/her difficult to work with and how you managed?”, or “Can you tell us about a time when you worked with someone who had a completely different approach to doing things and whether you achieved your goals. If you could, would you like to work with that person again?” If an interview is to be comprehensive and objective, each candidate has to be asked the same set of questions, including competency based and biographical questions. We should pay special attention to differences in the candidates’ motivation, likes, dislikes and actions in the past. Candidates’ hard skills (education, software skills, languages) can be similar, therefore the aforementioned differences in their responses will be crucial to deciding whether a given individual is suitable for a given position.

 

Please also remember that the competencies that determine successful performance in a given position can change and individuals can develop them over time. So if you are reading the CV of a candidate you saw two years ago, do not hesitate to invite him or her to an interview again. They may have developed their competencies so much that after two years they may prove to be the perfect candidates to fill the position you are advertising.

 

In a time when employees are increasingly hard to find, employers not only have to recruit very carefully, but also take good care of their existing workers. It is very important that the new employee fits perfectly into the existing team. A well conducted job interview is your chance to find a competent individual who will quickly adapt to and be accepted by the team, as well as help improve your organisation’s work and atmosphere.

 

Olga Magda

LSJ HR Group