Conducting Effective Selection Interviews

There is considerable evidence that some recruitment and selection interviews are no more successful in identifying the potentially good employee than if it had been left to chance. An unskilled interviewer or a poorly conducted interview may achieve results which are no better than if candidates had been selected at random from a list of names. The repercussions that result from interviewing badly can be damaging to everyone: the organisation, the rest of the workforce and the new employee.

But successful and effective selection interviewing is a professional skill which can be learned like any other. This training course will show you how.

Participants will learn to:

• Confidently recruit the right person for the vacancy
• Recognise and overcome the common problems that hinder accurate selection decisions
• Conduct the essential preparation required for successful interviews
• Interview using a structured approach and proven questioning techniques

Suitable for those who are, or will be, conducting recruitment and selection interviews and wish to build their confidence and effectiveness in this skill.

Interviewing— What Goes Wrong

• Identifying what can go wrong and the implications involved
• Why poor selection decisions can be more costly than you think
• Clarifying the goal of selection
• Increasing success by combining interviewing with other selection methods.
• How interviewer perceptions, judgements and unconscious bias can interfere with effective selection decisions and how to mitigate it.

Essential Preparation

• Structuring the interview using a four stage process
• Getting the interview off to a good start
• Different types of interview: Exploring the strengths and limitations of biographical, behavioural and panel interviews
• Deriving the selection criteria using job descriptions and person specifications
• Formulating effective interview questions

Conducting the Interview

• Typical interview errors to avoid
• Different types of questions
• Mastering the art of questioning by using the funnelling technique
• Using competency based behavioural interviewing to predict the future performance and behaviour of candidates
• Interviewing around competencies
• Using the STAR formula to get relevant information from the candidate
• How to take notes and record information for future use.

Practice and Feedback

• Participants have the opportunity to practice applying the skill learned and receive feedback in a safe environment.

Video Content

• The Video Arts production ‘Behavioural Interviewing: Taking the guesswork out of recruitment’ is used to reinforce the learning. The video demonstrates a key interviewing technique that is vitally important, effective and always successful.

Personal Development

• Action planning the transfer of learning to the workplace

“I will use everything I have learned when I recruit new staff. The approach was really good – with group activities to keep you interested.” Jenny Dixon, Office Manager, Calderdale M B Council

“The course has made me far more confident to interview and select the right person for the job.” Janette Batty, Head teacher, Old Town Primary School

“I have gained a much clearer idea of how to probe more deeply using questioning and elicit information from people” Jennifer Steyger, Learning and Development Coordinator, Royal College of General Practitioners

• Recruitment and Selection Skills for Managers
• Behavioural Interviewing