The interview guide for interviewers - part 2

Interview nerves aren’t just for applicants any more. Competition for talent means that those asking the questions need to make a good impression too, yet training is thin on the ground, so we’re sharing some tips and observations from our own experience of charity interviews over many (many) years.

We’ve covered planning and process already, so it’s time to tackle the big day and some suggestions for questions.

Part 2: during the interview

First impressions count. Even for employers.

As we know from every interview guide ever written, candidates should be smart, punctual, friendly, well-prepared and give you their undivided attention at all times.

So it’s surprising how frequently interviewers fall short of these standards, given the tales we hear of candidates kept waiting for 40 minutes or more, unwelcoming staff who weren’t expecting them, interviewers visibly reading their CV for the first time, and more of these cardinal sins. If this is the effort put in when you’re trying to attract them, candidates may reason, how little would you make once they’re staff?

If you’re meeting in person, remember that candidates will be assessing you and the organisation from the moment they arrive, so consider everything they’ll encounter and ensure they’ll get a friendly and courteous welcome. Online, give yourself time to test the technology and ensure it’s running smoothly before you start, and ensure candidates have everything they need to access the session well in advance.

Either way, be sure to do at least the most basic preparation beforehand. If time is tight and there’s really no alternative, it’s probably better to be three minutes late having read their CV and learned who they are, than right on time knowing nothing.

Don't ask: unlawful questions

Which might sound obvious, but as the study we mentioned earlier discovered, understanding of what’s acceptable to ask varies enormously and is very often incorrect, resulting in as many as 85% of interviewers asking ‘off-limits’ questions.

Under the Equality Act 2010 it’s illegal to ask anything related to ‘protected characteristics’, which include age, gender, ethnicity, religion, marital status, sexual orientation and more: the Equality and Human Rights Commission has the full list here.

This means that questions that can easily arise in everyday conversation - when someone graduated, or whether they have children, for example – can be unlawful to ask in an interview setting, so without specific and up-to-date training, it’s easy to put yourself at risk of a potential lawsuit. Here's a pretty comprehensive list (with examples) of questions that should be avoided.



Instead, try asking inclusive questions: our recent blog on inclusive recruitment has some examples.

Don't ask: irrelevant questions

Questions that don’t seem relevant to the job suggest several things to candidates: that the person asking doesn’t understand the role, that it’s some kind of trick question or test, or that the role isn’t what they thought it was, none of which are helpful.

This also applies to the kind of cryptic questions popularised in the ‘90s by consultancies about to go spectacularly bust, like ‘What colour is your elephant?’

All these are likely to achieve is to kill off any rapport you’d managed to build now that everyone feels uncomfortable, you’re struggling to remember if purple’s a good answer or borderline sociopathic, and not a single person knows why it’s an elephant. Is this helping?​

Ask: original questions

As any seasoned rock star will tell you, you don’t want to overdo the new material (see above), but rolling out the same old classics yields diminishing rewards: what are your strengths and weaknesses, where do you see yourself in five years’ time, yada yada – guitar solo – yada.

With countless answers to these widely available online, how will you know if the one you’re hearing is original, or just a carefully-memorised cover?

It’s still valuable to know about candidates’ strengths and weaknesses, but by phrasing the question differently you’re less likely to get a stock response. For example ‘what are you most proud of in your current job?’ or ‘what do people always come to you for?’ to bring out strengths, or ‘tell me about a time you messed up?’ or ‘what’s the last thing your colleagues would put you in charge of?' to cue up discussion of weaker points.

Less predictable questions are more likely to generate freshly-formed thoughts, giving you a better sense of their personality than rehearsed answers would reveal.



Ask: questions that are closely related to the job description

Such as ‘can you give me an example of when you demonstrated this skill?’ or ‘tell me about your experience of this type of work?’

The good news is that questions like these should come fairly naturally; if you find yourself straying far from the job description, it’s probably a sign that it needs updating.

Listen out for...

• Answers that tell you about the candidate’s personal achievements, not just what they’ve done as a team. However it’s a question of balance: if it’s always ‘we did…’ rather than ‘I did…’ it can be hard to gauge their contribution, yet if it’s ‘I did..’ all the way, are they really the team player described on their CV, or could they be taking credit for others’ achievements? Ideally, you’ll hear a mix of both.

• People who might bring something new to the table, not just a replica of something you already have. It’s natural to gravitate towards candidates who remind you of strong existing staff, but diversity is more than a buzzword – it’s a very sound recruitment strategy. That’s because a team full of very similar people with very similar strengths will often clash, not helped by sharing the same weaknesses too, while a broader range of skills and characteristics can often complement each other, making for a stronger, more rounded and capable team.



• Questions about the job, campaigns, what they can get involved in, plans for the organisation and others along these lines. They’re a good sign that your candidate’s interested in the job and giving it serious consideration. Questions around things like annual leave and salary are absolutely fine, but if they're the only questions asked, it could be more of a warning sign. ​
  

Set a smart schedule… 

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The overall aim should be to keep the process as short as possible - dragging it out increases the risk of losing top candidates to faster-moving employers – but for a level playing field, all candidates should meet the same panel.

One solution could be to hold all interviews on the same day, but be realistic about what’s achievable. Seeing three candidates might be fine, but schedule six back-to-back sessions and it’s almost inevitable that you’ll be interrupted, end up running late, and after six rounds of the same conversation, thoroughly confused about who said what.

To save everyone from potential disadvantage, set a schedule where you’ll be similarly fresh (or at least equally exhausted) for all of them.

Be ready to answer questions too



Interviews are a two-way process, so be prepared to answer candidates’ questions openly and honestly. Don’t paint an unrealistic picture – if they feel you’re hiding things it’ll harm your chances, just as it would if they did the same.​

After the interview

• Make the next steps clear so that candidates know when they’ll get a decision, and stick to it. If you like them, hire them and if not, don’t, but don’t leave them waiting for weeks while you decide. Even if they’re still available by the time you make an offer, it can give the impression that they weren’t your first choice.
• Whatever the outcome, always give feedback and make it specific to their interview. Even if they weren’t right for you/the role, it’s still wise to leave them with a good impression of you as an employer: it’s a relatively small sector and people talk.
  

So to summarise:

• Remember that interviews are a two-way process: candidates will be assessing you just as you’re assessing them.

• Plan interviews carefully to ensure a consistent, inclusive and candidate-friendly approach

• Think through every step of the process from the candidate perspective and make sure they all give the right impression. And don’t be afraid to question established procedures if they're actively working against you.

• Treat candidates with the same respect and professionalism you expect from them.

• Steer clear of personal, over-used and irrelevant questions – keep them fresh and closely related to the job at hand.

• Answer candidate questions honestly and make clear when they’ll hear from you (then make sure they do).

Finally, remember that interviews aren’t just a means of selecting new staff; they’re an opportunity to enhance your employer brand. The more people that go away with a positive impression, whether or not they get the job, the easier recruitment will be in future.

Good luck!

​Team Harris Hill