Recruitment and selection interviewing for managers

Overview

Recruiting the right employee for your team is an incredibly important decision. The process itself can be both time-consuming and costly, so attracting and selecting the very best candidate for your position is an essential outcome. This one-day course provides a solid foundation for anyone new to recruitment or those seeking a refresher or update. The emphasis is on the use of a structured approach where good preparation and effective interviewing skills and techniques help maximise the success of your process, ensure consistency with your internal procedures, and minimise risk.

Participants will be asked to bring along information that relates to a vacancy they are, or are likely to be, recruiting to in the future, such as a relevant job description and person specification. They will work with this material throughout the training including reviewing criteria, determining appropriate selection methods and writing high quality interview questions. Participants will have the opportunity of trying out these questions in the afternoon when they will prepare for and conduct an interview. Participants will receive individual feedback, coaching and support throughout the session to enhance their skills and to build their confidence as interviewers.

Learning objectives

At the end of the workshop participants will:

  • Understand the importance of getting recruitment right by adopting a structured, objective and consistent approach in line with internal procedures
  • Know the importance of the job description and person specification in underpinning the recruitment process and have identified appropriate selection criteria for a relevant role
  • Understand how to shortlist effectively and how to gain evidence by using different assessment methods appropriately
  • Know how to prepare for and conduct effective interviews; including how to write high quality interview questions and how to assess candidates’ responses
  • Have explored typical barriers that prevent an interview being robust and adopt practical strategies to keep an interview on track
  • Be able to objectively evaluate all candidates and make the right selection
  • Know how employment legislation affects the recruitment process and how to minimise risk
  • Have built knowledge, skills and confidence through practical exercises including preparing for and conducting a practice interview

Audience

All managers, in any type of organisation – large or small; public, voluntary or private sector.

Format

This one-day course is highly participative and uses individual exercises and mock interviews to illustrate problems and help develop a best practice approach in dealing with them. Participants will be sent a welcome pack in advance of the workshop and will be asked to bring along examples of a relevant job description and person specification that they will work with during the workshop. Participants will also be asked to familiarise themselves with key internal procedures relating to this area and to bring copies to the workshop for reference.

Special feature

This programme is, of necessity, tailored to each different organisation in which it is delivered, to reflect their policies and procedures, job description formats, etc. The content, duration, objectives and material used can all be tailored to suit your specific needs.

Expert trainer

This programme is delivered by Rachel Hicks, our lead trainer in this area. See her profile here.

Feedback

See what participants have said about our ‘Recruitment and selection interviewing’ workshops:

‘Helped me understand structure of interviewing and stressed importance of equality, etc.’

‘Very informative and will have confidence in interviewing.’

‘Went at a good pace.’

‘Enjoyed the practical interview practice and observation.’

‘Good examples given for good and bad interview questions.’

‘Good pace, structure, content and overall delivery. Pleasant experienced and competent trainer. I generally get disappointed in such courses; this I was not!!’

‘Enjoyed the practical tasks.’

‘Was worried before the training but was put at ease from the beginning.’

‘Highly informative.’

‘Interesting and useful. Role play always makes learning fun and easier.’

‘Gained valuable knowledge on what answers to listen out for (key words etc). Also learned when to probe on further questions. Good content and well organised to keep it mixed up.’

‘Promotes self-reflection in known and unknown bias to promote professional and fair interview preparation.’

‘The course helps to familiarise yourself with your own interview styles and approach and some of the important points to consider and best practices to be aware of.’

‘A fantastic, intentionally delivered presentation on how to interview within the law and to get the knowledge needed to make an offer.’

‘Very informative, a good length that keeps you engaged and trainer was highly knowledgeable, friendly and helpful.’

‘It’s always good to practice and enhance interview skills, whether you are highly experienced or a beginner. Both take something away from the course.’

‘It was a fantastic course, covered the whole selection process AND gave you role-play experience with the opportunity to observe others in that role-play too.’

‘It is a good intro to selection and recruitment.’

‘Very useful and essential for recruitment.’

Workshop outline

1 Welcome

  • Workshop objectives and benefits from attending
  • Participants’ experience and confidence in this area
  • Personal objectives

2 Getting recruitment right

  • The purpose and importance of recruitment and selection
  • The cost and potential consequences of poor selection
  • Minimising legal risk: practical implications of The Equality Act 2010 and other relevant legislation
  • The benefits of a structured, objective and consistent approach

3 The process

  • Key stages (with reference to internal procedures)
  • Roles, responsibilities and sources of support
  • The importance of having robust job descriptions and person specifications
  • Identifying specific knowledge, skills and behaviours required for the role
  • Checking and refining essential and desirable selection criteria
  • Advertising the vacancy and how to screen / short-list against your selection criteria
  • Essential documentation and data protection

4 Selection methods

  • Assessing candidates against your selection criteria; the search for evidence
  • Understanding and using a range of different assessment methods and tools
  • Exploring common beliefs about interviewing; understanding the psychology and limitations of interviewing, eg, the ‘Horn and Halo’ effect, unconscious bias, etc
  • Making interviews robust and ensuring a fair and objective approach

5 Preparing to interview

  • Preparing for different types of Interview, eg, 1:1, panel interviews
  • Preparing your questions; the value of different question types; questions to avoid
  • How to write high quality behavioural questions for the role
  • Structuring the interview; developing an interview plan
  • Planning the logistics and preparing the interview room
  • Preparing yourself; planning your approach; creating a positive impression

6 The interview

  • Welcoming the candidate and creating rapport
  • Essential interviewing skills, eg, questioning, active listening skills and non-verbal communication
  • How to assess responses; looking for STAR answers
  • Controlling the interview; practical tips on managing difficult situations
  • Taking notes; documentation

7 Interviewing skills practice

  • Participants prepare for and conduct an interview in small groups

8 Evaluation: making the right decision

  • How to evaluate candidates against your criteria
  • Making an objective decision
  • Next steps: offering the position, feedback to unsuccessful candidates, etc
  • Taking time to reflect: enhancing your skillset and incorporating learning for next time

9 And finally…

  • Open forum – remaining challenges and ‘what if’ scenarios
  • Action planning – identifying how participants will transfer this learning into the workplace and what else they may need which will help them to do this effectively
  • Review and close

For a no-obligation discussion about running this programme for your organisation on an in-house basis, just give us a call on 01582 463462.