Recruitment interviewing and selection
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. In addition, the use of technology has increasingly been changing the way employers recruit and, of course, the emphasis on virtual recruitment has really come to the fore as we find ways of working safely with Covid-19. The fundamentals of best practice, however, remain unchanged.
This series of webinars provides a solid foundation for anyone new to recruitment or 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. The webinars will also explore how to ensure that virtual recruitment provides the very best outcome for employer and candidate alike.
Where appropriate, participants are asked to bring to the virtual sessions 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 – reviewing criteria, determining appropriate selection methods and writing and practising high quality interview questions.
Each session runs for two hours, with a break. In essence:
- Webinar 1 focuses on best practice and minimising risk.
- Webinar 2 focuses in more depth on the interview stage and building skills for face-to-face and virtual interviewing.
- Webinar 3 provides an opportunity for participants to gain experience conducting mock interviews, with actors taking the role of candidates for the exercises in the final session.
Learning objectives
- Understand the importance of getting recruitment right by adopting a structured, objective and consistent approach in line with internal procedures
- Appreciate 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
Special feature
Expert trainer
Webinar one
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
- Exercise: 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
- Recruiting in a virtual world – choosing and using technology
5 Evaluation: making the right decision
- How to evaluate candidates against your criteria
- Making an objective decision
6 Next steps
- Offering the position, feedback to unsuccessful candidates, etc
- Induction and onboarding – face-to-face and virtual
7 Open forum
- Questions and challenges
Webinar two
1 The interview
- 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
2 Preparing to interview
- Preparing for different types of interview, eg, 1:1, panel interviews, remote interviews
- Structuring the interview; developing an interview plan
- Planning the logistics, virtual and face-to-face interviews
- Preparing yourself; planning your approach
- Creating a positive impression
3 Interview questions
- Preparing your questions; the value of different question types; questions to avoid
- How to write high quality behavioural questions for the role
- Group exercise: Writing behavioural questions
4 The interview
- Essential interviewing skills, eg, questioning, active listening skills and non-verbal communication
- Creating rapport
- How to assess responses; looking for STAR answers
- Controlling the interview; practical tips on managing difficult situations
- Bringing the role to life
- Technology considerations and challenges
- Taking notes; documentation
5 Group exercise
- Mini skills practice in groups on interviewing questions
6 Open forum
- Remaining challenges and ‘what if’ scenarios
Webinar three
This session is developed to suit the audience. Materials can be provided for a generic role participants will be asked to prepare to interview or the training can be tailored around a specific role that participants are currently recruiting for. The use of actors is recommended to ensure a realistic experience. There will be small group work practising mock interviews with feedback and coaching given. There will be some pre work involved in participants preparing for interview to maximise skills practice on the session.
For a no-obligation discussion about running this three-part webinar for your organisation on an in-house basis, just give us a call on 01582 463462.