BRIAN McIVOR

Skills HandbookINTERVIEWER’STHE

A guide for the occasional

interivewers

INTERVIEWING SKILLS

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DISCLAIMERCareer & Life Planning Finding + Managing Your Career: Workbook

By Brian McIvor/Jan 2017 Copyright © 2017 Brian McIvor

Extracts from HIRING the RIGHT PERSON by Mary Hanson, Brian McIvor published by the Orpen Press © 2013 used by permission.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written per-

mission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-com-mercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, contact the publisher at brian@brianmcivor.com

with the subject line: “Attention: Permissions Coordinator”.

Layout and design by Peter Madden Contact redser86@gmail.com or +353 87 6567573

This guide is not intended as a comprehensive manual - but is, instead a brief introduction to the effective techniques of interviewing - including competency-based (behavioural) interviews

Step 1 Before you interview

1. Draw up a comprehensive job specification listing duties, responsibilities, reporting relationships ect.2. Draw up a person specification, listing essential expertise, skills. experience and traits relevant to the job.3. Consider using valid and reliable personality and skills tests.4.Consider asking for work samples.5. Decide if you want to interview solo or in a team.

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What is an interview? 1A job interview combines the elements of:● A judicial trial - evidence leads to judgement● A hiring fair - to get the best at the right price● Group therapy - chemistry is criticalIf you don’t get it right, you will have to live with the consequencesAn employment interview is a planned conversation with a purpose – that of identifying the applicant who has the knowledge, skills, attributes, qualifications and experience to fill the job.

The key question for the interviewer to ask themselves before any interview is: How will I know when the right candidate for the job presents himself or herself?

The interviewer is looking for a candidate who:Can do (or has done)Will doWill fit into the organisation And Can prove this to your satisfaction in the interview

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1. MEET AND GREETMake small talk with the candidate. Get them relaxed.2. Go over the job briefly

Do not prejudice the interview by supplying too much information. 3. Ask questions in sequence

Education, Experience, The Job Itself, Strengths and Weaknesses and Career Objectives, Relevant Outside Interests,.4. Take clear and concise notes

Avoid repeating information already sup-plied on the CV or application. Try to cap-ture items of fact, proof and strong indica-tors (positive and negative). 5. Probe for proof

Stay clear of seeking or sharing views and concentrate on the data of the interview – namely – the candidate’s ability to do the

job and to fit into your organisation and the proofs offered in support. 6. Flag the end of the interview five minutes or so before the end7. Give candidate an opportunity to ask questions or to fill in any gaps you may have missed8. Tell candidate what happens next in the selection process9. Keep positive control of the inter-view at all timesEnsure questions are clear, information is summarised and checked and assumptions are avoided. It may be appropriate to in-terrupt the interviewee if an answer is not appropriate or too long. 10. Thank the candidate

If the interview is an in-house one mention opportunities for feedback if appropriate.

APPROACHESTO INTERVIEWS

CONDUCTING THE INTERVIEWA TEN STEP APPROACH 2

31. TRADITIONAL APPROACH

A more traditional approach – Assesses can-didates under the following headings:● Appearance ● Attainments● Interests ● Disposition● Circumstances ● General intelligence● Specific aptitudes

Some of these headings may now infringe the Equality Legislation Guidelines.

2. BEHAVIORAL INTERVIEWINGDesigned to identify the knowledge, compe-tencies or skills possessed by the individual that are of value to the organisation.

Interviewing is based on finding examples of behaviour which are relevant to the job being filled. Past behaviour is a reliable in-dicator of future performance – so the em-phasis is on the identification and probing of historical examples of effective performance on the job. Typical examples would include: leadership skills, financial expertise or change management skills.

Experience Can you tell me of a time when you used your leadership skills

to best advantage?

Probe Tell me more about what you did – step by step. What resources

have you been put in charge of?

Outcomes What did the project achieve?

Learnings and Feedback What have you learned in your time in X Section.

Applications What are your most ef-fective skills? How would you apply

them to the challenges this job offers?

Other Structures:

PAR: Problem, Action and ResultSTAR: Situation, Task, Action and ResultSCRAP: Situation, Complication, Resolution, Action and PlanPOLAR: Problem, Opportunity, Limits, Action & Result

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1. Paraphrasing in your own words your under-standing of what the other person is saying.

Examples: “So you believe that ...”

“As I understand it ...”“Would you mean that...?”

2. Summarising at appro-priate times

“Can I summarise the ground we have covered so far?”

3. Reflecting back feel-ings (Be aware of your tone of voice and non-ver-bal behaviour when re-flecting. Be sensitive to the timing of your inter-ventions and only use this technique when it is sincere.).

“You really seem upset about that...”, “That must have been confusing.. “, “I would imagine that made you feel good.”

4. Asking for further information

“Can you expand on that for me?”

“Say a bit more about that.”“What led up to that. “

5. Ask open questions to encourage disclosure.

“How did that happen?”“What’s your view of that?”“Where did things start going

wrong?”

6. Show Non-Verbal inter-est and encouragement

Establishing and maintaining appropriate eye contact. Nod-ding. Making listening noises. Leaning toward the other person.

7. Giving Information, as appropriate.

“I think you should know that we changed the rotas that day.”

8. Making sure both parties are clear as to that happens next.

The final summary checks that both parties have the same message.

ACTIVELISTENING TECHNIQUES

QUESTIONS:AN OPEN AND SHUT CASE?Questions come in two major types:

Closed Questions: these give a YES or NO answer or a specific piece of information.

e.g. What year did you start there?Open Questions: which can give you a variable amount of information.

e.g. What do you think the main challenges of the job would be?

The main occupational hazard with Open and Closed questions are as follows:Interviewees tend to answer closed questions as if they were open ques-tions:

“Do you have any training experience?

Yes, over 10 years in various departments, my first course started when…”Interviewers tend to be too loose in framing open questions giving rise to poor results: when asked how he found America, John Lennon famously replied:

“First turn left after Greenland!”

The skilled interviewer may need to formu-late more specific forms of open question to get a good result. Here are two examples:

Interviewer: What were the two or three main things that influenced your decision to go with supplier X?

Interviewer: List briefly the benefits you got from the new printing process.

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The reporter’sTechnique

The first rule of being an investigative reporter is to always, always, ALWAYS stay on the case!Investigative journalists are used to interviewees dodging the questions because they do not want to implicate themselves. Journalists are outcome-driven ie. they know the information they have to come away with for the interview to be suc-cessful. So they ask the same questions in different ways.

Why did you do it that way (which might sound like you don’t agree with how the interviewee dealt with something), the inter-viewer could ask:

What factors did you take into account when you decided to do it that way?

Sometimes you may be happy to ask the more challenging version, but you must have already set up an atmosphere where the interviewee is happy to be asked the tough questions

Questions can be asked to give the appli-cant the chance to say what they did well but they can also be phrased so as to find out what went wrong. Sometimes we learn more about the candidate from the difficulties they struggled with and how they fixed the prob-lem. For example:

Interviewer: Did any problems occur when the system went live?

Interviewee: It mostly went according to plan, but some of the branches were unable to access the information immediately

Interviewer: How did you deal with that?

The standard cliché in interviewing is to en-courage interviewers to ask the six standard questions:

● WHO? ● WHERE?● WHAT? ● HOW?● WHEN? ● WHY?

However, to get full value out of them you will need to use them properly.

WHO, WHAT, WHEN, and WHERE are data collection questions. They will give you the basic facts. Use them to establish the essentials of time and place:

When was that? Who else was involved? Where did you work before that?What exactly was your role there?

HOW and WHY are probing questions and need to be treated carefully.

HOW questions can help you get deeper into the candidate’s motivations and be-haviour, which is exactly where you want to get to:HOW did you go about that? HOW did you come to that conclusion? HOW did you feel about that?

WHY is useful as a probe in understand-ing peoples’ motivation:WHY did you decide to do it that way?WHY did you think that was more impor-

tant? Interviewer: WHY did you move jobs

from Company A to Company B?

Sometimes interviewees do not respond well to a question beginning with Why as they see it as challenging their thinking or actions. The skilled interviewer may need to reframe the question to get the right effect. For example, instead of asking:

Listen first, then ask good questions

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1. Questions as commands:

A standard interviewing technique is to ask for information directly:

Interviewer: Tell me about your last job.Interviewer: Take me through your CV.

The danger of such loose forms of ques-tioning is that the interviewer loses control of the data they will get and that the inter-viewee will waffle.

When interviewers ask too many loose questions the interviewee is then condi-tioned to give only long and loose answers. It then becomes effectively impossible for them to give short, concise answers.

Interviewers have reported many instances when it was practically impossible to get the interviewee to stop talking.

2. Non-matched questions:

The simple example is where the interviewer asks one question but the interviewee an-

QUESTIONS:THAT ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM

swers another:Interviewer: Tell me about your experience as a manager Interviewee: When I moved to my last job I was given a managerial role for the first time. I enjoyed it and didn’t really have any prob-lems with it and it was a great company to work for.

The general form of the question gives a very general answer so we get little idea of what their management style is like. This would be better: Interviewer: What sort of things did you do to help staff perform better?Interviewee: I set targets quarterly and month-ly but keep informal contact going day to day.

A more common example is the closed question that leads to an open one.

Interviewer: Have you any experience in training?

Interviewee: Yes, loads. I remember the time the Board asked me to show them how the conferencing system worked and I was sent up to head office to…

The interviewer wanted a plain yes or no – what they got was the answer to the question: “What was your greatest training achievement?” When an interviewee an-swers a closed question with an open answer effectively they have hi-jacked the interview because the question they are answering is in their head but not the interviewers!

NOTES

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THE GREAT QUESTIONSAbout Data:WHAT, WHERE, WHO & WHENAbout Process:HOWAbout Motivation:WHY

INTERVIEW BOARDS WANT TO KNOW IF

THE CANDIDATE:

Can Do the JobHas done it before

Will do it in your organisation

Will fit in

Introduction Greet: Establish Initial Rapport

Explain: Purpose, Process, and RolesConfirm Rapport

Initial Settling QuestionsOpen Questions

Probing QuestionsReviewing Questions

Hypothetical QuestionsClosed Questions

Summaries(Repeat)Conclude

Last ChecksOutcome

Part

THE INTERVIEWFUNNEL

FACTS + VALIDATION = DECISIONS

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You can get more into a container and quickly if you use a funnel. For the inter-viewer the general rule of thumb is to follow a funnelling type sequence as follows:

Headline the area you are about to ex-plore: “I would like you to tell us about your experi-ence of leading teams.”

Start with Open Questions:“What are the main types situations in which you have had to assume leadership of your team?”

Focus in with intermediate level Open

Questions: “Which situations would be most relevant to this job?”

Switch to closed: “Which one would you like to focus on?”

Switch back to modified Open Question: “What were the main things you did to man-age the situation.”

Use summaries to check that you have the right information:“So you are telling me that….. “

End with a Closed Question: “Have I got that right?

How do you know the candidate is expert in their field?

l You can look at qualifications and see if they got a good result l You can pose some technical questions that would test their level of expertise – you could either paint a scenario or a number of scenarios where they would have to use their knowledge to solve a problem or ask them to describe in detail how they approached some tricky technical problems in the past. It’s important to ask lots of follow up questions to ensure the candidate has the level and depth of knowledge you needl You can have a separate technical interview that is knowledge- based and asks a number of searching questions that test the candidate’s knowledgel You can give a written test

WHAT THE BEST INTERVIEWERS DO:l Probe, probe, probe - until they hit bedrock.

l Are clear the exact data they are looking for.l Are aware of shaping and framing ques-tions to suit what they want to discoverl Show versatility in their choice of questions rather than using a jaded list of favouritesl Are driven by a need to be convinced of the quality of the interviewee’s an-swers.l Act like detectives to get at the real factsl Stay focussed and energetic right through the interview, even when in-terviewing with others

THE LAZY INTERVIEWERl Uses the standard or favourite ques-tions.l Doesn’t listen properly.l Goes into autopilot. Loses track of interview and interviewee!l Ticks offs the boxes if they get an-ything sounding vaguely like the right answer.l Ignores the non-verbal signals – like shifting eye contact, changes in voice emphasis.l Scores on a narrow basis – only inter-ested in yes or no type answers.l Asks leading questions that suggest the correct answers.l Allows the interviewee to take con-trol of the interview

QUESTIONS:PROBING A CANDIDATE’S EDUCATION?

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Coach’s cornerTHINGS TO TRY

Observe the interviewee while you ask the question – do they react, connect? Move outside your comfort zone! Most in-terviewers rely on a limited set of favourite questions that have worked well for them in the past. Listen to interviewers on TV and radio and see what types of questions they ask and what questions work best for themPractice summarising and reflecting back in your normal conversations with people ”Ask for feedback from colleagues – run a few test interviews. Find colleagues to test your skills with. Ambitious colleagues may co-operate enthu-siastically if you offer it as a form interview coaching. Be prepared to give positive and constructive feedback. Use a video camera or a mobile phone with video recording to help plan timing.

Sample Interview Questions 10INTRODUCTORY QUESTIONSTell me how you found out about this job?How have you heard about our company?What would you find attractive about working for a company like ours?Give a brief outline of your education?Give me an idea of the activities that your current job entails?

What part of your work do you find the most amenable?

KNOWLEDGEWhat professional experience do you bring to the job?Tell me about your range of professional contacts.Tell me about how you learned about the companies that you worked for.What study have you done to keep up to speed with the job?How do you keep yourself informed about developments in your field?What networks have you developed among colleagues and associates?

WHAT THE PROS SAYl The way you shape a question has a direct impact on the type of information you get backl You don’t know that you have asked the right question until you get the right answerl Good interviewers use a wide repertoire of different types of questions, summaries and clarifi-cationsl Good interviewers obey the 80/20 rule – the interviewer takes 20% of the air time! l Good interviewers hear everything that is said and how it is saidl Interviewees don’t listen well to questions – use a ‘front end’ to your question like: “I’d like to ask you a question: what sort of leader are you?” This allows the interviewer and interviewee time to focus on each other.

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SKILLSGive me a number of communications skills that you have developed?What is your best mode of communication? Why?What one to one activities give you most satisfaction?What is your preferred role in a team?What sort of role are you most frequently called on to play in new projects or special assignments?How do you cope with presentations?What advice would you give a colleague who is new to the job?What qualities do you look for in a good leader?What qualities do you think you possess as a leader?In your experience where do leaders most frequently fall down?In a complex project, where do you think the leader is most frequent-ly challenged?What techniques would you suggest to a colleague who is having dif-ficulty managing their time? What suggestions would you make to a colleague who is consistently turning in work that is late and sloppy?In delegating work to staff, what techniques do you use to ensure that the work is done on time, and that the staff member remains highly motivated?

TRAITS AND ATTRIBUTESDescribe the secret of your success in the job using one-word adjectives or terms.What traits have you learned the hard way?What qualities of yours have been consistently remarked on in feedback over the years?Is there anything else I should know about you?Is there one quality which puts you apart from other people?In what areas do you occasionally fail to meet your own expectations?What type of work is the most boring for you?EXPERIENCEEXPERIENCECan you give me an overview of your career to date?Can you describe a project where you had to use a range of skills?Tell me about a situation where you had to make a difficult decision.Tell me about a project where you were really challenged. Tell me about a situation where you had to be flexible and exercise judgement.Tell me about a situation where you had to learn the ropes quickly.What attracted you to work in your current job (previous job)?

CONTRIBUTIONWhat are your best skills?What areas of your work do you have in-depth knowledge of?

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Give examples of the qualities that bosses and colleagues have praised you for.What sort of activities or projects do you like to be put in charge of?How do you deal with unexpected obstacles on the job?When do you know that you are doing a good job?What kind of obstacles to working stretch you the most?What’s your leadership style?What’s the biggest decision/project you were ever put in charge of?

DIFFERENTIATING QUESTIONSWhat qualities in yourself have you noticed that are less developed than others? What is your reputation among your peers and colleagues?What makes you think you would be an ideal fit for this job?What sort of challenges can you handle that others would back away from?What was the most formative experience of your professional life?What are the areas of your work in which you need to develop fur-ther?Tell me about a time when you asked for specific training and devel-opment to help you around a professional difficulty.In what areas would you be most critical of yourself?Why do you think you would be successful in the job we are offering today?How do you cope/react when somebody criticises you?How do you know if you are doing a good job – but are not getting feedback from anybody else?Can you give me three elements of your personal code of ethics on the job?How would you handle a subordinate who constantly contradicted your instructions and yet was extremely successful?What is your plan for this job in the first year?What development plan do you think would help you come up to speed in this job quickly?

CLOSING QUESTIONSAre there any areas that you would like to give us information about?Would you like to make a short presentation as to why you are the most suitable person for the job?If you were on the Board what sort of issues do you think would be central in an interview like this?What do you think makes the work of a Board like this easy?A year from today, where do you think you would be in terms of your formation of the job?

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INTERVIEWING:THE DOs AND DON’Ts

DON’T... ...DO THIS INSTEAD

Skip preparationl Prepare Job & Person Specificationl Read CVs (15 mins each)l Allow time to devise questions & rating scheme

Ignore rapport, especially at the

start of interview

l Settle intervieweel Make small talkl Observe for signs of nervousness and anxiety l Make sure you’re relaxed as well!l Engage non verbally (nods etc)

Ask hard questions first or too early

l Get interviewee talking easily firstl Remember rapport leads to disclosurel Get enough data to put challenging answer prop-erly into context

Take too many notes

l Record proofsl Minimise what you have to recordl Avoid rewriting what you have alreadyl Observe interviewee as much as you canl Devise shorthandl Develop skill of writing and listening at the same time

Jump to conclusions

l Use structured questioning (open questions followed by probing questions followed by closed questions and summaries) l Maximise the data you gatherl Be aware of feelingsl Cross check datal Suspend judgement for as long as possible

Intimidate the interviewee with trick

questions or play ‘good cop bad cop’

l Look for disclosure l Validate candidate subtlyl Make sure interviewee is clear as to stages in interview and roles of interviewersl Use soft front end for difficult questions

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Misjudge data

l Distinguish between views expressed. l Participation (degree of) and proofl Use summaries to check data & logical connections

Conclude Interview too quickly

l Let interviewee know interview end is nearl Give an opportunity for them to clarify any issues they felt were inadequately dealt with.

Rush into the next interview

l Allow time to make proper notesl Clarify markings with other members of the board

Do too many interviews in the one day

l No more than 8 (of 30-40 minutes)l Resist pressure to “pack them in”.

The employment Equality Act was signed by the President on 18 June 1998 - it gov-erns the provisions concerning, among other things, discrimination in employment.

DISCRIMINATION IS DEFINED AS: “THE TREATMENT OF ONE PERSON IN A LESS FAVOURABLE WAY THAN ANOTHER PERSON, IS, HAS, OR WOULD BE TREATED.”

The nine grounds on which discrimination is outlawed:

1. Gender2. Marital Status3. Family Status4. Age5. Disability6. Religious Belief7. Race8. Membership of the Travelling Community9. Sexual Orientation

ASPECTS OF THE EMPLOYMENT PROCESS COVERED: l Employers’ obligations regardingl Access to employmentl Conditions of Employmentl Training l Promotionl Job Advertisements

EXCLUSIONS FROM THE ACT l Where gender is an occupation qualifica-tion (e.g. acting).l For gender in certain circumstances in the Gardai and Prison Service.l On age grounds for recruitment where certain conditions apply and where the can-didate is close to retirement age.l Where the costs of employing a disabled person are other than nominal.l Religious discrimination by institutions promoting religious values (e.g. schools).l Where certain public service employment requirements apply.l Where the employer is a private household.

Interviewing skills and the law in Ireland 12

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SAMPLECOMPETENCY INTERVIEW SHEET

Leadership

Managing Teams Questions Evidence Rating

Leading

Managing

Motivating

Communicating

Vision

Managing Upwards

Influencing Senior

Management in relation to

Policy

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