Selecting An Online Job Board - Developing a Job Board Based Online Recruitment Strategy



Posted: Sunday, September 12, 2010

by Sebastian Alexander
Simplified Recruitment

As the most exercised method of recruitment, interviewing is  often not given the attention it deserves. This article will guide  you through a basic interview process and should allow you to hold  interviews which are fair and also allow you to select the best  candidate for a given role.

The current best practice interview style is a competency based  interview. People often get confused by what is actually meant by  competency but at a very basic level a competency is just a skill  which is needed to do a particular job. A competency based  interview is just a systematic way for an employer to test whether  someone has the competencies which they need them to have in order  to do a job.
   
The first step in the interview process is to understand which  competencies are required to excel in a particular job.   So if you are recruiting for an administrator for example, the  kinds of competencies you would be looking for are: attention to detail, organisation and  prioritisation, communication, presentation, professionalism and  team work. You would be looking for a candidate which scored highly  in all those areas.

Competencies exist at multiple levels:
     
Once you have identified the competencies needed for the role you  can begin to identify which of the candidates you have shortlisted  is an appropriate match for the job. First you need to write down a  series of standard questions to ask the interviewees which will  allow you to see if they have the qualities you need.
   
So for our administrator, you would ask questions like: Can you  explain to me how you would keep track of tasks and make sure they  were all completed within a busy office environment. This question  will give you lots of insights into the candidates approach to  organisation. If they struggle with this question, it's likely they  are not a good match for the job. You should aim to ask at least  two questions for each competency which you want to identify.

Once the candidate answers the question, you can further  understand their ability by asking for examples. These questions  generally begin with:   

It is also a good idea to make these questions specific to the  interviewees CV, asking them to elaborate on parts of their  experience which you think may be relevant to the job.

 These questions will allow you to test their approach to see if  they have actually utilised the skills they explained within a work  environment.  

Be careful.
   
It is illegal to discriminate against candidates due to sex, race  or disability so it's best to ensure that the interview process is  run the same way with all the candidates to avoid any possibility  of discrimination on these grounds. Sticking to a competency based  approach will enable you to avoid these issues.

For a successful interview you should focus on the following  points:

  1. Make sure the candidate has opportunity to speak - don't direct  them with closed questions which have yes or no answers or allow  them to give one line responses
    2.    
  2. Make sure the candidate is feeling comfortable - try to avoid  creating an atmosphere where the candidate will feel there are  wrong answers to the questions, remember there are no wrong  answers, just suitable and unsuitable candidates
    3.    
  3. Make sure that you follow a similar structure with all the  candidates - this will help avoid any possibility of bias or  discrimination. A recommended structure could be:
               
    • Ask the candidate to tell you a little bit about  themselves
      •        
    • Go through the candidates CV - focusing on any relevant  experience
      •        
    • Outline what the person who gets the job will be expected to  do
      •        
    • Ask competency based questions to see if the candidate would be  a good fit for the job
      •        
    • Ask the candidate if they have any questions
    4.    
  4. Make sure that the candidate is clear about what the job will  involve and make sure that their expectations of the job match  yours - This is critical and is often the reason why 'ideal'  candidates can leave the job after a short period
    5.    
  5. Make sure that you notify all the candidates whether they have  been successful
  

Read the original article: Interview advice for employers     Article provided by Simplified Recruitment, a free multiple job board posting portal that provides free job postings to job boards in the UK

Sebastian Alexander is a HR Consultant at Simplified Recruitment, a multiple job posting website that allows free posting to its partner job boards network   

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