Interview Guide
Setting up the interviews
Below is a guide to setting up the interviews.
- The hiring department/hiring manager is responsible for setting up the interview. The hiring manager selects the appropriate interview team members.
- Determine how many rounds of interviews there will be and who will interview the candidates at each stage. All interviews should be conducted under reasonably similar circumstances and all candidates should be given similar opportunities to meet the same set of interviewers.
- Select and reserve a venue for the interviews.
- Determine how long each round of interviews will run.
- Try to book all interviews in blocks of time – depending on how many candidates are being interviewed, it may not be possible to complete in one day so try to complete the interviews in blocks of time.
- Provide the following information to the candidate:
- The position for which they are being interviewed.
- Date, time and duration of interview.
- Provide the interviewers information (Name, Title).
- Explain the format of the interview (panel or individual).
- Indicate if testing is part of the interview process.
- Any other information that you think the candidate needs to know (if presentation is required).
- Provide the interviewers with the candidates’ resume and agenda.
- In addition to outlining the interview process, also provide the interviewers with a copy of the job description, the competencies required for the role, and the interview questions.
- How you expect interviewers to provide feedback to you. Request feedback on the candidates from each of the interviewers and use this feedback to rank the candidates based on the requirements of the position.
Conduct the in-person interviews
When conducting an in-person interview, be sure to take notes on the candidates’ responses to each question, as this will be helpful to refer back to when ranking the candidates. Elements of the process that you will need to determine include:
- Review the candidate’s resume/curriculum vitae and other relevant information provided in the application and decide which experiences are most relevant to the position.
- Interviewers to ask additional questions about jobs, experiences, education and employment and experience gaps.
- Interviewers select the behavioral-based questions to ask candidates. It is critical to coordinate the interview questions with other interviewers on the team to ensure no questions are duplicated.
- Interviewers must ask similar questions of each candidate to maintain fairness and consistency in the process.
Prepare interview questions
Whether you use Behavioral Based Interviewing or develop your own set of questions, planning your interviewing process ahead of time provides a consistent interview process for all candidates. Elements of the process that you will need to determine include:
- Keep in mind that interviewers must ask only questions that are related to the position’s qualifications and responsibilities.
- Additionally, each candidate should be asked similar questions to ensure consistency in candidate evaluation and that crucial job-related information is obtained.