before, during, and after the interview: tips for hiring committees
Imagine you are invited to be part of an interview committee for another team in your organization. A few days before the interview you realize that, aside from receiving the invite, you have not heard anything else about the interview. When you inquire if there is an agenda or a list of questions that will be asked you are told there is not. You find the job description on your organization’s website and review it prior to the interview. The interview is virtual and on the day of the interview, you log in fifteen minutes early expecting the rest of the committee to be there to discuss final details. The other interviewers do not arrive until a few minutes before the interview—one is zooming in from their home office like you and the other two are zooming in from the organization’s conference room. As you are asking how they would like you to contribute, the candidate appears in the meeting.
The interview begins by welcoming the candidate followed by a specific question about the job responsibilities. No members of the interview committee are introduced and the candidate is not asked to share about her previous experiences. The interviewers repeatedly talk over and interrupt one another as they ask questions. The interview seems disjointed—hopping from one topic to another and back again. At one point one of your colleagues gets up abruptly and leaves the conference room. There is no explanation as to why and you can see confusion in the candidate’s facial expression. You yourself are confused. The interview carries on with you eventually introducing yourself and asking a few questions. A little while later your colleague returns to the conference room with the director of the organization who explains she was in another meeting and was called out to come to see the candidate. After several more questions, the interview is wrapped up without anyone asking the candidate if she has any questions or explaining the next steps. Although you do not think it is your place, you ask the candidate if she has any questions and then ask the other interviewers to describe the next steps in the interview process. When the candidate leaves the other interviewers discuss how impressed they were and how she is the ideal candidate. Then they ask for your opinion. The whole experience seems awkward and unprofessional to you.
While you were imagining the situation above, for me this was a real experience. I walked away baffled as to how an interview committee could be so underutilized and how an interview could be so disorganized. The point of having an interview committee is a valuable one. A committee of people from various roles with various views provides perspective on the candidate. Committee members will be interacting with the new hire in different capacities so their frame of reference, questions, and interpretation will be based on this perspective. Part of finding, and ultimately hiring the right candidate has to do with setting the right tone and having hiring practices in place that provide candidates and committee members with what they need to make the best decision. If you reread the above paragraphs, I am sure you can identify areas that can be improved upon. Here are a few suggestions and tips for your next interview:
Meet as a committee beforehand to discuss what the team is looking for in a candidate, review the job responsibilities, craft an agenda, and determine interview questions and interviewer responsibilities.
Organize interview questions so the interview flows from one topic to another, rather than circling back and forth among topics. To be fair, the same interview questions should then be used for each candidate interviewing for that role.
Review the procedures for debriefing. For example, if committee members will be completing a form for each candidate, explain how to do so and how the form will then be used.
Ask committee members to arrive 15 minutes prior to the interview time to discuss any last-minute details and to ensure everyone is there to welcome the candidate.
Email the candidate important information prior to the interview day (e.g., reminder of the date, time, and location, copy of the job description, links to helpful information, names and role titles of the interview committee members, parking instructions if the interview will be in-person).
Copy the committee members on the email so everyone is on the same page, and, so staff are reminded of the organization’s procedures when hiring.
Begin the interview with introductions and explaining the process for the candidate (e.g., who will be asking questions, if members will be taking notes, when time is allotted for candidate questions).
If anyone will be leaving or joining mid-interview explain this in advance, and be sure to address it when it happens if it is unexpected.
Conclude the interview by asking if the candidate has any questions (or additional questions if they asked some already), and letting them know the next steps.
Debrief as a committee about the candidate.
In the Program Administration Scale: Measuring Whole Leadership in Early Childhood (PAS-3), Item 1: Hiring and Orientation, provides guidance on the hiring process, consisting of a list of practices to consider including. One of the suggestions is to have the “interviewers complete an interview summary form prior to debriefing.” Such a form should be used for each candidate interviewing for the same role and should be individualized for that role. For example, the criteria that interviewers are taking notes on and/or rating should be based on criteria from the job description and/or responsibilities. Ideally, committee members should individually complete the interview summary form immediately following the interview, before any conversation about the candidate takes place so the information is one the forefront of their minds and their opinion is not influenced by anyone else.
After everyone has a chance to complete the interview summary form, the committee should discuss the candidate. The interview summary form is used to rank the candidate’s qualifications and determine the best candidate for the position. The following is a sample interview summary form to help guide you in developing one to meet your organization’s unique needs. Note that most of the criteria have been left blank so you can individualize the form for the position you are hiring. Feel free to add more criteria. Criteria might be specific job responsibilities or competency areas. You might also include questions related to the criteria and list those specific questions in the criteria boxes. You and your colleagues want to hire the right candidate for your organization. Take the time necessary to ensure the right fit.
Interested in learning more? Item 1 in the Program Administration Scale (PAS-3) includes a list of recommended hiring and orientation practices. If you coordinate a group of directors, The Right Fit: Recruiting, Selecting, and Orienting Staff training is another way to learn more about quality hiring and orientation practices. Find out more about these and other trainings at bellamattinaconsulting.com.
Bella, J.M. (2023). Before, During, and After the Interview: Tips for Hiring Committees. bella mattina. May be printed, duplicated, and distributed freely with attribution. Permission for the inclusion in publications must be obtained in writing from the author.