By Jennifer Ritchie |  Charity Careers Africa

As experienced recruiters our candidates often tell us that their experience of being interviewed for some other positions is so poor that it left them wondering if they want the job at all.   After doing the hard bit and managing to get some great people in the room, too many NPOs simply don’t put the work into having a comprehensive, purposeful and respectful interview process.

Here are our Senior Associate Jennifer Ritchie’s Top Ten Tips to guide you.

1.    Get senior management buy-in and involvement.

This sounds obvious, yet sadly it is not. All too often Executive level staff and line managers fail to see interviews as a priority and leave this to HR. Given the critical importance of recruiting talented and competent staff, it is vital that the line manager be involved, as well as senior leaders of the organisation given that a recruitment mistake is a costly and damaging exercise and as humans, we are fallible. A panel interview is the way to go.

2.   Draft a thorough job specification and work from this to draft the interview guide.

Without a thorough job specification detailing the qualifications, experience and skills required in the role, no interview will be effective. As a result of the screening process the paper-based match of selected candidates will have been checked. The purpose of the interview is to objectively ascertain the all-round competence and fit of shortlist candidates. To enable this to happen, the  person drafting the interview questions needs to glean information from the job spec and cover all required aspects.

3.   Understand that a throrough interview has various parts.

The structure of an interview needs to be consistent and balanced containing introductions and general questions, technical questions, and behavioural questions. Also important are questions relating to fit and a concluding section in which the candidate is given the opportunity to ask questions, then thanked and informed of the next steps in the process. This should take at least an hour.

4.   Realise that proper pre-planning is non-negotiable.

In any rigorous recruitment process, a panel interview will only occur after many other screening steps, including an initial interview, checks and references. Thereafter logistics need to be organised to ensure a smooth and transparent process in which company credibility is maintained. Furthermore a panel briefing is required with the relevant documents at hand to ensure proper process from all participants. Hopefully the interview will leave candidates feeling stretched by the questions and with the feeling that the organisation is a place where they would like to work.

5.  Utilise a technical subject expert to draft challenging technical questions.

This is the most neglected part of most interviews and one which requires collaboration with subject matter experts and time to prepare. The fact that someone has a qualification or experience does not mean that they can apply this or have the ability or aptitude to deal with some of the hands-on technical challenges unique to an industry or company.

Technical questions should be rigorous and should include knowledge-related questions to practical case studies in which a scenario is presented and candidates are asked to explain what they would do.  This might also be extended to some testing after the interview process. Would you hire an Executive PA on behavioural competence and fit and not actually test computer proficiency or the ability to take minutes or the capability to deal with actual instances where confidentiality and professionalism are critical? 

 6.   Train your interviewers in competency-based interview process.

No matter how good the interview questions, a bunch of interviewers who are not trained in proper interviewing techniques will skew the result and jeopardise the process. This means that all interviewers need to be trained in competency-based interview process.  

7.   Ensure thorough probing is done.

Through ignorance or through clever manipulation, one comes across candidates in an interview who give generalised, unsubstantiated answers. If you are not able to probe for evidence in a way which separates the big talkers from those who are competent, your scores are rendered pointless. Effective probing requires training and practice. It does not come naturally.

8.   Work on a scored system.

All of us possess often subconscious biases and preferences based on our unique background and thinking. Furthermore, a convincing talker or charismatic personality has the potential to sway or suspend our judgement at times. This means that scoring as per the skills identified for the job needs to be done systematically with a panel facilitator explaining, checking and managing the process in a way which will stand up in the CCMA.

9.   Check thoroughly for fit. 

No matter how impressive the candidate, if they do not fit in with the company culture and extraneous factors involved, they will not be retained. Fit questions involve probing around satisfaction and dissatisfaction in a way that provides interviewers with a solid feel for the motivational factors and working style of the potential appointee. 

10.  Make HR accountable to manage a rigorous, equitable and transparent process.

The only way to ensure that the above aspects are applied is to appoint and empower an expert custodian, experienced in best practice recruitment process to facilitate interviews and manage the process to ensure rigour, consistency and transparency. Without this you are likely to be doomed to hiring mediocre staff.

Jennifer Ritchie: A senior associate recruiter for CCA as well as a career coach and  trainer, Jennifer is passionate about helping individual or corporate clients to thrive, prosper and grow.