With so many people wanting to make a difference with their work and contribute to Vantage Point, we had a great response to our role posting for a new Executive Director. This led us to the next challenge of finding the best candidates in a large field of applicants. We reviewed all applications to find the candidates that best fit our profile, and then conducted a phone screening to narrow the field to a manageable number of interviews.
In order to ensure that we were consistent and effective in how the candidates were interviewed, two members of the Executive Director Task Force created an interview guide with questions and a rating scale.
Interview guides are essential to ensure you:
1. Ask the right questions to investigate the previously identified key competencies;
2. Pose the same questions to each candidate; and
3. Provide an objective rating system to allow comparison between candidates. This rating system is not to be taken as an absolute, but serves to differentiate groups of candidates.
Interviews offer limited time with each candidate, so we developed questions that would quickly and easily draw out previous experiences and behaviors. Past behaviors in real incidents are the best predictor of what a person is likely to do in the future. Questions that prompt candidates to tell stories about what they have done in real life can be more relevant than what they might tell you about their theories or beliefs.
Another important step is to prepare for both the first and second round of interviews at the same time so the questions build upon each other.
The final interview guide, with questions and a rating guide, was given to each interviewer to allow them to make their notes right on the form. This made it easier to compare impressions and discuss the responses that each candidate had given. Allowing enough time between interviews to debrief on each candidate immediately after the interview was key. It is amazing how quickly everything becomes a blur after doing three or four interviews in a day.
We’ve included a template for an interview guide on in our Resource Library. We hope you find it useful. Remember that the questions included are ones that relate to Vantage Point’s search. We encourage you to take the time to ensure that you are asking the right questions for your organizational culture and future mission delivery.
This blog was originally published at www.thevantagepoint.ca
