Selection Methods

1. Interviews - all types

Interviews can take many forms and styles. The type of interviewing recommended throughout the University is Criteria-Based Behavioural Interviewing. This type of interviewing is based around the criteria identified in the person specification – the essential and desirable criteria. It is therefore really important to prepare a good person specification right at the start of the recruitment process.

It is also important to identify how each of the criteria will be assessed. Some items in the criteria e.g. a qualification, can be assessed by reference to the application form, these can be called the “hard or factual criteria” and can usually be assessed on the application form or c.v.

Other criteria, e.g. interpersonal skills, which can be called “soft criteria” can only be assessed through an interview. By clearly identifying your criteria on the person specification and how you intend to assess each of these, you will ensure that you are:

  • thoroughly checking each candidate against the right criteria
  • able to plan the whole process to include any tests etc
  • fairly applying the criteria to each candidate
  • able to discriminate fairly between candidates
  • not missing an important aspect of the requirements

The interview will tend to concentrate therefore on the soft criteria, though you will also be checking to make sure the candidate does possess the “hard data” they have claimed in their application.

The interview will follow a structure and should be planned and prepared in advance. For more information on interviewing, you should really attend the training course.

A few general tips on interviewing are included below:

Purpose of an Interview:

  1. Does candidate meet person specification – knowledge, skills, experience, personal qualities, behaviours?
  2. Does candidate know enough to decide this is right job and organisation for them? (so they stay)
  3. Good impression of University? (even if not successful)

General principles of Criteria-Based Behavioural Interviews

  1. Recruit for attitude, train for skills
  2. Best indicator of future behaviour is past behaviour
  3. Evidence-based approach
  4. Based on thorough person specification
  5. Relaxed but not informal format
  6. Candidate stretched not stressed
  7. Probing questions not personal
  8. Do not reveal personal views

Good Interviews should:

  1. Be friendly
  2. Stretch the candidate
  3. Make the candidate work/think hard
  4. Should cover a lot of ground
  5. Really test the candidates skills
  6. Be very thorough
  7. Be 80% to 90% of candidate talking

Common Issues of Poor Interviews:

  1. Interviewers talked too much – 50% or more
  2. Interviewers read out their questions
  3. Questions long and complex
  4. Interviewers did not probe
  5. Candidates not given an opportunity to expand answers
  6. Interview finished too quickly (before scheduled to finish)
  7. Interviewer did not make much eye contact
  8. Interviewer shuffling papers (obviously has not read cv prior to interview)

Hints and Tips – Do’s

  1. Prepare room for candidates comfort eg light, heat
  2. Prepare yourself – e.g. read c.v.s again
  3. Prepare questions in advance
  4. Use a prepared opening
  5. Use pauses and silence
  6. Open questions to start
  7. Try to move smoothly from topic to topic
  8. Ask one question at a time
  9. Avoid jargon
  10. Try to look interested!
  11. Maintain eye contact
  12. Keep notes to minimum but regular
  13. Offer candidate the opportunity to ask questions

Hints and Tips – Don’ts

  1. Don’t accept glib answers – make sure you probe. If they say they are good at something, how do they know? What evidence can they give you that this is true?
  2. Don’t do most of the talking – you only collect evidence when the candidate is talking
  3. Don’t react violently to anything said, e.g. suddenly write a reply down when you have not taken any other notes
  4. Don’t criticise or argue, or deliberately provoke the candidate – this style of interviewing relies on a good rapport to relax the candidate so that you can see them as they really are. Upset the rapport and they will not behave in their normal way
  5. Lose eye contact with the candidate – get colleagues to take notes from your questions so that you can keep the rapport

A Typical Interview Plan

  1. Introduction
  2. Broad questions - gain sufficient understanding of experience and background 
  3. Criteria-based questions from Person Specification
  4. Follow up probing questions - not scripted but from candidates responses
  5. Each panel member to have assigned criteria
  6. Chair to “mop up” if not enough searching questions
  7. Candidates ask questions
  8. “Sell” job, University, rewards and terms and conditions
  9. Close

Using the Interview Assessment Grids

  1. Not just bureaucracy
  2. Use as a tool to help discussion/decision
  3. Complete the person criteria before you set questions and before the interview – at short listing stage
  4. Set your standards for each of the key person criteria (eg good communication skills) before you interview. Every person specification has communication skills as an important criteria but what does it mean in your job –  is it passing simple information to single enquirers, explaining complex information to groups of people, or persuading and influencing government departments to change their policies?
  5. Share this understanding with the panel
  6. Each panel member should assess each candidate separately and then in plenary
  7. Remember, you should be looking for a body of positive and contrary evidence for any criteria, not relying on a single piece of evidence

At the end of every interview: Did it go well, did you give the candidate every opportunity to state their case?

  1. What was the opening like?
  2. How was my rapport and body language with the candidate
  3. What did I learn from their body language?
  4. Did the questions work, were they clear and unambiguous?
  5. Did we probe well?
  6. Did we get the evidence we needed?
  7. Were all the criteria covered?
  8. What was the close like, were the next steps clear?

2. Presentations

Presentations can be used in a variety of ways depending on how they relate to the job description and the normal working practices expected of the post.

Example 1: for a post which is required to respond to a committee or the public in a very short timescale given a few facts, candidates could be asked to simply arrive early to the interview, be quickly briefed and given half an hour to prepare a 5 minute presentation, and deliver it orally with no supports.

Example 2 : However, if the job requires a person to take time to prepare and deliver lectures of say 45 minutes, they would normally have time to prepare properly, so it would be unreasonable to give them the same task as the one above. They should receive the topic well in advance and have time beforehand to prepare their delivery.

In assessing presentations, it is important to have the decided on the criteria against which each candidate will be marked. These could include criteria which will also be assessed at interview, but may take on a particular aspect – e.g. communications skills could be assessed in the interview but will be mainly looking at how the person communicates with the panel and gets their points across, as well as how they interact with the members of the panel. In a lecture style presentation, the candidates’ communications skills to a large group will be assessed, which is much more formal delivery.

Other criteria can be assessed in the presentation – ability to assimilate information quickly could be included in Example 1 but not in 2. Strategic perspective skills might be included if the topic allows it. Judgement and self confidence could also be assessed through a presentation.

For the panel of interviewers, it is important that they attend all the presentations if possible. If others are involved in assessing e.g. an audience for a lecture presentation, then the audience should be allowed to provide their views to the panel to make the process worthwhile. This may be done by asking the audience to email to one person on the panel, giving the audience a framework for their comments. This may not mean specifying all the criteria to them but perhaps asking them to comment on tone, delivery, content, suitability, interest, enthusiasm etc.  

Finally, the panel should be prepared to give feedback on candidates’ presentations.

3.  Tests

It is possible that when defining the person specification criteria that some criteria prove hard to assess either through the application form or c.v., or via the interview. For example, if some IT skills are needed for the posts, such as Access database skills, how will you know that the candidates meet the standard that you are expecting in the job? A candidate can tell you or write down that they have these skills, and even describe how they use the system, but it is hard to be sure. If this is an important part of the role, it may be worth using a test. In this case, the recruitment advisor could assist you in developing a test to be used as part of the shortlisting process, perhaps to reduce a field of 12 candidates to 4 or 5 for interviews.

There are also tests e.g. numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning, critical thinking, manual dexterity which can be bought off the shelf. We do not currently stock these but can access and deliver them on your behalf.

4.  Psychometric tests

These are particularly useful if you want to assess candidates for managerial or senior appointments or candidates for appointments where there is a special need for the post -  such as strong relationship building skills. These types of test are especially good at assisting with assessing how candidates are likely to behave, for example, towards a manager, towards their peers, and towards their subordinates. They will often provide a profile which should be discussed with the candidate to check validity, as they are self perception questionnaires. Candidates should also be given feedback on the profile. The profile should be a part of the assessment, contributing perhaps up to 10% towards the final decision. They should be used carefully as they need to be used in the right way by properly trained assessors.

If you have any questions regarding this page, please contact your HR/Recruitment Adviser


Version 1.0 - Current as at April 2007