Hiring for Success: Interviewing Skills

Audience:

This class is ideal for managers and HR personnel.

Prerequisites:

None

Description:

Interviewing sounds easy enough: you arrange for a conversation between you and potential candidates, and then select the best person for a particular position. But what if you could refine the process in such a way that you were confident that you are selecting the right person? How do you separate the good from the great, when they have similar work experience and strengths to offer? This workshop will give you the skills and tools to hire successful candidates.

Course Objectives:

This one-day workshop teaches participants to:

• Recognize the costs incurred by an organization when a wrong hiring decision is made.
• Develop a fair and consistent interviewing process for selecting employees.
• Use a variety of markets to recruit the best talent.
• Be able to develop a job analysis and position profile.
• Use traditional, behavioral, achievement oriented, holistic, and situational (critical incident) interview questions.
• Enhance communication skills that are essential for a skilled recruiter.
• Effectively interview difficult applicants.
• Check references more effectively.
• Understand the basic employment and human rights laws that can affect the hiring process.

Outline:

Lesson 1: Course Overview

You will spend the first part of the day getting to know participants and discussing what will take place during the workshop. Students will also have an opportunity to identify their personal learning objectives.

Lesson 2: The Recruitment and Selection Process

During this session, we will take a quick look at the six stages of the hiring process.

Lesson 3: Factors in the Hiring Process

We will examine the three levels of factors in the hiring process in this session.

Lesson 4: Job Analysis and Position Profiles

Determining just what you’re hiring for is the second stage of the hiring process. We will look at performing a job analysis and writing a position profile in this session.

Lesson 5: Determining the Skills You Need

Once you have analyzed what the job will entail, you will need to determine what technical and performance skills the candidate will need. We will examine various ways of doing this during this session.

Lesson 6: Finding Candidates

During this session, we will examine the advantages and disadvantages of various advertising methods.

Lesson 7: Screening Resumes

Now that you have the stack of resumes on your desk, what are you going to do with them? Our recommendation is to use a resume screening guide. During this session, participants will learn what that is, how to develop one, and how to use it.

Lesson 8: Performance Assessments

In addition to interviewing, you may also choose to have candidates complete a technical or performance exercise. Participants will look at both types of exercises in this session.

Lesson 9: Problems Recruiters Face

During this session, participants will discuss some common mistakes recruiters make and how to avoid them.

Lesson 10: Interviewing Barriers

There are also some human mistakes that recruiters make; that will be your focus during this lecture.

Lesson 11: Types of Questions

Obviously, the ability to ask questions is crucial to an interview. During this session, participants will learn how to use open questions, closed questions, and probes.

Lesson 12: Case Study: Itlex Manufacturing

Participants will work on a case study to help Mitchel Hampton figure out why he had to fire an employee he recently hired.

Lesson 13: Traditional vs. Behavior Interviews

During this session, participants will look at what behavioral interviewing is and how it differs from traditional interviewing. Participants will also have the opportunity to develop some sample behavioral questions.

Lesson 14: Other Types of Questions

There are two more key types of questions that you can use during an interview: achievement oriented and holistic. Participants will take a brief look at both types during this session.

Lesson 15: The Critical Incident Technique

Another type of interview question asks the candidate how they might behave in a certain situation. Participants will explore why these questions are so valuable, how to develop them, and how to use them.

Lesson 16: Difficult Applicants

Participants will learn ways to get the information they’re looking for out of difficult applicants

Lesson 17: Interview Preparation and Format

During this session, participants will learn some things that they should do before, during, and after the interview.

Lesson 18: Other Interview Techniques

During the interview, there are some techniques that interviewers can use to keep things moving. This session will cover five of the most common methods.

Lesson 19: Scoring Responses

During this session, participants will learn how to use performance-based rating scales.

Lesson 20: Checking References

In this session, participants will learn how to check references and use a reference guide.

Lesson 21: Workshop Wrap-Up

At the end of the course, students will have an opportunity to ask questions and fill out an action plan.

Appendix: EEO Guidelines

Participants will learn about the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) laws and permissible questions to ask during interviews.