Preparing for and conducting an interview involves a number of steps. However, the actual interview is only one part of the process. Your checklist should cover the steps required before the interview, during the interview, and afterward. Your plan should also incorporate points along the way at which you assess progress to date and make any necessary amendments. Leave room to add extra stages, if necessary. Remember, it won’t always be possible to execute each step perfectly. Concentrate on fulfilling each point and keep a record of what you do and the results.

First, analyze and understand the job itself and its significance in your organization. Next map out the steps of your strategy for filling it: where you will publicize the vacancy, what support you will need to screen and rank incoming resumes, how to define your shortlist, the kinds of questions to be asked of candidates at interview, and selecting any other measures that would be required to supplement the interviews. Then there will be logistics issues to be worked out, such as where the interviews will be held.

Know what your budget is from the start; finances play a role in identifying top, secondary, and optional priorities on your checklist. One key spend is likely to be on recruitment advertising. Hiring a venue for interviews and getting expert help to assess candidates’ skills may also mean spending some money. Get estimates on every expenditure before you spend anything.

A well thought out job description can help to attract candidates who are right for the job. It also serves as a foundation for appraisals and employee development plans, and it outlines for both job holder and manager the “rules of the game” in day-to-day activities and over the long term. The person specification, which is often part of the job description, defines the kinds of education, experience, skills, and personal characteristics that are likely to be necessary to succeed in the job.

You may be filling an existing job that has just been vacated. A vacancy provides an opportunity to consider the continuing need for the job. If a need remains, then examine whether the role demands the inclusion of new responsibilities, competencies, and knowledge. Keep in mind that as organizations evolve, their needs and strategy change, and so must the dimensions of the work and the jobs created to carry out that work. Think about how your organization is changing and how changes impact the role.

The starting point for both creating and refreshing a job description or profile is defining the job’s purpose. What is the main reason for the job’s existence and what is the job holder expected to achieve? From there, go on to construct the description’s skeleton, which must include the following: job title, main duties and responsibilities, who the job holder reports to, who reports to the job holder, where the job is based, and whether it is full-time, part-time, or flexi-time. Use the profile to build a compelling case for the job’s desirability, such as responsibility for certain projects.

Since one of the job description’s purposes is to attract applicants, it can be tempting to exaggerate the most interesting aspects of the role and downplay the least interesting. Misrepresenting the job role does no one any favors. Highlight the job’s best points, but balance the description so that applicants understand the full picture of what the role entails. Be truthful, skip the jargon, and write as clear and concise a description as possible.

Developing a precise person specification requires an in-depth understanding of the competencies, knowledge, skills, experience, education, aptitudes, and attitudes that the best possible selected hire for this role could have. Break requirements down into “essential” and “desirable” categories, which can help to differentiate between candidates when the time comes to build your shortlist. Focus on qualitative aspects of experience instead of an arbitrary number of years or qualifications. Perhaps the most challenging part of creating the person specification is effectively building in personal characteristics that are desirable or necessary in the job holder. Recognize that you will need to link interview questions to the person specification, as well as the job description, so consider also how a candidate can best demonstrate to you that they have, for instance, “integrity” or “initiative.” Never use terms that are discriminatory, such as “mature,” “bright, young graduate,” and so on.

Your organization’s website is often the first port of call for two sets of job seekers. The first group knows of your organization and is interested in finding out what it would be like to work there and if there are currently any vacancies. The second is taking a look after seeing an advertisement for the job on offer. If your organization has the resources, its site should offer a careers section that features full job/person descriptions and on-line tools that allow candidates to upload resumes. Some organizations upload videos of current employees explaining what it is like to work there on their sites. Other organizations showcase written testimonials and photographs. If you can’t afford “bells and whistles,” ensure as a minimum that it is easy to find up-to-date job listings on the site.

Going on-line takes your recruitment effort into a whole new cyber realm. Savvy managers and recruiters turn to professional social networking sites like LinkedIn and XING to reach “passive” job seekers (those who are not looking for jobs at the moment) and to spread the word that a job is available. To get the most out of such sites, join subgroups that can broaden your outreach—by location, industry, or profession.

The use of on-line job boards^* as a recruitment tool for all kinds of jobs is increasing rapidly. The general job board may be the right vehicle to get the word out about entry-level and less specialized roles, but career professionals tend to seek out the niche job boards. Although job boards specializing in vacancies for senior executives are growing in popularity, they do not attract as much interest from qualified applicants as on-line services that are aimed at more junior professionals. You may want to post your vacancy on more than one job board to increase its visibility.

Depending on your organization’s size and the number of people hired each year, software that helps to manage the recruitment process from beginning to end may be a worthwhile investment. Widely known as applicant tracking systems (ATS), recruitment software can deliver services from posting job notices and importing candidates’ on-line job applications to screening resumes, scheduling interviews, managing communications with individual candidates, and more.

Devising a matrix to filter the flow of candidates in the early stage of selection will save processing time. It consists of a list of candidates running down one side, and a list of minimum and preferred educational, professional experience and skills requirements running along the top. The requirements listed on the matrix should match those in the job posting. A simple “yes/ no” or check system is best for indicating whether or not the requirements have been met. Ultimately, the filtering matrix is the document supporting the decision to interview, or not interview, a particular candidate.

An interview will require you to score candidates on information that is less factual and more qualitative in nature, so a matrix for this stage will reflect the quality of a response rather than a simple yes or no. The areas you measure will be personal qualities such as communication skills, business awareness, and knowledge. Each will receive points with, say, a top score of five. You may want to “weight” particular areas, either by raising the top score or by multiplying the given score by a number to reflect that area’s importance to the hiring decision. You can use the same basic visual framework design as the filtering matrix.

Organize your matrices so that information is easily accessible and your scoring system for each is easily understandable. Then create a single score sheet that outlines the accumulated score from each activity of the interviewing process for each candidate. Once you have completed interviewing and assessing your candidates, add up the scores to see which candidate has come out on top. If a question arises over selection later on, a transparent system will support and clarify your decision and the process used to make your choice.

1. No evidence of competency

2. Limited competency (one example)

3. Acceptable (meets the minimum standard for the job)

4. Significant (examples demonstrate confidence)

5. Extensive (many excellent examples that reflect well-rounded professional knowledge and expertise)

The question-and-answer segment of getting to know your candidates is referred to as “the interview,” but to get the most out of your exposure to them, think instead of the interview as a multipart event that may require several different settings and techniques. The core points to decide are whether you will have a single interview or first and second interviews, and if supplementary activities should be included. For example, when candidates come in for interviews, a tour of your facility may be appropriate to give them an idea of what the work environment is like and to show them employee facilities. It will also give you a chance to see their spontaneous reactions to the environment.

How long each interview should last will depend on the amount of information you must obtain from each candidate. This will be based on the complexity of the role or the seniority of the position. However, you should allow at least 45–60 minutes for the question-and-answer portion of an in-person interview. Reviewing the job description and person specifications is a good starting point for developing the questions. Use it also to plan the pace of your interview by deciding how much time should be devoted to each segment, based on its importance to your selection criteria.

The best-laid plans can go awry when the unexpected occurs. Your interviews could be thrown off kilter by late arrivals, office emergencies, or any number of everyday events. Work out a “Plan B” to help you and your candidates navigate smoothly through any problems that could occur on the day of the interview. One common contingency is running behind schedule, which can threaten the goodwill of your remaining candidates throughout the day, as well as raise the possibility that you won’t get all the information you want during the interview. Perhaps the room you’ve arranged as the interview location has been double-booked. A candidate, or you, could be faced with a personal emergency. Develop a list of “what ifs” in order to plan effective solutions for a range of contingencies.

Build your interview shortlist with the help of the filtering matrix, which will make it clear which applicants met most of your requirements and which did not. Your next steps depend on two factors: how many applicants met most or all of the minimum and preferred requirements, and how many people you want to interview for the job. If your list does not include the desired number of candidates to interview, look at the applicants who met the highest percentage of the minimum requirements. Examine their resumes for individual differentiators, such as evidence of promotions, recent training, or unpaid work experience.

Work with at least one other person to develop your shortlist to eliminate the possibility of bias. For a manageable list, keep in mind how much time you will have to devote to interviews. A shortlist for a senior or complex role should be small, because there will be few people with the right blend of skills, experience, and personal qualities who meet highly specific requirements. Too many applicants for a high-level role means that the job posting may have been written too broadly.

  If you are hiring in volume, consider initial telephone screening to help you narrow your shortlist to interview. Telephone screening can also be useful for confirming the candidates’ credentials, probing gaps in employment history, exploring their willingness to relocate, or determining whether their salary expectations are in line with what your organization is prepared to offer. Telephone screening can save money and time by eliminating unqualified or inappropriate applicants from the shortlist to interview.

As a recruiting manager you may face the difficult task of deciding whether a job will sufficiently challenge and stimulate a potential employee. Some organizations look unfavorably on overqualified candidates, because of concerns that they might get bored or that they will cost too much. Other employers look at hiring such candidates as an opportunity to develop a role and, possibly, a team or the entire organization in new ways. If you have seemingly overqualified applicants on your shortlist, ask yourself what their impact would be in a particular job role.

An invitation to attend an interview is the first personalized communication you will send a candidate, and it must accomplish several things: provide information, get across a sense of your organization’s style and culture, and communicate pleasure that the candidate has chosen to apply for this role. Using phrases like “I am pleased to invite you,” “We look forward to meeting you,” or “Your experience interested us greatly” will personalize the tone of your communication, whether delivered by phone, letter, or email. Telephone the candidate to discuss and agree on a time, and then send your letter or email to confirm the arrangement.

The invitation sent to candidates must detail the date, time, and place the interview will be held. Send a map or a weblink to a map of the area so that they can find the venue easily. Also say who will conduct the interview. Let them know if they need to bring passports, work portfolios, or other documents or materials. Provide advice on how to reschedule their interviews if the given time and date are not convenient. Also give names and contact details, such as cell phone numbers so that they can let you know if they have been delayed on the interview day.

When inviting candidates to interviews, ask if they have any particular requirements. These could include: