The document focuses on the essential skills and techniques for managers to effectively interview and select the best candidates for job positions, emphasizing the importance of structured interviews and unbiased evaluation of both internal and external candidates. It highlights the impact of a manager's interviewing skills on employee retention and company perception, urging adherence to legal guidelines and the creation of an equitable interview process. Additionally, it stresses the need for preparation, awareness of potential biases, and the significance of establishing a positive interview atmosphere.

1. Hiring the Best
Candidate for the Job
Interview and Selection Skills for Managers

2. 2014 McQuaig Global
Talent Recruitment
Survey
Question: are your
hiring managers strong
interviewers?
(Harcourt, 2014)
No
45%

3. “Retention begins with hiring”
(Clement, 2013, p. 102)

4. – Staff morale decreases
• Lower work output
• Negative perception of
company
• Lowered performance
quality
– Resources waste
• Hiring staff taken away
from other needs
– Monetary loss
• (Sanford, 2005, p. 43)

5. What are your questions or concerns?
Are you new to the selection process? Or
have you been on a committee?
What would you like to achieve through this
training?

6. • Articulate what you are looking for in a
candidate
• Compare and contrast the benefits and
drawbacks of internal and external
candidates
• Develop comprehensive and inclusive
interview questions

7. • Demonstrate awareness of how your
behavior can impact interview success
• Understand when to use dispositional
judgments in candidate consideration
Know you have the basic knowledge and
skills for interviewing and selecting the best
candidate for your position

8. Choose a job or position you are very familiar
with to use in our activities today. It could be:
• A position you are or will be hiring for
• Your current position
• A position you recently held
Write it down so you can refer back to it later.

9. • What need do I have to fill this vacancy?
• Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
• Cultural fit
• Organizational fit

10. For the position you chose, answer:
What am I “really” looking for?
Take 5 minutes and discuss with your
neighbors

11. Internal Candidates
Promotions
Transfers
Contractors
Temporary Staff
Part-time Staff
External Candidates
Traditional Recruitment

13. • Confidentiality
• Impact on other employees
– Bradley (2006) - how an internal candidate is
handled can influence how fair other
employees think the company is
• Different process?
– Legal issues
– Comparing to external candidates

14. Use the same process for both internal and
external candidates, including:
Interview Structure
Interview Questions
Communications

18. Conduct structured interviews
They are more:
Equitable
Respectable
Acceptable

19. • What are you really looking for?
• Measure
– Job knowledge
– Cognitive ability
– Training
– Experience
– Expertise
– Cultural fit

21. From Langan (2014)
1. Experience/Background
2. Job Knowledge
3. Situational
4. Behavioral

22. Job-related Experience
• How does their
experience/background
relate to the job?
• Ask thought-provoking
questions
• What workplace experience do
you have that has prepared you
to perform this job well?
• What is your leadership style
and how will it help you will
thrive in this position? Give an
example of how it has lead to
positive results.
• What software have you used in
relation to this position? Include
your years of experience and
detail the tools utilized within the
software.

23. Job-related KSAOs
• Possession & fluency
• Address all crucial tasks
• You will be responsible for
X, tell us about your
experience relating to X and
the skills you have that will
help you to complete this
responsibility
• What job-related skills do
you possess?
• Share your knowledge
regarding the duties of this
position

24. Find out motivations for decisions
• What would they do and
why?
• What outcome is expected
based on the action?
• Ensure that situations
posed are relevant to the
job
• We work in a high-volume
environment. How you
would handle a situation
in which you were
required to finish multiple
tasks by the end of the
day, and there was no
conceivable way that you
could finish them?

25. Action, Impact, and Result
• Ask what the impact of
the behavior was on the
candidate
• Describe a situation
where you…What was
the outcome?
• Tell us of a project in
which you encountered
major problems late in the
project, what did you do
and what was the
outcome?

26. Stay away from
1. Direct violations of
government acts
2. Indirect questions
3. Leading questions
4. Overly open-ended
questions

27. Violation of anti-discrimination laws place you
and your company in a precarious situation.
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
• Prevents discrimination based on disabilities
Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
• Prevents age based discrimination
Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Prevents discrimination based on gender, race, national
origin, color, martial status, family and religion

28. • Indirect question are also illegal and must
be avoided
• Clement (2013)
Haven’t I seen you
at my daughter’s
rugby games?

29. Imply there is one correct answer
Can limit responses to “Yes/No”

30. For the position you chose earlier, write one
of each of the following:
• Background/Experience
• Job Knowledge
• Situational
• Behavioral
Watch out for illegal and leading questions!

31. Conducting
the Interview
Atmosphere
and
Approach

32. Interviewers are responsible for:
1. Interview Climate
– Atmosphere
– Company Representation
2. Addressing Expectations
3. Nonverbal Communication

33. First impressions matter!
• Show interest in your candidate
• Sell the company
• Don’t speak ill of your employer
• Be positive

34. You are the
company’s
ambassador!
Organizational
culture
• Will the candidate
integrate well with
staff?
Prepare ahead of
time
• Be sure technology and
materials used for
interview are complete
and accurate.

35. Organizational
expectations
• Provide sufficient
information about the
position
• Ensure job description is
up to date and accurate
• Share company policies
Candidate
expectations
• Will the company meet
personal needs?
• Truly understand job
duties and conditions

36. • Innate and can be unintentional
• Be conscious
• Uses of nonverbal communication
– Complement verbal communication
– Accent verbal communication
– Regulation of conversation
– Convey message

37. Create a comfortable, positive interview
environment
Be a “company ambassador” but be honest
and don’t oversell

39. REMINDER!
Use the same process for both internal and
external candidates, including:
Interview Structure
Interview Questions
Communications

40. • Different data?
– Statistical comparisons (Cashen, Cheramie, and
Sturman, 2002)
• Err on the side of internal candidates
– Past-performance data = “best predictor of
future performance” (Cashen, Cheramie, and Sturman,
2002, p. 38)
– Often “hit the ground running” faster
– Lower turnover rates
– Impact on other employees (Bradley, 2006)

41. • These judgments are made automatically
• “Making accurate dispositional judgments in
interpersonal first meetings…requires dedicated
cognitive attention” (Marr & Cable, 2014, p. 634).
• Focus on “core self-evaluations”
That “Gut” Feeling

42. • First Impression
• Halo/Horn
• Central Tendency
• Leniency
• Contrast
• “Similar To Me”
• “Must Know”
Source: University of North Caroline (2014)

43. Interviewer, know thyself!
Be aware of potential biases
Acknowledge but process “gut feelings”

44. • Quick quiz!
– First step in the whole process?
– One reason you might want an internal
candidate instead of an external one? Vice
versa?
– What are the four categories of effective
interview questions?
– What’s one reason the interview climate is
important?
– What are “dispositional judgments”?

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48. • Title, comparing candidates, conducting
the interview images from Freepic.com
• Compare/contrast, Think before you ask!,
and best practice slides created with
Piktochart.com