key aspects of the candidates’ experience which illustrate their
capabilities.
Criteria-based or targeted approach
This approach is based on an analysis of the person specification.
You can then select the criteria on which you will judge the suit-
ability of the candidate which will put you in a position to
‘target’ these key criteria during the interview. You can decide on
the questions you need to ask to draw out from candidates infor-
mation about their knowledge, skills, capabilities and personal
qualities, which can be compared with the criteria to assess the
extent to which candidates meet the specification.
This is probably the best way of focusing your interview to
ensure that you get all the information you require about candi-
dates for comparison with the person specification.
INTERVIEWING TECHNIQUES
Questioning
The most important interviewing technique you need to acquire
and practise is questioning. Asking pertinent questions that elicit
informative responses is a skill that people do not necessarily
possess, but it is one they can develop. To improve your ques-
tioning techniques it is a good idea at the end of an interview to
ask yourself: ‘Did I ask the right questions?’ ‘Did I put them to
the candidate well?’ ‘Did I get candidates to respond freely?’
There are a number of different types of questions as described
below. By choosing the right ones you can get candidates to open
up or you can pin them down to giving you specific information
or to extending or clarifying a reply. The other skills you should
possess are the ability to establish rapport, and listening, main-
taining continuity, keeping contact and note-taking.
The main types of questions are described below.
Open questions
Open questions are the best ones to use to get candidates to talk
- to draw them out. These are questions which cannot be
answered by a yes or no and which encourage a full response.
How to Interview 111