First time interviewer?

We're finally going to appoint some permanent Help Desk Operators and the recently appointed Team Leader was feeling a little apprehensive about conducting the actual interview itself. So, I stepped in with a few tips that I thought I'd share with the rest of you over the next two blog entries. Most organisations will have some recruitment procedures so I'm not going to focus on the entire process, just the interview itself.

Preparation is Key
When you are the interviewee, you prepare for the interview without giving a second thought to the interviewer who may be as nervous as you. The key to eliminating apprehension is adequate preparation. This applies to the interviewer as well as interviewee.

1. Gather together the Job Description and the Person Specification (if there isn't one then make creating one your first task!).
2. For each responsibility, jot down a short phrase that encapsulates the behaviours, skills, and knowledges required to deliver it, e.g.
   
3. Once the list has been compiled, give yourself 100 points to allocate amongst each. The idea is that those which are more important are awarded more points, and those that are less important receive fewer points. The outcome should be a prioritised list of what you are looking for in the candidate.
4. If there were more than 10 items on the wish list, cut off those that did not make the top 10. If you find yourself wishing one of the items were in the list, then go back to step 3 and repeat until happy.
5. Use the information above to design a Candidate Assessment Sheet that you can use during the actual interview for each candidate.
   

More in part 2 coming Friday!