Our one-day interviewing skills course is tailored for delegates who would like to gain better interviewing skills and learn how to conduct successful interviews for choosing the right employee(s). Our Interviewing course will show candidates how to; gain winning interview skills; give better interviews; be a better interviewer and learn how to interview effectively. As well as improving interviewing skills, delegates will also learn recruitment and employment law.

QUESTIONING SKILLS P1: FUNNELING

This is a method of shaping a series of questions to gain maximum information about each topic.

START WITH A GENERAL EASY OPEN ENDED QUESTION.

LISTEN

FOLLOW-UP RELATING CANDIDATE’S REPLY TO THE SPECIFICATION

LISTEN

PROBE TO CHECK ON FACTUAL DETAILS AND GAIN BEHAVIOURAL EVIDENCE

LISTEN

ASK ABOUT FEELINGS AND MOTIVES

LISTEN

SUMMARISE AND SEEK AGREEMENT

START NEXT TOPIC WITH AN OPEN QUESTION REPEAT SEQUENCE

The probing gains the evidence behind the initial statement or opinion, whilst sympathetic summarising may result in further information being offered by the candidate.

The Overview

Explore recent job changes. The past two to five years is the most critical timeframe to explore. People tend to repeat recent patterns of behaviour and methods of dealing with problems. They are also more likely to remember what they did and said in the recent past.

Focus on their current job. And get a picture of the candidate e.g. what they do, what their responsibilities are, their likes, dislikes, frustrations, challenges, contacts, and daily routine.

Sample Question

• Tell me about your job responsibilities.
• Tell me about a typical day. (This helps you to see what specific areas you could probe on).
• Who are your customers?
• What sort of problems do you encounter in your job?
• What targets and objectives do you work to?
• How do you monitor performance?
• Tell me about the people in your team.
• How do you work together?
• How do you arrange work between each other?
• What do you like most/least? Why?
• What are your strengths?
• What are your development areas?
• What have you done to address these?

The competency you are looking for drives what you ask in the overview. The objective is to obtain context for the next stage relevant to the competence.

LESS EFFECTIVE QUESTIONS

Leading Questions

Implies the correct answer and hence inform the person but does not encourage him/her to inform you. Therefore questions like: “Do you have the necessary experience?”, “Are you good at…?”, “Can you…?”, need to be re-phrased. For example, “Tell me about your experience…”

Multiple Questions

“How long have you been in this job: what have been your major objectives over the past year and in each case what were your main achievements?”

Such questions tend to be confusing and you don’t give the person a chance to answer before asking another question.

Implied Values Questions

“Surely you don’t agree with him…”, or “Oh?” (said with a disapproving tone)

Your task is not to influence or express disapproval but to obtain valid information.

Hypothetical Questions

These questions ask candidates to put themselves into an imaginary situation and tell you how they would deal with it, e.g. ‘How would you deal with a difficult customer?’ The danger is that people will tell you the ‘right’ answer or what they might want you to hear. You will not gain any real evidence of their behaviour in a situation.

Always look for:     Evidence of behaviour

What they did

What they said

Why they acted as they did

Interviewing Skills Course

This course will cover the practical skills needed for successful interviewing and our reputation for effective recruitment training has been endorsed by many delegates. Those who have attended the course have described it as being productive, informative and focused. It allows delegates to understand the stages of carrying out interviews and shows them how to conduct an effective interview so that they are able to attract the best candidates and choose the best person for the job. We guarantee to deliver the best employment strategies, tips and techniques for better interviewing and recruiting skills.

Course Dates

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Who will benefit from the course?

Our course will cover the practical skills needed to make recruitment interviews productive and focused. It will allow delegates to understand the stages of the recruitment process and how to conduct an effective interview so that they are able to attract the best candidates and choose the best person for the job.

Our courses allow all staff to benefit from enhanced interviewing skills. The types of delegate we have trained previously are:

• Directors and senior managers
• Sales and fundraising staff
• Local government employees
• Managers, department heads, team leaders and supervisors
• Technical and academic team members

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