It's HR Blog Carnival Day over at the HR Thoughts, and Lisa Rosendahl, SPHR has done a terrific job of spotlighting some great HR blogs including my post on The Changing Face of Learning and Development.
Hop on over to Lisa's HR Carnival post and you'll be able to chew on a whole range of HR topics -- perfomance, recruitment and social networking. It's a virtual treasure chest!
Another one of my articles is now available at Ezinearticles.com "Interviewing Tips for Employers - Getting the Right People on the Bus". If you are tasked with hiring new staff over the summer months, you may want to check out the article for some tips on how to leverage your interviewing process. I hope that you enjoy!
I am getting ready to make my usual summer move later this week to Muskoka for at least a few weeks (hopefully six). I'll be working a few days a week for the rest of the summer, at a Muskoka pace. Chances are, you'll be hearing from me a little more often here at the blog. You can still reach me during this time during my usual contacts.
Enjoy this week's HR Carnival and also the Interviewing tips!
With best wishes,
Jennifer
Jennifer Britton, PCC, CHRP, CPT
Potentials Realized
Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960
Email: info[at]potentialsrealized[dot]com
Showing posts with label Interviewing Tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Interviewing Tips. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
HR Potporri - Team Coaching, Corporate Retreats, Interviewing
One of my earlier blog posts, Interviewing 101 - Part II, was featured today on the AboutHR.com blog in this week's HR Blog Carnival. The interviewing tips I include are specifically for employers. It was a follow-up to an the first part of Interviewing Tips for Employers, which you can find here.
Every two weeks the HR Blog Carnival is hosted by a different HR blogger. As a Certified Human Resource Professional myself, it's wonderful to see the amount of resources available online for HR professionals around the world. For many years while I was working globally, About: Human Resources was a treasurechest of resources for me as a manager. I love the fact that Susan now blogs regularly on different HR related topics. You can check her out at http://humanresources.about.com.
A new article of mine - "Corporate Retreats: Six Essential Design Principles" is now available for free distribution through EzineArticles.com. You can link to the article here. If you are an HR manager planning your next retreat, I hope that you will find some valuable tools. If you are looking for a facilitator, or facilitation team for your next retreat, please feel free to contact me toll free at 1-866-217-1960.
Yesterday, I was a guest panelist speaking on Team Coaching for the International Coach Federation Relationship Special Interest Group. I joined Phil Sandahl, Co-Active Coaching Co-Author, and Principal of Team Coaching International (which provides an excellent team assessment for organizations). Kathy Hay of Kathy Hay Worldwide and Integra Leadership Inc. Is your organization leveraging team coaching? How are training results sustained within your company? Do you have a team that's just forming or is undergoing transition? Are you getting the most from your team building resources. If you are interested in learning more about team coaching, and what it could do for your organization, please feel free to contact me, or visit this webpage where I have with more information on what team coaching is all about.
What are your biggest HR questions right now? Please feel free to comment below -- I'll feature them in an upcoming blog post. I look forward to hearing from you!
Have a wonderful week,
Jennifer
Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, CPCC, CHRP
Potentials Realized ~ Group Coaching Essentials
Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960
Email: jennifer[at]potentialsrealized[dot]com
Every two weeks the HR Blog Carnival is hosted by a different HR blogger. As a Certified Human Resource Professional myself, it's wonderful to see the amount of resources available online for HR professionals around the world. For many years while I was working globally, About: Human Resources was a treasurechest of resources for me as a manager. I love the fact that Susan now blogs regularly on different HR related topics. You can check her out at http://humanresources.about.com.
A new article of mine - "Corporate Retreats: Six Essential Design Principles" is now available for free distribution through EzineArticles.com. You can link to the article here. If you are an HR manager planning your next retreat, I hope that you will find some valuable tools. If you are looking for a facilitator, or facilitation team for your next retreat, please feel free to contact me toll free at 1-866-217-1960.
Yesterday, I was a guest panelist speaking on Team Coaching for the International Coach Federation Relationship Special Interest Group. I joined Phil Sandahl, Co-Active Coaching Co-Author, and Principal of Team Coaching International (which provides an excellent team assessment for organizations). Kathy Hay of Kathy Hay Worldwide and Integra Leadership Inc. Is your organization leveraging team coaching? How are training results sustained within your company? Do you have a team that's just forming or is undergoing transition? Are you getting the most from your team building resources. If you are interested in learning more about team coaching, and what it could do for your organization, please feel free to contact me, or visit this webpage where I have with more information on what team coaching is all about.
What are your biggest HR questions right now? Please feel free to comment below -- I'll feature them in an upcoming blog post. I look forward to hearing from you!
Have a wonderful week,
Jennifer
Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, CPCC, CHRP
Potentials Realized ~ Group Coaching Essentials
Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960
Email: jennifer[at]potentialsrealized[dot]com
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Interviewing 101 - Part II
Interviewing 101 - Part II
Copyright 2007 - Jennifer Britton, Potentials Realized
Today I am picking up from my recent post on interviewing do's and don'ts from the interviewer's standpoint. You can read the first part of this post here. In addition to the tips I provided two weeks ago consider the following pointers when developing your next interviewing process:
1. What really are the KSAs (the Knowledge, Skills and Ablities) you need to hire for? In HR we talk a lot about job specifications for good reason. How many times have you attended an interview when the questions and the interviewing process really didn't look at what was required for the position? In addition to legal issues, it is important to really hone in on the KSAs required for any post. The KSAs will play an important role in your recruitment, selection, compensation, training and development and performance management (appraisal) processes.
2. Avoid closed questions - Wherever possible, avoid the use of closed questions, as well as leading questions. Closed questions are those questions when used would elicit a yes/no response. For example, "Have you had supervisory experience before?". Look to rephrase this to "Please describe your previous supervisory experience" or better yet "What are the lessons you have learned from your previous supervisory experience?". Notice how the second question gets even deeper than the first?
3. Be clear on next steps -- A common pitfall with interviewing is a lack of clarity with respect to next steps. Will there be a second interview? When can the candidate expect to hear from the panel? Be as specific as possible regarding when the candidate can expect to hear back from the company.
4. Interviews are a two way process - Remember that interviews are the chance for you to check out the candidate and the candidate to check out your company. Often strong candidates may leave an interview realizing that they do not want to work for the company they have just interviewed with. What is the image of the company you are portraying through the interview process? Does this match your corporate values, culture and ways of working? If not, what changes do you need to make?
Interviewing is often referred to as an art. There are also many practical tips and tools you can use to enhance your interviewing process, ensuring that you get the right fit for the position. I hope that you have enjoyed some of these pointers regarding the interview process, which is just scratching the surface.
If you have any questions on how your interviewing process could be enhanced, please feel free to contact me to see how my services could benefit your interviewing process.
With best wishes,
Jennifer
Jennifer Britton, CPCC, CHRP, CPT
Potentials Realized
Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960
Email: jennifer[at]potentialsrealized[dot]com
Jennifer Britton is a Certified Human Resource Professional and Certified Professional Coach. As the founder of Potentials Realized, she provides consulting, training and coaching services to governmental, not-for-profit and for-profit organizations in the areas of teamwork, leadership, HR and other employee engagement issues. Jennifer has worked with organizations and small businesses across North America, the Caribbean and Europe on developing systems to enhance their personnel management, performance and business results.
Copyright 2007 - Jennifer Britton, Potentials Realized
Today I am picking up from my recent post on interviewing do's and don'ts from the interviewer's standpoint. You can read the first part of this post here. In addition to the tips I provided two weeks ago consider the following pointers when developing your next interviewing process:
1. What really are the KSAs (the Knowledge, Skills and Ablities) you need to hire for? In HR we talk a lot about job specifications for good reason. How many times have you attended an interview when the questions and the interviewing process really didn't look at what was required for the position? In addition to legal issues, it is important to really hone in on the KSAs required for any post. The KSAs will play an important role in your recruitment, selection, compensation, training and development and performance management (appraisal) processes.
2. Avoid closed questions - Wherever possible, avoid the use of closed questions, as well as leading questions. Closed questions are those questions when used would elicit a yes/no response. For example, "Have you had supervisory experience before?". Look to rephrase this to "Please describe your previous supervisory experience" or better yet "What are the lessons you have learned from your previous supervisory experience?". Notice how the second question gets even deeper than the first?
3. Be clear on next steps -- A common pitfall with interviewing is a lack of clarity with respect to next steps. Will there be a second interview? When can the candidate expect to hear from the panel? Be as specific as possible regarding when the candidate can expect to hear back from the company.
4. Interviews are a two way process - Remember that interviews are the chance for you to check out the candidate and the candidate to check out your company. Often strong candidates may leave an interview realizing that they do not want to work for the company they have just interviewed with. What is the image of the company you are portraying through the interview process? Does this match your corporate values, culture and ways of working? If not, what changes do you need to make?
Interviewing is often referred to as an art. There are also many practical tips and tools you can use to enhance your interviewing process, ensuring that you get the right fit for the position. I hope that you have enjoyed some of these pointers regarding the interview process, which is just scratching the surface.
If you have any questions on how your interviewing process could be enhanced, please feel free to contact me to see how my services could benefit your interviewing process.
With best wishes,
Jennifer
Jennifer Britton, CPCC, CHRP, CPT
Potentials Realized
Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960
Email: jennifer[at]potentialsrealized[dot]com
Jennifer Britton is a Certified Human Resource Professional and Certified Professional Coach. As the founder of Potentials Realized, she provides consulting, training and coaching services to governmental, not-for-profit and for-profit organizations in the areas of teamwork, leadership, HR and other employee engagement issues. Jennifer has worked with organizations and small businesses across North America, the Caribbean and Europe on developing systems to enhance their personnel management, performance and business results.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Interviewing Tips for Employers 101
Interview Tips 101
Copyright 2007 Jennifer Britton. All Rights Reserved.
Lately I've received a number of calls from organizations asking about developing an effective interviewing process. A large part of my former work as a manager (in companies which did not have a separate HR department) was to develop interviewing procedures, and implement them. I now teach interviewing skills as part of Business Curicullum at the College level, and often advise organizations on these issues as an HR Consultant. Late last year one of my students asked me just how many interviews I had run over the years. My response - thousands.
I'm going to do a series of blog posts for employers and candidates who are interviewing...so keep posted if you are interested in this topic. I know that interviewing is often a black hole, and often the area that gets left to the end for many small business owners, and managers who function in smaller companies. My intention is to give you some basics on interviewing tips --- either as the interviewer or the interviewee.
Today's post is all about basics for the interviewer.
1. Give thought to the interviewing process and develop a consistent process for all candidates : In order to ensure the best "fit" for your organization, make sure that each candidate is being measured the same way. What this means practically, is that every candidate should be asked the same questions, and should go through the exact same steps. This is important not just for selection, but also to ensure consistency, which could be challenged in the legal environment.
2. Be aware of legislation -Every country has different legislation which will impact the interviewing process. Here in Canada, employers need to be aware of the impact of the Canadian Human Rights Codes and questions that may be prohibited under it. I am constantly amazed at the fact that many well known companies that violate the Charter in their interviewing process. Not being aware of the legislative framework you are operating within can be a very costly mistake. Ensure that all staff involved in the selection process (from recruitment advertising, to the application, interview and selection process) are aware of any prohibited grounds.
3. Group Decisions are better than Individual Decisions: It is more and more common today, and is a best practice, to hold panel interviews. Panel interviews involve two or more interviewers speaking with each candidate. Research has continued to show that group decisions are better than individual decisions for many reasons including the fact that our own personal biases do not play as dominant a role.
When holding a panel interview process, ensure that all panel members are briefed on the process, the position you are hiring for, as well as best practices of interviewing. It is often helpful to build time at the start of the interviewing schedule for a 15-30 minute meeting between the members of the panel at the start of the interviewing process to discuss what it will look like -- who will ask the questions, when and how. In the past when I have led interview processes, I would actually email all panelists an interviewing kit a week or so before the interview, giving them some time to review it prior to the interviews.
4. Block time in between candidates for interviewers to complete their notes, and also to synthesize the group's feedback or recommendations. If you are holding 6-8 hours of interviewing back to back, it is natural to have each candidate start to look like each other. By blocking time in between interviews you can summarize your findings and then move on, returning to your summaries for each candidate at the end of the day or the end of the interview process.
When undertaking a panel interview, make sure that all panelists are comfortable and knowledgable about the process and measurement (for example, if you are using any sort of matrix to measure). Also ensure that all panelists are on the same page (for example, that my rating of 5 is consistent what others rating of 5 looks like). In the later, it can be helpful to provide some specific examples of what behavior would be considered a 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 (if using a 5 point scale).
Stay tuned for more Employer Interview Tips 101...I'll be posting more later this week.
I'd welcome your comments - what are your biggest challenges as an employer when it comes to Interviewing? Please feel free to post below and I'll try to address them in future blog posts.
With best wishes,
Jennifer
Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized
Email: jennifer[at]potentialsrealized.com
Copyright 2007 Jennifer Britton. All Rights Reserved.
Lately I've received a number of calls from organizations asking about developing an effective interviewing process. A large part of my former work as a manager (in companies which did not have a separate HR department) was to develop interviewing procedures, and implement them. I now teach interviewing skills as part of Business Curicullum at the College level, and often advise organizations on these issues as an HR Consultant. Late last year one of my students asked me just how many interviews I had run over the years. My response - thousands.
I'm going to do a series of blog posts for employers and candidates who are interviewing...so keep posted if you are interested in this topic. I know that interviewing is often a black hole, and often the area that gets left to the end for many small business owners, and managers who function in smaller companies. My intention is to give you some basics on interviewing tips --- either as the interviewer or the interviewee.
Today's post is all about basics for the interviewer.
1. Give thought to the interviewing process and develop a consistent process for all candidates : In order to ensure the best "fit" for your organization, make sure that each candidate is being measured the same way. What this means practically, is that every candidate should be asked the same questions, and should go through the exact same steps. This is important not just for selection, but also to ensure consistency, which could be challenged in the legal environment.
2. Be aware of legislation -Every country has different legislation which will impact the interviewing process. Here in Canada, employers need to be aware of the impact of the Canadian Human Rights Codes and questions that may be prohibited under it. I am constantly amazed at the fact that many well known companies that violate the Charter in their interviewing process. Not being aware of the legislative framework you are operating within can be a very costly mistake. Ensure that all staff involved in the selection process (from recruitment advertising, to the application, interview and selection process) are aware of any prohibited grounds.
3. Group Decisions are better than Individual Decisions: It is more and more common today, and is a best practice, to hold panel interviews. Panel interviews involve two or more interviewers speaking with each candidate. Research has continued to show that group decisions are better than individual decisions for many reasons including the fact that our own personal biases do not play as dominant a role.
When holding a panel interview process, ensure that all panel members are briefed on the process, the position you are hiring for, as well as best practices of interviewing. It is often helpful to build time at the start of the interviewing schedule for a 15-30 minute meeting between the members of the panel at the start of the interviewing process to discuss what it will look like -- who will ask the questions, when and how. In the past when I have led interview processes, I would actually email all panelists an interviewing kit a week or so before the interview, giving them some time to review it prior to the interviews.
4. Block time in between candidates for interviewers to complete their notes, and also to synthesize the group's feedback or recommendations. If you are holding 6-8 hours of interviewing back to back, it is natural to have each candidate start to look like each other. By blocking time in between interviews you can summarize your findings and then move on, returning to your summaries for each candidate at the end of the day or the end of the interview process.
When undertaking a panel interview, make sure that all panelists are comfortable and knowledgable about the process and measurement (for example, if you are using any sort of matrix to measure). Also ensure that all panelists are on the same page (for example, that my rating of 5 is consistent what others rating of 5 looks like). In the later, it can be helpful to provide some specific examples of what behavior would be considered a 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 (if using a 5 point scale).
Stay tuned for more Employer Interview Tips 101...I'll be posting more later this week.
I'd welcome your comments - what are your biggest challenges as an employer when it comes to Interviewing? Please feel free to post below and I'll try to address them in future blog posts.
With best wishes,
Jennifer
Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized
Email: jennifer[at]potentialsrealized.com
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