Introduction

Welcome to your online Interviewing Skills course. For over 20 years our trainers at Total Success Training have taught thousands of our delegates to become more effective by teaching them practical tips and techniques that can be used immediately.  
 
We’ve designed all of our courses to be both practical and easy to follow and have included topics that we feel will help you to learn quickly and easily.
 
To get the best out of this on-line training course please complete all of the topics but go through each one at the pace you feel comfortable with. You may decide to do it in one go or in stages. It’s all up to you. We have included lots of exercises and quizzes to get you thinking, planning and using the course information in the most practical way.
 
By the end of this course you will feel both competent and confident in conducting interviews. It will allow you to:
 

• describe the key features of interviewing 
• examine the benefits of professional interviewing techniques and determine which are the most effective for you
• conduct the interview in the most effective way to choose the best candidate
• increase the interviewer’s confidence and self esteem
• reduce the stress associated with selection interviewing
• have a greater understanding of employment law and recruitment rules and regulations

• develop confidence and reduce the fear or panic when talking to different interviewees
• learn to use the most effective questioning techniques including behavioural and competency based questions
• understand and practice effective interviewing to choose the best candidate
• evaluate the effectiveness of each interview you conduct

Interviewing - The Importance of Getting it Right

Interviewing - The Importance of Getting it Right
 
Introduction
 
Although selection interviewing is only an occasional skill - you don't do it every day - it is nonetheless a vital one. The repercussions that result from making the wrong choice can be damaging to everyone: the organisation, the rest of your workforce and the new employee.
 
In this chapter you will learn the importance of interviewing and why it is vital to get the planning, preparation and structure right first time.  
 
By the end of this chapter you will be able to:
 

• Understand the importance of correct interviewing and getting it right
• Understand the correct sequence and structure of effective interviewing
• Understand the importance of designing a job specification and person profile for your interview
• Know the essential components of a job description
• Assess candidate’s application forms and CVs
• Uncover questions to ask each candidate based on information from their CVs
• Evaluate a sample candidate and plan a job specification, person profile and relevant questions.

The Interview

Introduction - Getting it right from the start
 
By this stage of this course you have a good idea of what you are looking for from the ideal candidate. Well done.
 
Now let’s look at the next stage in the process. You’ve sifted through the many applications and have chosen a select few to interview for the job. The interview obviously only has one purpose - to pick the right person for the job. Clearly, you have quite a good chance of doing this without an interview. The applicant has read the advertisement and has been sent a job description. You have the personnel profile and the completed application form. You can run tests and take up references. So what can the interview achieve beyond that?
 
The answer is that good interview technique can significantly reduce the area of uncertainty and raise the chances of picking the right person. However, you need to make sure that the right person, whoever they are, can open up comfortably and give you the information you need. In this chapter you will learn the best way of structuring the interview to ensure you make the  right selection.
 
By the end of this chapter you will be able to:
 

• Understand the importance of putting a candidate at ease
• Conduct the interview in a positive and productive atmosphere
• Manage candidate’s expectations
• Understand the WASP interview structure

Questioning Skills

Introduction
 
Having established your list of requirements, you then need to prepare a set of questions to help you obtain sufficient information from the candidate for you to make the best choice. If you have a clear list of requirements e.g. your job specification and person profile you can use (broadly) the same questions for all candidates. This saves you time and ensures fairness, as all applicants are tested against the same specification.
 
In this chapter you will explore various types of questions to help you gain knowledge about the suitability of the candidate.
 
By the end of this chapter you will be able to:
 

• Develop the right questions to test a candidate’s suitability for the job
• Understand different types of questions and their functions
• Know the essential methods of testing the candidate
• Deal with difficult candidates
• Uncover the process to make the right final choice.