Review your Big Challenge Part 1 results and explore the key drivers of the challenge.

Investing a little time and effort in developing a good quality job description will bring benefits to the recruitment interview, the selection decision and even managing the performance of the successful applicant once they take up the position.

It is hard to imaging interviewing for a job that you know little about, and yet that is what many people do. You don't have to be an expert in the role, but understanding the job you are recruiting for is important. Having a clear idea about the key success measures and steps needed to achieve them makes conducting interviews smoother and identifying appropriate performance evidence easier.

What's your understanding of the recruitment process? The term recruitment can mean different things to different people. Here are some key definitions of the recruitment process that focus on slightly different aspects. They will help us start thinking about our meaning and start on us our learning journey.

A short overview of the key stages of the process and what they entail. Many of these, such as knowledge of the job and knowledge of the person, have a crucial bearing on the preparation and delivery of an effective recruitment interview. Others, such as induction, are outside the scope of this course, yet it is useful to understand how each element of the process connects.

In this lecture we look at some typical examples of job descriptions you may find in the marketplace. You will quickly get a sense of what is useful for the recruitment process and what is either window dressing or simply worthless.

An alternative JD example with a performance management focus.

A good quality person specification underpins the whole recruitment process. Get that right and other stages become much easier.

A short exercise providing practice in drafting a person specification.

Here is a possible person specification for the exercise.

There are multiple recruitment sources available to attract a pool of suitable applicants. This is a brief look at the pro's and con's of the most common. The two key focus points are internal sources and external sources.

Application form or Résumé? A few quick tips to help you decide.

When you are inundated with applications for your job vacancy, shortlisting candidates for interview can appear daunting and time consuming. It doesn't have to be if you follow some simple rules.

This lecture clarifies the role of the interview. Interviewing is still the most common recruitment method in use today. It's core function is all about evidence collection, but it is also an important opportunity for you to project a professional image of you and your business.

People routinely talk about open and closed questions, but do they really know what they mean? How to make the best use of them? More importantly how aware are they of the need for a clear questioning strategy. This lecture will show you why a strong questioning strategy is vital to success.

Closed questions are used by all of us most of the time. Does that matter? In short, yes it does. Understanding the impact of closed questions in different situations will help you start to take control of the interview.

How confident are you in your question habits? You might be surprised. This video shows you how to quickly test your habit and identify what could be improved.

This lecture reveals the inner thought processes that lead us to ask far too many closed questions, believing them to be open ones. Typically, we are testing our own answers rather than establishing the answers of the candidates.

Specific questions tend to get specific answers. Sometimes that is useful and sometimes that can get in the way of being effective. It may depend on your own preferred thinking style. This lecture identifies what specific questions are and how best to use them.

Using too many leading questions is a common trap many interviewers fall into. the intention is good, but the result can be a lot of wasted time and effort. If you are not careful, you have effectively interviewed yourself.

One of the most commonly used interview questions is the hypothetical question. The 'what would you do if....' Unfortunately, it is also one of the most misunderstood question types and as a result wreaks havoc in many an interview. Find out why hypothetical questions carry a higher risk, and when it is OK to use them.

The whole purpose of the recruitment & selection interview is to get past the sales promotion of your candidates and start to uncover real performance evidence. Probing questions are one of your best tools to achieve that. Typically short and powerful questions that get the job done.

Reflective questions are another powerful tool in digging deeper into an issue and encouraging the candidate to expand on the issue they are talking about. Using actual words and phrases used by the candidate in further questions keeps the conversation flowing. Be aware that over use of this type of question can start to feel a bit like an interrogation.

How behavioural questions really get to the performance evidence you are seeking

Example behavioural questions

Using the question funnel to uncover performance evidence.

This lecture outlines the most common question traps that most of us fall into. Once you are aware of these, you will notice them in use everywhere. You will also want to irradicate them from your recruitment interviewing questioning strategy.

Planning your initial question for each evidence funnel provides control and structure for your interview.

A demonstration of how easy it is to lose control of the interview.

An example of one of the most commonly experienced question traps.

The ability to listen well is crucial to interviewing successfully. Most of us find listening hard. This lecture identifies the key things to listen out for, such as nouns and verbs and the tenses used and what they might be telling you about the candidate.

With practice, these things will start to leap out at you in interviews and make it much easier for you to challenge, probe and understand your candidate.

British comedian Peter Kay demonstrates, hilariously, what happens when we don't hear things properly. In effect, our brain makes it up. It makes what we heard make sense. In a recruitment setting, the same principles apply, but the effects are much less funny, and potential far more costly.

This case study will give you the opportunity to put all your learning into practice - especially the listening skills you have developed.

Now it's time to review your listening practice exercise and compare notes with the trainers observations. How did you do?

A short pencil is better than a long memory. The ability to take notes in an interview is extremely useful. Knowing when and what to take note of even more so.

An overview of the increasing use of video based recruitment interviews

Making the final recruitment decision is not without it's risks. Even if you have applied all your learning to the process so far, there are still opportunities to let bias and faulty thinking negatively influence your decision. Remember, you will live with a poor decision for a long time. Avoid these traps and get it right first time.

Identify the actions you will take to put your key learning into practice. Have you done everything you can to get the most from the course? What else could you do?

Once you have made the hiring decision, your job's not quite over. Fail to smooth the entry of your new hire into your business and you will undo the benefits of all of your great interviewing. This lecture contains a final reminder of the next steps and a big THANK YOU for being such a good student.

How to obtain your Course Completion Certificate.

Here is a downloadable copy of the key slides featured in the course, as requested by a student.

Links to other courses and other information.