Designing Your Interview Process

Designing Your Interview Process to Hire – the Right Person for the Right Position at the Right Time

Before the Interview – Define the Right Position

Before the first interview is conducted, effort should be spent to develop the profile of the ideal candidate.  This can be done by using the job description, analyzing the faculty and staff members who have been successful for traits they have in common, and working with your interview and selection committee to further define what characteristics they will be looking for in the hiring process.

Tips for Assembling Your Interview and Selection Committee

• Include stakeholders that are representative of your school and community – students, parents, faculty, staff, Board members, and/or administrators.
  • Examine and address the biases of committee members.
  • Plan or screen for pre-existing relationships to potential candidates.
  • Ensure members have the capacity to serve on the committee.
• Identify the responsibility of each committee member.
  • Who will screen the resumes?
  • Who will participate in the interview process?
  • Who will make the final selection decision?
• Look to any collective bargaining agreements, board policies, or existing guidelines that define who should be on your interview committee.

Process for Developing your Ideal Candidate Profile

• Review the job description of the open position.
• Look to the members of your faculty and staff that have been the most successful in your community and identify the traits or characteristics they have in common, or you would like to duplicate – is it their sense of humor that makes them successful, their ability to be self-motivated, or their talent for building relationships?  Include those traits in your candidate profile.
• Ask the most engaged members of your team about why they choose to stay in the community, especially during tough times.  Include this in your candidate profile.
• Look for survey results that indicate what knowledge, skills and attitudes are most valued by the community.
• Finally, as a school leader, identify and include what you value in your employees and what you focus on when you are conducting performance evaluations.
• Once all characteristics and traits are compiled, work with your interview and selection committee to prioritize and narrow down the list of traits to a manageable size.