RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION - City of Vincent

CITY OF VINCENT POLICY MANUALCHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER - HUMAN RESOURCESRECRUITMENT AND SELECTIONPOLICY NO: 5.2.1• Hypothetical Questions - Posing speculative questions sometimes helpspeople to think about issues they had not considered, such as “ShouldLocal Government consider introducing benchmarking, what procedureswould you utilise to implement such a process?”• Multiple Questions - Many interviewers ask a handful of relatedquestions at once, for example, “Have you worked in a team environmentpreviously? “What do you consider to be the most important elements ofsuccessfully working in a team?” “How would you resolve an issue thatwas hindering the output of the team?”• Leading Questions – These prompt a particular answer. They can beused to force the interviewer’s view onto the other person, an example is,“Given your skills in planning, I assume you would have no objection tochairing the Committee?”ListeningListening skills are critical to effective interviewing. Improved listening canbe facilitated by:-• Getting the Surroundings Right - Ensure you are comfortable and cansee and hear the applicant properly. Remove any distractions; shut thedoor, divert telephone calls and arrange not to be disturbed.• Look Interested - The quickest way to alienate applicants is to look as ifyou are uninterested in the response they are providing to your questions.Maintain your concentration on their response.• Judge Content, Not Delivery - Some applicants (possibly throughnervousness) may be poor speakers. They may, however have somethingsignificant to say. The listener should consciously dig for the contentunder the poor delivery.• Taking Notes - Taking notes is an important means of maintainingconcentration and will assist you in your decision making processes at theconclusion of the interview.• Use the Speed of Thought - We can all think about four times faster thanwe can speak. Utilise this extra time by anticipating, summarising,reading between the lines, thinking through and noting questions for later,and so on.• Suspend Prejudice - Don’t allow the fact that you disagree with theapplicant to make you disregard what they say. It is in these situationsthat you need to listen the most.Page 17 of 38