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Using 1300 RECORD to conduct telephone interviews
28/09/2009 1:06:46 PM
Everything is tracking along nicely. Business is good, employees are happy and customers keep coming back. The boss is feeling secure about the future, but then someone hands in their notice. The boss realises that he needs to recruit a new employee and he never got taught how to do it. It was never part of his business studies at university.
For someone in his position, the process of interviewing for new employees can be very stressful. He’s keen to get it right. The person he needs must have a certain set of skills to perform the tasks required as well the type of personality that is compatible with the business and its other employees. If he gets the recruitment process wrong, it can be very difficult to terminate an employee, depending on the laws of the country.
Interviewing is like driving a car. The more you do it, the better you get. Your confidence grows as you meet new people and you get better at quickly targeting areas of information that you need to explore with them. But if you’re in the same position as this boss, these tips might help you to get it right, first time.
The start of the process
Before you place any advertising for a job role, you need to prepare a job description. A job description outlines what the requirements of the role are, what skills are necessary, what (if any) educational requirements you have, and the personal attributes (such as attitude, motivation, work habits or initiative) you are looking for in a candidate.
Prioritise the areas that you consider to be most important to meeting the requirements of the position. These might be the technical skills required or the ability to fit into a team. It can also include attributes such as ability to travel. Finally, you should also have a view as to what a salary range might be based on the necessary skills, experience and qualifications.
These requirements should be condensed and communicated as part of the advertising for the role. By doing so, you can quickly eliminate unsuitable candidates, and focus on people who meet the basic requirements you seek.
To be effective, advertising should outline to potential candidates the benefits of working for your business – including opportunities for professional development if they are available – and what you are going to expect in return from the successful candidate. It should also include a deadline for submitting applications and a contact person to talk to for more information.
So let’s say you’ve created your job description, you have determined a salary range, and you have written a great advertisement that has been placed in suitable job vacancy boards, what happens next? You wait.
Over the next few days and weeks (depending on the deadline for applications), suitably-qualified people that are interested in applying for your role will submit an application to you. There will be some applications that are completely unsuitable, and the likelihood is that you will not have the time to spend talking to applicants that you think aren’t right for the job. It’s important to notify them when you decide not to take an application further, and offer them the opportunity to save their details on file, or destroy or return them.
During this time, you should spend time formulating questions for the interview. To better enable you to compare candidates, you need to ask everyone the same questions. It is better to pre-plan them. Write them down. You might also want to develop a checklist that will prompt you to cover off specifics during the interview process.
It is best practice to record interviews so that you don’t need to make notes throughout the interview process and can focus your attention on the candidate instead.
Many recruiters that are conducting telephone interviews record the telephone calls using 1300 RECORD which provides telephone call recording services. This is because it is a more flexible call recording service to use. It doesn’t matter whether you are out-and-about or at your office. All you need to do is call 1300 RECORD, then place your call and it will be recorded.
Because 1300 RECORD is an on-demand service, there is no requirement for a contract commitment. The freedom of an on-demand service provides a better option for a business that is hiring infrequently. There are no ongoing fees or requirements to invest in expensive telephone call recording equipment. So before you interview, you will need to set up your 1300 RECORD account – which you can do easily online by visiting www.1300record.com.au
If you are conducting a face-to-face interview, do not turn the tape recorder on and off throughout the interview.
How to interview a candidate
So you’ve been through the process of eliminating unsuitable applications, and you are left with a number of people that you would like to interview. You have questions and checklists prepared. (If there is more than one interviewer, each interviewer needs the questions and checklists.)
You now need to set up interview appointments at a time that is mutually suitable for both interviewer and candidate. Allow at least 15 minutes break between interviews – so you can jot down your impressions while they are fresh and stretch your legs.
Interviews can be nerve-racking for both parties, so it is always a good idea to break the ice with some general questions that relax everyone. This could be some general questions about the candidate’s background. As the interviewer, try to be conversational so that the candidate is relaxed and comfortable about making eye contact with you.
You already have the candidate’s details in the form of an application that has been submitted. So the interview should include some open-ended questions that enable you to explore what the candidate has done before and what they have set as their own professional goals. This will give you a better idea about the person and what you are like.
Open ended questions also require that the candidate gives more information. Closed questions (those that require a simple yes or no) do not provide depth like questions beginning with who, why, when, where and how. So you need to ask questions that invite the candidate to explain how they might contribute to the business, or what kind of business they hope to work with, or why they believe they are right for the role.
The other advantage of open ended questions is that it enables the candidate to do most of the talking. An interviewer can demonstrate that they are listening by paraphrasing what the candidate says.
Keep questions brief and ask them one at a time. Don’t worry about periods of silence or challenge accounts that you think are not accurate. Try to get as much information so that you can check later. Avoid off the record information – this will require telephone call recordings or tape recordings to be turned on and off. Instead offer to delete it later (and keep your promise to do so).
Another popular technique for interviewing candidates is behavioural interviewing. Under this model, an interviewer asks a candidate how they reacted in a real situation (not a simulated or theoretical one). If you want to use this model for interviewing, your questions may be worded as “describe for me a recent time when X happened and explain to me what you did”. You would need to make a set of questions around each of the areas that you think are most important to the role.
You can also use personality trait assessment systems. Some of these are available online and can be completed in a few minutes. Some of them are extremely accurate about a candidate’s personality traits.
There are also topics that should not be covered in interviews. Depending on where you live, there may be anti-discrimination legislation that can be used against you if the candidate believes and can prove discrimination. Stay clear of discussions about religion, marital status, age, any prior Workcover claims and disabilities. It is an interview – not an interrogation – so be mindful about what you say and how it can be interpreted.
The final point is to summarise the next steps. You need to let the candidate know how long it will take you to decide whether to proceed or not (which may mean a second interview, for example). It is courteous to offer the candidate an expedient decision.
After the interview
Once the interview is completed, you can turn your recording off.
If you are using the 1300 RECORD telephone call recording service, this will happen automatically when the phone call is terminated. In a matter of moments, you will receive an email link to your interview call recording so you can play it back whenever you want.
If you wish to take the candidate one step further, you will want to check the references that have been supplied to you. You need to advise the candidate that you will be checking references, and you need to check several in order to get a fair assessment of the candidate. One person who has had a bad experience with someone doesn’t mean they are a bad employee. So look to get a balanced view across multiple references.
Telephone call recordings – what else you need to know
It is legal to record any telephone conversation where everyone consents to the recording. In Australia, you are not always required to obtain explicit consent to the recording of a conversation – if a person is advised that the call is being recorded and continues to take part in the conversation without objection, their consent is implied. You can advise them that you are recording the telephone call and let them know that by recording the call, you are better able to focus on what they say.
About 1300 RECORD
1300 RECORD is an Australian-based privately-owned company that provides telephone call recording services through its own proprietary technology platform.
The technological solution behind 1300 RECORD (www.1300record.com.au) was developed using proprietary Australian software after CPS Technology Group was commissioned to develop a specifically designed service system. CPS Technology Group is a well-established Australian developer of advanced voice and data technologies.
For more information about 1300 RECORD, head over to its website at www.1300record.com.au