Job Interview Tips - Make a Great Impression(3)

An interview is considered finished when you have the followup and the feedback.

What to do - before the interview  - Click here!

What to do - during the interview - Click here!

What to do - after the interview

When the interview is over, give yourself the best chances of moving forward by doing the following:

1. Ask about next steps.

After your interview, it is appropriate to ask either your interviewer, hiring manager or recruiter about what you should expect as next steps. This will likely be a follow-up email with results from your interview, additional requirements like an assignment, a Psychometric test or reference list or another 

interview.

2. Send a personalized thank you letter after the interview.

Ask for the business card of each person you speak with during the interview process so that you can follow up individually with a separate thank you email. If you interviewed in the morning, send your follow-up emails the same day. If you interviewed in the afternoon, the next morning is fine. Make certain that each email is distinct from the others, using the notes you took during the conversations.

Do practice the above steps to make it a habit. Read "Things not to do during the Interview"

Now read about what to do - before the interview - Job interview Tips

 Now read about what to do - during the interview - Job interview Tips

Key Steps to an effective recruitment process

.
Is there a need to recruit?

. The need for any recruitment activities should be evaluations in the context to the business overall resource requirements;

. This should include both short, mid and long term plans and requirements for your business and consider both likely resource level requirements (numbers of staff) and business skill requirements (capability of staff) in order to best decide first if recruitment is required at all, and if so what skills and experience you need to bring into the business.

Carefully defining the vacancy pays dividends
. Start with a description of the job - its responsibilities and deliverables;
. the necessary skills, experience and competencies required by the job holder to fulfill the required responsibilities;
. Plus the ideal qualities to be a successful contribution to the business.

Creating a talent pool by attracting the right candidates

. Think carefully about your internal sources of candidates: seek candidates from inside the business via internal job boards, succession plans etc; identify staff for whom it would be a sensible career development move;

. Think about the different sources of external sources of candidates: Advertise the vacancy (online or print); your internet career page; search generalist and specialist job boards; speak to the local job centre; encourage existing employees to make contacts for you; make contact with universities and colleges; use a recruitment agency or head hunter;

Focus on collecting all relevant information on candidates

Collect the information necessary to make a selection decision

. Applications form;
. CVs;
. Interview data (including behavioral interviews);
. psychometrics;
. references.

Create a short list and then arrange interviews and other selection processes

. Review applications and short list;
. your shortlist down to a small number for interview;
. Consider telephone interviews as an effective way to screen applicants;

Making the decision to appoint

. Consider relative importance of the different requirements before trying to evaluate the candidates so that you do not get caught up in the moment;
. When judging the importance of a shortfall in the candidate think about what can be learned as opposed to what comes more naturally or key competencies;
. Consider both the risks and the benefits of appointing a particular candidate;
. Make simple notes of your decisions in terms of why you selected and why you did not select � these will not only help you remember but can be useful for giving feedback;
. Agree terms and conditions of employment;
. Make the offer.

Giving feedback

This needs to be considered for three groups:

. successful candidates;
. unsuccessful internal candidates;
. unsuccessful external candidates.

Producing an induction plan

This is a critical step and should include both induction and early development needs. It can make the difference between a successful hire and an unsuccessful one.

. the new recruit quickly getting up to speed and making a valued contribution;
. reducing the disruption to the work of the other members of the team;
. ensuring a safe working environment;
. demonstration to the new recruit that they are valued;
. increasing your ability to keep the employee.

And finally, you need to review the recruitment process

. A review of the process itself should be undertaken - this will lead to process improvement and greater efficiency;
. A review of the hiring decision should also be undertaken - this will lead to greater recruitment effectiveness;
. The recruiters corner on HireScores.com gives some great feedback to employers on what to do and what not to do when recruiting..

Job Analysis

Job analysis is the process of determining the nature or content of a job by collecting and organizing information relevant to the job. A complete job analysis contains information relating to the following five factors, plus any others deemed appropriate to fully describe the nature of the job:

(1) work products?what the job seeks to accomplish;

(2) necessary worker activities or behaviors required by the job;

(3) equipment used;

(4) factors in the work environment; and

(5) personal characteristics required to do the job, such as typing speed, physical strength, or interest in working with children.

The personal requirements of a job are referred to as job specifications. Job specifications are the human requirements deemed necessary for minimally acceptable performance on the job. Job specifications can include skills, abilities, education level, experience, interests, personality traits, or other physical characteristics.

METHODS OF JOB ANALYSIS

Job analysis methods can be categorized into four basic types: (1) observation methods; (2) interview techniques; (3) questionnaires, including job inventories or checklists. This section describes and discusses these methods.

Observation Methods

Observation of work activities and worker behaviors is a method of job analysis which can be used independently or in combination with other methods of job analysis. Three methods of job analysis based on observation are: (1) direct observation; (2) work methods analysis, including time and motion study and micro-motion analysis; and (3) the critical incident technique. Though they employ the same method, these methods differ in terms of who does the observing, what is observed, and how it is observed.

Direct observation.

Using direct observation, a person conducting the analysis simply observes employees in the performance of their duties, recording observations as they are made. The observer either takes general notes or works from a form which has structured categories for comment. Everything is observed: what the worker accomplishes, what equipment is used, what the work environment is like, and any other factors relevant to the job.

Direct observation methods have certain natural limitations for job analysis purposes. First, they cannot capture the mental aspects of jobs, such as decision making or planning, since mental processes are not observable. Second, observation methods can provide little information relating to personal requirements for various jobs because this kind of information is also not readily observable. Thus, observation methods provide little information on which to base job specifications.

Work methods analysis.

A sophisticated observation method, work methods analysis is used to describe manual and repetitive production jobs, such as factory or assembly-line jobs. These methods are used by industrial engineers to determine standard rates of production which are used to set pay rates. Two types of work methods analysis are time and motion study and micro-motion analysis. In time and motion studies, an industrial engineer observes and records each activity of a worker, using a stopwatch to note the time it takes to perform separate elements of the job. Micro-motion analysis uses a movie camera to record worker activities. Films are analyzed to discover acceptable ways of accomplishing tasks and to set standards relating to how long certain tasks should take. Such data are especially useful for developing training programs and setting pay rates.

Critical incident technique.

The critical incident technique involves observation and recording of examples of particularly effective or ineffective behaviors. Behaviors are judged to be "effective" or "ineffective" in terms of results produced by the behavior.

The following information should be recorded for each "critical incident" of behavior: (1) what led up to the incident and the situation in which it occurred; (2) exactly what the employee did that was particularly effective or ineffective; (3) the perceived consequences or results of the behavior; and (4) a judgment as to the degree of control an employee had over the results his or her behavior produced (to what degree should the employee be held responsible for what resulted?).

The critical incident method differs from direct observation and work methods analysis in that observations of behavior are not recorded as the behavior occurs, but only after the behavior has been judged to be either particularly effective or ineffective in terms of results produced. This means that a person using the critical incident method must describe a behavior in retrospect, or after the fact, rather than as the activity unfolds. Accurate recording of past observations is more difficult than recording the behaviors as they occur.

Interview Techniques

Interview techniques involve discussions between job analysts (or other interviewers) and job occupants or experts. Interviews held on a one-to-one basis are called individual interviews. Interviews with groups of two or more job occupants are called group interviews. Job analysis data from individual and group interviews with employees are often supplemented by information from supervisors of employees whose jobs are analyzed. Job analysis interviews can also be held with a small panel of experts, such as supervisors or long-time employees who are very familiar with the job. Interviews of this type are called technical conferences. The end product of a technical conference is a job description that reflects a consensus of the experts' thinking.

Interviews can be unstructured, with questions and areas of discussion unspecified, or they can be more highly structured, spelling out each point for discussion. Using a structured format increases the likelihood that all aspects of a job will be covered in an interview. Further, using a more structured format enables collection of comparable data from all persons interviewed, making information classification easier.

Observation and interview techniques of job analysis are often used in combination or in developing more sophisticated methods of job analysis.

Questionnaires

Questionnaires can be filled out by employees on an individual basis or by job analysts for a group of employees. Questionnaires vary in the degree to which they are structured. Relatively unstructured questionnaires ask questions that are open-ended, or seek an unspecified answer. Examples of open-ended questionnaire items are as follows:

1. Describe the duties of your job.

2. Describe your daily routine.

3. What skills do you feel are essential to the performance of your duties?