Job interviews

 Tips for the interviewer:

• Make it comfortable for the candidate. Prepare the room. Make sure it is private and that there are no interruptions – be especially careful about phones.
• At the start of the meeting, explain clearly how the interview will work. 
• Prepare your questions in advance. To make the process fair, most of the questions should be the same for each candidate. You will only use different questions when exploring the detail of their CV or experience. 
• Use open questions to find out as much as you can about the candidate. ‘How’ and ‘What’ questions are often best. These encourage the candidate to explain what they are like, their motives and how they approach their work. Typically, interviewers ask the candidate's job history and what they have learned from previous jobs, what their strengths are and how they deal with challenges. Additionally, ask questions about specific skills relating to previous experience. These questions may relate to specific essential or desirable skills in the person specification.
• Try not to make judgements too soon. The purpose of the interview is to get to know and understand the candidate as well as you can. If you challenge them too much, they are less likely to be open about themselves. Generally, the more comfortable you make them feel, the more they will say.
• Make time for the candidate to ask you questions. The types of questions they ask will often indicate how much research they have done or how much they want the job. Be prepared to answer any questions they have about what the job involves and the terms and conditions.

Practice: an interview question to assess "teamwork":  Would you describe yourself as a soloist or a team player) Tell me about a team you've enjoyed working with (as a trainee or teacher) - what did you bring to the table? How did you profit from belonging to the team?