Candidate Preparation

Introduction:

In this next post, we will discuss how you can implement a scoring and evaluation method within your Staffing and Recruitment agency. The major benefit of having a reliable way of assessing your candidates is that you can send better candidates to your clients more consistently.

Job Interview Scoring:

Although every organization may have their own job interview evaluation & scoring process, here are a few processes we have implemented with success within Recruitment and Staffing.

Rating Scale:

Prior to creating an evaluation checklist, you require a scoring scale. Although you may see anything from a 5-10 point rating scale, we prefer and suggest the 5 point rating scale The 5 point rating scale is the simplest and easiest to use when rating candidates. Designing a scale with an equal number of positive and negative statements can prevent the problem of bias, since consent on positively keyed items will balance consent on negatively scaled items, but central tendency and social desirability can become more problematic.

Five Point Scale:

1	2	3	4	5
Poor	Weak	Average	Good	Excellent

Creating the Evaluation

With all evaluations, the recruiter should evaluate everything from a candidate’s appearance, body language and handshake to specific competencies required for the position.

Process #1: First Impression Points

Create generic points to evaluate for all positions regardless if it’s junior to senior level. These are known as “first impression” evaluation points. Some of these include:

· Grooming

· Attire

· Handshake

· Eye contact

· Tardiness

· Gum Chewing

· Preparation (has portfolio)

· General Attitude (enthusiastic, passive, opinionated etc.)

For many of these you can also add a “Yes” or “”no” rating scale along with the 5 point rating scale.

Eg: Candidate chewing gum?

Yes:

No:

Process #2: General Assessment – Candidate Resume and their Preparation

Here you want to go through a candidates resume to confirm and validate that they actually have the knowledge, skills and abilities specified in their resume. You also want to find out if the candidate took the time to prepare and know more about the position posted and company.

General Assessment Includes:

· Knowledge of the position, did the candidate take the time to read and understand the requirements?

· Knowledge of the company, did the candidate take the time to research the company prior to the interview?

· Years of experience in specific field related to position posting?

· Working knowledge of specific technologies (have the required technologies listed from position posting)

· When asked to go through resume, does the candidate confirm all information is valid? (E.g. Gaps in employment, working knowledge or general knowledge of specific experience?)

Example: Rating Scale To Assess Years of Experience:

How many years have you worked as an accountant (senior position)?

Years of experience

Poor	1	0-1
Weak	2	2-3
Average	3	4-5
Good	4	6-7
Excellent	5	8+

We have provided you an example of how to assess and score the General Assessment, see our Sample Evaluation Form that we have provided in the following pages.

Process #3: Position Specific Points.

In this process you want to ensure the candidate has all the required competencies for the position. In most cases, you will want to use behaviour based questions to capture responses. Using behavioral questions is a good idea since most employers use them. By listening to specific examples of your candidate’s past work experience, this provide you a stronger validation. Look for more than a “yes” or “no” response to any of these questions.

Probing Questions:

Many times the candidate may not provide the specific response to the initial question. This may be a result of nervousness, lack of preparation or experience or perhaps poor question design. Recruiters should always have additional probing questions to ask along with the behavioural question. The probing question acts as a bit of a “push” when a recruiter is not happy with a candidate’s response. Probing questions encourage the candidate to elaborate and provide critical information. Remember, with probing questions recruiters the goals is encourage the candidate, give them some help without actually giving the candidate the answer.

Example: Using Probing Questions

Tell me about a time during a project you have managed when a team member came to you with a complex issue that they needed to talk about? How did you resolve the issue?

Probing question:

· What was the specific project?

· How did the complex issue start?

· What steps did you take to resolve the issue? Follow-up? End result?

What is the recruiter looking for in the response?

· Described the project, lead a large group.

· Took appropriate steps necessary to resolve the issue.

· Handled the issue well, and resolved the issue.

· Team member is satisfied with the results. Result is positive.

If the candidate’s response meets all the criteria the candidate will score high on the 5 point rating scale. If specific information is either missing or response is average, the candidate will score average or poorly. This Position Specific section of the checklist, recruiters use behavioral questions to weed out the good candidates from the poor . A thorough interview will result in sending strong candidates to your clients.

Sample of Evaluation Form:

Candidate: John Smith Position: Web Developer Interviewer(s): Janet Peters, Sandra Burrows, Manjeet Mann Date: July 1st 2008				Poor (1)	Weak (2)	Average (3)	Good (4)	Excellent (5)
First Impression
Grooming
Professional Business Attire
Tardiness
Handshake
Eye Contact
Chewing Gum	Yes:		No:
Business Portfolio	Yes:		No:
Overall Attitude
Total:
				Poor (1)	Weak (2)	Average (3)	Good (4)	Excellent (5)
General – Resume and General Preparation
Knowledge of position, did the candidate take the time to read and understand the requirements?
Knowledge of company, did the candidate take the time to research the company prior to the interview?
Years of experience in specific field related to position posting?
Working knowledge of specific technologies:
		PHP
		Photoshop
		ASP
		.Net
		VBScript
		CSS
		XML
		JavaScript
When asked to go through resume, does the candidate confirm all information is valid? (E.g. Gaps in employment, working knowledge or general knowledge of specific experience?)
Total:
				Poor (1)	Weak (2)	Average (3)	Good (4)	Excellent (5)
Position Specific: Behavioural Based
Please describe your experience in working with an individual to help that person succeed on a particular project or in their daily assignments? Probes: · How did you ensure that you gained the individual’s input with regard to how they could be successful? · What was the process you used to assist the individual in going from their current situation to one where they were successful in completing projects/daily assignments? · What was the outcome?
Tell us about a time when you needed to work closely with a colleague(s) on a project? Probes: · How was the process decided on that would be used for working on the project? · Were there obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? · Tell us about the relationships between you and your colleague(s) working on the project.
Tell us about a time when you dealt with a client who felt that he/she was being treated unfairly? Probes: · How did you ensure your understanding of the client’s concerns? · What was your approach to dealing with the client? · What was the outcome of the situation?
Total:
Total Evaluation Score:

Conclusion

Well this concludes our post on job interview scoring and evaluation techniques that your staffing and recruitment agency can implement. In our next post, we will look a little deeper into job interview scoring and discuss weighted scales as they relate to your candidate’s responses. Until then, we wish you continued success in your recruitment and staffing agency.

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