Hiring and Managing

Personnel
Human
Resources

A Top Candidate
A top candidate is selected for
employment as a result of his/her
qualifications, abilities, skills, and
knowledge critical to performing the
essential functions, duties and
responsibilities of the position.

BEFORE YOU START

INTERVIEWING
Think about the skills, competencies and
education/experience an ideal candidate would
possess as related to duties and job
requirements.
Working with Human Resources to develop a
strategic partnership is important!
Ask yourself
What skills must the ideal candidate possess?
How will an ideal candidate contribute to BU and
your departments goals, missions & values?

KNOW YOUR WORKING STYLE

Write down a few things about your working style and
the type of people you work best with.
Some things to consider in making your list are:
Are you a hands-on manager that prefers to supervise
people closely or do you like people who work
independently?
Do you like regular written communication from your
subordinates or do you like to get a general feel for
what they are doing from occasional conversations?
Is your working style similar to your supervisor? Is your
working style similar to your peer managers?
If your style is different from theirs, are your employees
expected to work with the other managers? Are you
able to help them understand the different styles?

KNOW YOUR DEPARTMENTS

CULTURE
Do you expect employees to be at work at a
specific time or do you prefer that they get
their work done within a reasonable time
period?
Do you expect people to work from home, in
the evenings or on weekends and/or holidays?
Do you expect people to dress in formal attire
or is casual attire okay?
Are people expected to compete with each
other, work independently or work together?
What are the top 3 reasons people stay?
What are the top 3 reasons they leave?

KNOW YOUR EXPECTATIONS OF

THE JOB
For each skill, duty or requirement listed
in the job description, estimate how
much (by hours per week or % of time)
the person will spend using each one.
Rank the most important skills and
duties.
Identify any skills and duties that are
"nice to have" or "not critical" to day-today responsibilities of the job.

KNOW YOUR EXPECTATIONS OF THE

PERSON WHO WILL FILL THE POSITION
Will the person work closely with others on
your team? If so, give the others a chance
to meet potential employees before you
hire them. This shows respect for your
team and gives the job candidate a chance
to meet their potential co-workers before
they make a decision to take the job.
Are there certain weaknesses on your
existing team that you expect a new
person to fill? Be clear about what those
are and that the person knows they are
being recruited for those reasons.

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM AN

INTERVIEW?

Inquisitiveness and creativity

Desire for the job
Grooming and hygiene
Impact on others
Interpersonal skills
Ability to empathize with others
Realistic Expectations
Charisma/dynamism
Ability to handle an interview

THE INTERVIEW PROCESS

After each candidate take time to jot down
strengths & weaknesses relative to job
requirements. (Evaluation Forms)
Use a team approach to interviewing.The
phone interview covers the basic skills and
experience before you schedule the inperson interview.
Ideally, you should have 2 - 3 people
interview each candidate. If possible, have
one of the interviewers be a co-worker or
someone in a similar job. Each person is
looking for different things.

ASK ABOUT HOW WELL THE

CANDIDATE CAN DO THE JOB
Review job description details, working
conditions and physical demands of the job.
Give the applicant a copy of the job description,
and review the job in general with them. If they
are still interested and feel they can do the job,
review each component of the job with them.

The goal of job detail questions is to learn:

Whether the applicant understands each job
requirement and can do each part of the job
function.
What experience and background the applicant
has to perform the job as described.
How well the applicant can match his/her own
skills and background to requirements.

ASK ABOUT EDUCATION AND

TRAINING
The goal of education/training questions is to
learn:
How the applicant uses their education on the job.
What initiative they have taken to improve or
maintain their own training and skills).
What plans they have for continuing to maintain or
improve their education.
How well they can foresee future needs to maintain
or upgrade their own skills, both on the job and
outside.
What motivates the applicant to take on extra
training

ASK ABOUT DECISION-MAKING

AND CREATIVITY
One effective and interactive interviewing technique is to
describe an actual situation or project that you are
familiar with. Describe the situation, the goals and the
people involved.
Set up a dialog where, as you describe the scenario and
major decision points, the candidate is asked, What do
you do at this point?"
The goal of decision-making questions
Understand the candidate's thinking process, ability to be
a quick-thinker, to communicate and think creatively.
Allow him/her to ask questions and pay attention to the
information they use to make their decisions.
Prior to making a final decision, ensure that the candidate
meets with some of your peer managers, some of your
superiors and subordinates. This gives the candidate a
better understanding of the personalities involved and
gives your staff a chance to be part of the hiring process.

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Gather information on positions the candidate held, relevant to the job you are
filling. You may use the candidates resume/application for specifics. Ask general,
open-ended questions.

The goal is to learn:

The candidate's duties and responsibilities in each job held.
What was most rewarding about each position.
Candidates personal responsibility/contribution to company goals and objectives.
How well they worked with other employees/colleagues.
How much initiative and/or leadership they showed.
How they handled/dealt with problems and challenges.
What new ideas, products or innovations they contributed. What impact did these
have on the candidates career.
What motivated him/her to take the position, achieve promotions and/or leave the
position.
How that prior experience contributed to their ability to do a good job for you.
How they got along with different types of people.
How well they will deal with the specific people they will interact with on a regular
basis (clients, students, co-workers, other departments, etc.)

ASK ABOUT THE

CULTURAL/DEPARTMENTAL FIT

Explain the service your department offers, its history, and

how the job described fits into the overall scheme of things.
Ask questions to describe how the candidate can add value.
The goal of these questions is to learn:
How much prior knowledge the candidate has of your
company, your industry and your corporate culture.
How well the candidate can apply his/her own experience to
your needs.
How well the candidate will fit into your department.
What contribution the candidate will make to the overall
success.
How well the applicant is able to communicate his/her skills
and abilities into what is appropriate for your department.
What initiative the candidate took in preparing for the
interview.

SAMPLE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Tell me about yourself.

Tell me about your experience.
What is your most important accomplishment to date?
How would you describe your ideal job?
Why did you choose this career?
What goals do you have in your career?
How do you plan to achieve these goals?
How do you define success?
Describe a situation in which you were successful.
What do you think it takes to be successful in this career?
Are you a team player?
What motivates you?
Why should I hire you?
Tell me about some of your recent goals and what you did to achieve them.
What are your short-term goals?
What is your long-range objective?
How do you handle conflict/pressure?
What is your greatest strength/weakness?
If I were to ask one of your professors (or a supervisor) to describe you, what would he or she say
about you?
How has your education prepared you for your career?
What were your favorite classes? Why?
Do you have any plans for further education?
What do you know about Boston University/Department/Lab?

Early Signs of an Employee

exhibiting
performance/behavioral issues

Dishonesty
Incompetence
Reluctance/Resistance
Lack of Dependability
Attitude
Attendance Issues

DISHONESTY
Lack of honesty is the first warning
sign of employee insubordination.
You may catch the employee in
"white lies" that are not a big deal at
first, yet they propagate into an
emerging pattern if not duly
addressed.

INCOMPETENCE
Intentional
An employee pretends to not
understand the job requirements and is
trying to see what he or she can get
away with.
Unintentional
Difficulty concentrating or following
directions.
Lack of appropriate skills/training.

RELUCTANCE/RESISTANCE
Unwillingness or general reluctance to change.
Active attempts to disrupt or undermine work
projects.
Negative conversations with other employees.
Over-reacting to problems/issues.
Strained relationships with other employees.
Irritable outbursts while on the job.
Insensitive and disagreeable behavior.
Not meeting key performance areas (missing
meetings and not responding to emails, for
example).

LACK OF DEPENDABILITY
Failure to complete duties assigned.
Failure to reach any of the targets set for them.
Lack of self-motivation; willingness to do
anything other than work.
Unnecessary shift of duties to other employees.
Lack of continuity and consistency.
Unnecessary expenditure of supervisory time.
Interference in normal procedures causing
delay in work completion.
Lack of compliance with required
timelines/deadlines.

ATTITUDE
Apathy and Engagement
Detached, unfocused, without much of an
attention span.
Not engaged in the job and less likely to
work to the fullest potential.
Signs of apathy to include withdrawing
from other employees and being physically,
but not mentally present at work.

Discourteous conduct, poor professional

judgment, job carelessness and
disruptive behavior.

ATTENDANCE
Is there an attendance problem?
Generally this employee will exhibit lack of
punctuality and tardiness from the very start
of employment.
Excessive absenteeism.
Consistently arriving late for work or leaving
early.
No reason is provided for the absence(s).
No legitimate reason for the absence(s).

Exhibiting such traits by a previously

punctual employee may entail dissatisfaction
and stress within the current workplace.

HEALTHY PRACTICES
Active communication with employees. Make
sure they know your expectations. Tell them
when they are doing well or poorly. Provide
ongoing feedback.
Listen to your employees. They have valuable
insight into the workplace.
Act consistently. Apply the same standards of
performance and conduct to all of your
employees uniformly.
Follow your own policies.
Treat employees with respect.
Make job-related decisions.
Take action when necessary.

Questions?