Employers
Coaching your interviewers
Your line managers may be fantastic care professionals. And the chances are they’ll
understand the characteristics they’ll need to display, and the language they’ll
have to use, to make a positive impact on the vast range of people they’ll meet
through their work, from people in their team to receivers of care, from senior
clinicians to elected council officers.
But good interviewers – those who leave the people they meet keen to work for them,
or at least badly wanting a second interview – need more than simply a sunny nature
and empathetic bedside manner. At BS Social Care, we recognise that the ‘candidate
experience’ may have a direct impact on the likelihood of a job offer being accepted
– and that interviews conducted by care professionals often have huge potential
for improvement.
Sell, sell, sell
- Cuts both ways: Remember that the interview isn’t just about sizing
up candidates to join your team – even in a climate of public sector cuts and reductions
in headcount in care teams, good people will generally have a choice of options
(one of which may simply be to take their CV off the market and stay put until a
golden opportunity presents itself)
- Bring in your big guns: Even the briefest of introductions to more
senior people in the department can impress interviewees – it says that everyone
has bought into the hiring decision, and that those at the top take an active interest
in ensuring that those who may be further down the ranks are well-matched to the
people with whom, after all, they may be spending the vast majority of the working
day
- Take the tour: If you take a liking to your interviewee, and are
starting to envisage them working alongside you and your team, don’t be afraid of
breaking out of your normal routine – take them round the office or introduce them
to those they may have to work alongside; this will send an incredibly positive
signal to the interviewee (and warm them up for a job offer)
- Open to question: Always encourage the interviewee to ask questions
about the role, team or organisation; for younger or less experienced people who
may be nervous about this, it’s a good idea to even suggest topics to them – otherwise,
the interview may end on an awkward or embarrassing note
Competency hunt
- Prepare properly: To be as objective as possible, you may have to
follow set questions for each role – but allow room for initiative; for instance,
by aligning certain skills or competencies that you’re after to current or previous
job responsibilities, and looking out for your interviewee to take the chance to
make those points
- Ask around and do your research: The local social care market is
only so large – discreetly use your professional networks to delve for more information
about the people you’ll be meeting, in order to drop some more specific questions
– your thoroughness is more likely to impress than to scare them off