Guidelines for a Successfully Hiring Process

The task of bringing a new person into the organization is more complex and nuanced than many of us recognize. Managing an effective and defensible hiring process takes both knowledge and practice. Interviews are the critical selection process for the hiring of new staff for any organization. However, it is crucial to remember that one key to effective interviewing is the screening process that occurs before the first in-person interview. This document will provide a framework to make hiring of new staff go smoothly, legally and easily as possible.

Determining Candidates for the Interview Process

Before we can conduct interviews, we must determine which candidates best match our search criteria. In a successful outreach process, we may receive a large volume of resumes. Having a quick and effective method for sorting resumes to find the most qualified candidates can be essential in keeping track of information and selecting the most promising applicants for further scrutiny.

Evaluating Cover Letters

Most resumes will have a cover letter attached. These letters can often be just as revealing as a resume. What to look for in a well written cover letter:

The salutation  This can tell you information about the candidate’s level of sophistication. If it is titled, “Gentlemen,” or “To Whom It May Concern,” or “Dear Sir/Madam,” you know that the candidate did not take the time to find out whom the letter and resume is directed to. You may or may not reveal who will be reviewing the resumes in your nonprofit. See if the creative candidate can find your name and title!

The body

 The letter should initially mention the open position. The candidate should then state how his/her skills are related to the job requirements listed in the announcement. Look to see if the candidate took the time and energy to describe how his/her skills match your job opening. This section will give you an insight about the written communication skills of each candidate.

Guidelines for a Successful Hiring Process 1 Copyright © 2016 TREC Format and presentation  Just as in the resume, look for spelling or other errors. This may indicate a lack of attention to detail or carelessness.

On-line applications  If candidates are sending in their resumes online, it may not be possible for them to send a cover letter. However, a savvy job seeker may still be able to figure out how to send you the modern equivalent of the cover letter by email. This would definitely show that a candidate has a solid interest in the position and your organization.

Initial Resume Screening

With a wide outreach effort you can naturally expect to receive more interest and applications. This makes it imperative that you have thought through a workable method to collect applications and complete an initial screening that brings forth the most qualified candidates. This will keep you from becoming overwhelmed by dealing with large numbers of low-potential applicants. As it can demand a large time commitment, a single person who has been prepared for the task and designated early on in the process is best suited to coordinate applicant screening. A good organizational system is a must, as is a checklist for evaluating each application against the stated job requirements.

As a rough guide, you can expect to eliminate up to 90% of applicants at this stage. Plan to retain these rejected applications for one year or longer. You may find it useful to refer to these for other open positions in your organization or for referral to colleagues. It is not common practice to inform this potentially large group of people that they did not meet the position requirements. However, given that you are always looking to enlarge your “friends” base, it may be worth the effort to let people hear from you.

It can be time-consuming to screen and evaluate the resumes you receive for a job opening. In addition, many candidates now use outside specialists or software programs to prepare their resume. This can make it more difficult to get an accurate appraisal of a candidate’s strengths by just reading the resume. However, there are certain steps you can take to make this process easier and help you choose an effective shortlist of candidates.

Consider the following items when evaluating resumes:

Obvious eliminations

2  Look for simple ways to initially eliminate resumes. For example, if your position requires a college degree and a candidate doesn’t have one, you can easily eliminate that candidate.

Overall neatness and consistency  Although many jobs do not require a perfect speller or an English major, misspellings, typos, and poor formatting could indicate a limited level of professionalism. In an interesting survey, 76% of executives said they would not hire a candidate whose resume had even one or two typographical errors.

Candidate’s career objective

 Look for a statement that states what the candidate is looking for in a job. Is it specific to the position you are trying to fill? Statements that are focused and clear indicate that the candidate is selective and knows what they want.

 General statements that could be used for any job opening may indicate a lack of interest or energy to customize their resume for your position. For example, “ I am looking for a position that will allow me to use my skills and further my growth” is not a compelling statement.

Job qualifications

 Use the list of job qualifications that you placed on the job announcement and eliminate the candidates whose resumes do not show these qualifications. If you have a large number of resumes to sift through, you can be more discriminating.

 Look for accomplishments in past positions rather than responsibilities. All jobs have duties and responsibilities, such as “supervised development staff.” An accomplishment will indicate what was actually achieved by the candidate such as, “Increased fundraising by 50%.”

 Watch out for statements such as, “Participated in ..” or “Am familiar with…” These statements may indicate that the candidate did not actually have an integral role in the project. This wording can be used to conceal limited experience or minimal responsibility.

Career Patterns

 A static career path could indicate lack of ambition, gaps in skill or instability. Advancements and promotions can be an indicator of focus and purpose.

 However, be sure to look at a candidate’s whole employment history. People do leave jobs for good reasons.

 You must also be careful how much you ask, as you may end up asking questions that are not legal in the job interview (i.e., medical information). Refer to the section later in this document that outlines fundamental considerations in what comprises legally permissible questions.

Determining Candidates for Phone Screening

The most promising applications should then be considered for a phone interview. At this point, it is very important that you have a clear set of criteria to make educated decisions.

Number of candidates

 Sifting through resumes to identify a manageable number of well-qualified applicants to contact is important. To make this reasonable, there should be no more than 10-15 people to call.

Rating sheet or check list

 Develop a checklist based on the prerequisites, job qualifications and attributes that are critical to high performance in the particular position to use while narrowing down the list of resumes

Conducting Phone Interviews

The phone interviews will allow you to clarify the qualifications and work history of the candidates you have selected from the resume assessment. Well-conducted phone interviews save time by highlighting the most suitable candidates and bringing them forward for further consideration. You should be able to narrow your candidate pool to 3-5 contenders through an effective phone interview.

4 The point of conducting phone interviews is to clarify qualifications and work history and assess the candidates who are the best fit for the job you are offering. Well-conducted phone interviews save time by highlighting the most suitable candidates and eliminating from consideration those who don’t match your criteria. The phone interview is meant to clarify any questions from the candidate’s resume, and prepare a short list of well-qualified candidates for the in-person interview.

Setting the tone for the interview

It is important for the candidate feels as comfortable as possible in what is often an awkward conversation. Use a few warm up questions to develop rapport before going through the bulk of the interview. But be clear from the beginning that it is best for all involved to see if they are going to be the “best fit” for the organization.

 Estimate 15-30 minutes to effectively complete a phone interview. Thirty minutes will allow you to ask deeper questions.

Agenda

 Phone interviews should verify the basic requirements identified in the position description. Use this opportunity to verify the person’s qualifications in relation to the needs of the position you are offering.

 After questioning, inform the candidate of next steps. It is typically good practice to inform unsuccessful candidates of their status. You can also keep these resumes in your database for future contact.

Questions

 Plan to be consistent with questions so you can compare the candidates fairly.

 You can also make an effort to uncover a candidate’s true skill set, goals, desires, likes, dislikes, work history and other pertinent initial information.

 Use the list of questions in the Appendix to develop an effective phone interview for your situation.

The in-person interview is at the heart of the hiring process. Most of us believe that how well a candidate comes across in an interview will reflect how well he/she will perform when on the job. However, an interview really only shows what a candidate says about his/her behavior. Therefore, it is extremely important to design the interview so you can increase the probability that you will make a good choice for the open position in your organization.

Following these steps will help you to organize your plan:

List the assets of the ideal candidate

 This would include the knowledge, skills and abilities needed for success in the job. It is well worth the effort to thoughtfully determine these basic job criteria, so that you can assess each candidate against them.

 Knowledge: An organized body of information of a factual or procedural nature, which, if applied, makes adequate performance on the job possible. o For example: Clearly understands the Federal laws affecting conservation

 Skill: Proficiency in manual, verbal or mental manipulation of data or things o For example: Proficiency with complex donor management system

 Ability: The competency to perform an observable behavior or a behavior that results in an observable product o For example: Communicates effectively in writing

Develop the interview questions before reviewing any applicants

Be sure to also define what you consider to be acceptable and desired responses to the questions you ask. You also may want to apply a weight to each question. For questions that are vital to the job performance, assign a higher weight.

Types of questions:

 Competency questions seek to find out what particular skills a candidate brings to the table that is specific to the job position. Competency questions seek to verify that the candidate has the depth of skill and experience you require, and are fundamental to any interview situation.

6 o Example: Tell us more about your experience of using social media for fundraising. Describe a campaign you have managed and the tools you used.

 Behavioral questions seek to determine how the candidate’s experience has prepared him/her to succeed in the job you are offering. Their purpose is to seek to predict future performance based upon past behavior. Behavioral questions can provide deep insight into the candidate’s experience and allow you to better assess the person’s ability to handle the demands of your job. o Example: Tell me about a time when you worked effectively under deadline pressure.

 Situational or hypothetical questions describe a certain situation that could occur in the job and asks the candidate to explain how they might proceed. Hypothetical questions can be revealing, but are not considered the best predictor of the candidate’s abilities, as you are essentially asking them to make up an answer, rather than detail past experience. o Example: If a coworker came to you with an unreasonable request, how would you handle it?

 Questions by job competency o Use the questions in the Appendix 1 to help you develop an interview that is specific to job description, the needs of your nonprofit and your hiring criteria.

Illegal questions that cannot be asked in an interview

 US state and federal law makes discrimination based on certain protected categories, such as national origin, citizenship, age, marital status, disabilities, arrest and conviction record, military discharge status, race, gender or pregnancy status illegal.

 Any question that asks a candidate to reveal information about these topics without the question having a job related basis may violate various state and federal discrimination laws.

 It can be easy to ask a question that is innocent, but considered illegal. If the interview becomes informal and comfortable, it might be easy to start chatting and ask seemingly innocuous questions that could be seen as discriminatory. Guidelines for a Successful Hiring Process 7 © 2016 TREC

 The questions in Appendix 3 will give you a starting point to learn about the legality of interview questions.

Develop a rating sheet  Use of a rating sheet will provide you the ability to record to candidates’ responses in an objective way. It is easy to let your intuition rule when making important decision about adding new team members, but this approach can increase the likelihood of bias affecting your decision making process. A well thought-out system for evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate is essential.

 The rating system could include a weighting system that places added importance to certain knowledge, abilities and skills that are absolutely critical for the position.

Making the Hiring Decision

Reaching a final decision on the candidate best suited to the position can be complex and difficult. Be sure to take the time to make a decision that you can live with for years to come.

Mistakes for avoid

 It can be easy to become preoccupied with one aspect of a candidate (i.e., previous high level position) such that you lose perspective on other aspects of the candidate’s qualifications. Stick to the hiring criteria and interview questions, and strive to remain objective.

 Avoid moving too fast and making quick judgments about candidates. It is much harder to “de-hire” someone than to use a temporary replacement to keep you on track until a more qualified person is identified.

 Involving several people as interviewers will give different perspectives and opinions about candidates. Keep the number to 3 or 4 colleagues who are very familiar with your organization, its mission and culture. Be careful not to get too many people involved in the process.

8  Don’t let a candidate who does not have the specific qualifications for the job “talk you into” hiring him/her. Be sure to review the hiring criteria throughout the process so that you maintain perspective and a “big picture” orientation.

Complete reference checks

 Once your 2-3 finalists have been determined, you will want to check each person’s references. You can start with those provided by the candidate. Even though these references will tend to be positive about the candidate, you can still gain substantial information on how the candidate operates in various settings, getting a better sense of what they will be like in your organization.

 It is also recommended that you verify past employment history, and see that it matches what the candidate reports. Due to liability concerns, many organizations now will only verify basic information such as job title, dates of employment and possibly their final compensation. It may prove difficult to obtain information on the person’s performance, key attributes or other substantive information.

 You may be able to engage the reference in providing more information about your candidate’s performance in their past organization, but this can also be a challenge to tease out. If the candidate is someone you are familiar with, you may be likely to get more valuable insight from your own network of personal references.

 Be very careful about online reference checking. Looking on Facebook for information about a candidate may give you some insight, but it could also reveal some facts that are illegal to consider in a hiring decision. In addition, inaccuracies about a candidate could influence your decision. Use caution with unverified sources of information!

Compare the rating scales of the potential candidates

 Since your rating scale is based on the important knowledge, skills and abilities needed for the position, scores on the scale should help to guide your final decision.

Completing the Hiring Process

Making the hiring decision is a major accomplishment, but is not the end of the process.

 As soon as your decision is made, contact the candidate. Call the person and discuss the details of offer you are extending to them. A salary range should have been established before you even begin the recruiting process, so you should now be ready to negotiate specific terms of employment. Also discuss the benefits package.

 Follow up the phone call with a letter or official email restating the terms of the position.

 Give the candidate a deadline to accept the offer. Several days for a low-level candidate and up to a week for a mid or senior-level manager are appropriate.

 If you have identified more than one appropriate candidate, avoid informing the runner-ups until you have secured a firm commitment from your preferred candidate.

Negotiate the employment relationship

 Make a decision before talking to the candidate how high you will go with the salary. You can ask yourself these questions: o Were there other, as equally qualified candidates, I can defer to if he/she does not agree to my limit?

o Was the position especially difficult to fill?

o Will a higher salary be out of line with the other staff in the organization?

 If you can’t offer more money, think about what you might be able to offer, such as more vacation time, flex time or the opportunity to telecommute

 Clarify the details with the candidate

 Celebrate your success with the hiring process!

10 APPENDIX 1

Sample Interview Questions

Any of these questions could be appropriate to an interview situation in your organization. Adapt them to suit your situation, and strive to craft the questions to bring out the most important issues in your hiring situation. As much as possible, match the questions to the qualifications of the position.

In general, a few well written questions will tell you more than a greater number of less focused questions.

General questions

 Why are you looking for a new position?

 Tell us what you are looking for in a new job.

 What excites and inspires you about our mission?

 Which experiences in your past prepare you to take on the particular challenges of this job?

 Our staff members have very diverse backgrounds and are passionate about their work here. What do you see as the benefits and challenges of leading such a staff, and how would this affect your style of management and collaboration?

 Tell us how you worked with an uncooperative employee in your last job.

 Describe a professional situation that challenged you. How did you manage the situation?

 How would others describe your management style?

 What experience and knowledge do you have in (describe your program)?

 What are the top accomplishments for which you were personally responsible while employed in your current role?

 We pride ourselves on being a “cutting edge” conservation organization. How would you support staff to continue to innovate while staying within our mission and objectives?

 What are you looking for in a new position that you did not have in your previous position?

 Why is this role appealing to you at this point in your career?

Questions specific to Executive Director Position

 Tell us how you have demonstrated the skills that will be needed to be the ED of this organization.

 What is your experience in working with a nonprofit board of directors? What kind of relationship did you attempt to develop with your board? How did this work out?

 What were some of the key accomplishments under your leadership in your last position?

 Tell us about a challenging situation that occurred under your leadership and describe how you dealt with it.

 While our Executive Director is the primary public spokesperson for our organization, we are always looking to publicize what we do. Tell us about your experience in presentation and public speaking.

 What do you see as the significant differences in leading a nonprofit? (for a candidate that is coming from government or business)

Leadership in managing a non-profit organization

 Please describe your experience in management in other organizations. What was most challenging to you? Tell us about a significant accomplishment you achieved.

 What were your biggest challenges, greatest achievements and enduring contributions? What did you like most about the job? What was the hardest part?

 Where do you think you have the most to learn in terms of leading an organization?

 How would you describe your leadership style? How would others describe it?

Professional Knowledge/Continuous Learning

 Describe how something you learned made a significant difference in your career.

12  Tell us about a specific process/procedure/policy where you made recommendation for change. What was your role? What happened?

 Describe a time where you took initiative rather than waiting to be told what to do. How did it work out?

 Describe a time where your professional/technical expertise made a significant difference.

 Tell us how you keep your job knowledge current given the pace of change in our industry.

Teamwork/Collaboration/Partnering

 What did you do in your last job to contribute toward a team environment? Be specific.

 Give an example of a time you were able to build motivation in your co-workers or subordinates at work.

 Tell us about a time you helped to resolve a conflict between co-workers or volunteers. What was the conflict and how did you handle it?

 Tell us about a time that you worked on a team that did not get along. What happened? What role did you take? What was the result?

 Tell us about a time when you assigned co-workers with different work styles to collaborate on a project. How did you help them succeed?

 Give us an example of a time when you were able to gain commitment from others to work together as a team.

Experience managing and mentoring diversity

 What experiences have you had working with people of diverse backgrounds? Describe a specific time you worked with a diverse group to complete an assigned task. What was your role? What was the result?

 By providing examples, convince us that you can adapt to a wide variety of people, situations and environments.

 What have you done to promote diversity in your current position?

Problem-Solving/Negotiation

 Give us an example of a time when you used good judgment and logic to solve a problem.

 Tell us about a difficult challenge you have faced in trying to work cooperatively with someone who did not share the same ideas. What was at the core of the difference? What was the outcome? What was the long-term impact of working with this person?

 Tell us about a time that you faced a difficult work decision. What did you decide? How did you make that decision? What was the outcome?

 Give us an example of a time when you helped a staff member accept change and make the necessary adjustments to move forward.

Supervision of Staff

 Describe your experience as a supervisor. How many staff have you provided oversight for? What particular approaches and tools did you find useful? How would you characterize your approach to working with subordinates?

 Please tell us about a particular challenge that you faced as a supervisor, and how you dealt with it.

 What is most challenging for you in supervising others, and how have you dealt with this in other situations?

Donor and Foundation Fundraising Ability

 Tell us about your experience with fundraising. Have you participated in or helped develop a fundraising plan? If so, what strategies were most effective? Which ones do you think would be relevant for our organization?

 How much experience do you have in cultivating and working with major donors? What particular insights or skills do you feel have been helpful in your work in this area?

 Tell us about your experience in writing grants and proposals. What were some of your most successful grants and how much did they yield? Please share some lessons from this experience.

 Describe your experience in writing grants. What were some of your most successful grants? Have you written grants for the type of work we do?

14  What is your experience and success in building relationships and cultivating major donors that could apply to this position?

 What is your experience in using social media for marketing and fundraising?

 Describe your written communication skills. What have you done in the areas of media communications or producing outreach materials?

Financial Management Skills

 How would you characterize your financial management skills? What do you think are particular skills that are important to managing a non-profit organization?

 What is the largest budget you have been responsible for?

 Describe a challenging financial situation you have successfully addressed.

 What are your financial management skills? Have you prepared a budget? How do you ensure that your organization stays within their budget?

 What is your experience in working specifically for a nonprofit organization?

 Our organization has just come through a challenging fiscal time. In light of these events, what strategies would you propose to help strengthen the organization financially?

Education and/or Experience Working In A Natural Resource Or Conservation Field

 Tell us about your background in conservation. Describe your education, experience and interest in the field.

 What do you know about our bioregion; its ecology, wildlife, and conservation issues? What makes this area unique? In your view, what are some of the highest priorities and greatest challenges of working in this region?

Knowledge of Legislative and Administrative Natural Resource Policy Processes

 What experience do you have working with Federal and Provincial lands and land management agencies or similar protective legislative designations local governments?

 Describe your experience with Federal and Provincial agencies related to land management.

Verbal and Written Communication Skills

 Tell us about your experience in public speaking.

 Give us an example of a time that you were able to successfully communicate with another person in a conflict situation. How did you handle the situation? What obstacles did you encounter? How did you overcome them?

 Tell us about a time in which you had to use your verbal communication skills to get a point across that was important to you.

 Tell us about a time that you had to deliver an important or sensitive message to someone. How did you do it? What happened?

 Tell us more about your writing experience. Have you written grant proposals, scientific articles, press releases or outreach and educational materials?

Quality of Performance

 Describe a time that you made a major mistake and what you learned from it.

 Tell us about a time that you weren’t happy about a product or service that your department or organization delivered. What did you do?

Personal Attributes

 Tell us about a time you needed to overcome a significant obstacle to achieve a desired goal.

 Tell us about a time you needed to work with someone you didn’t respect. How did you handle it?

 Discuss a time when you integrity was challenged. How did you handle it?

 Tell us about a specific time you had to handle a difficult problem that challenged fairness or ethical issues.

 Tell us what you would do if asked to something you felt was unethical.

 Tell us about a situation in which you had to adjust to changes over which you had no control. What did you do?

 What do you do when priorities change quickly? Can you give us an example of when this happened to you?

16  Describe a time when you were especially creative in solving a problem that your organization was facing. What was a challenge? What were the results?

 Give an example of a time you convinced a supervisor organization to go forward with an idea you had. What was the idea? How did you convince them?

 Tell us about a time that your supervisor criticized your work. How did you respond?

 Give an example of a time you took responsibility for an error.

Questions related to birthplace, ancestry or national origin

Illegal or inappropriate

 How long has your family been in the U.S.?

 That’s an unusual name—what does it mean?

 How did you learn to speak Chinese?”

 What country are you from?

 Is English your first language?

 Are you a US/Canadian citizen?

Acceptable

 Are you eligible to work in the U.S./Canada?

Questions related to marital status, children or pregnancy

Illegal or inappropriate :  Are you planning to have children?

 What does your husband/wife do?

 What are your child care arrangements?

 Who will take care of your children while you’re at work?

Acceptable

 Would you be able to work a 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. schedule? (If asked of all applicants and a specific work schedule is a necessity of the position.)

Questions related to physical disability, health or medical history

 Are you able to use your legs at all?

 Do you have any pre-existing health conditions?

 Are you on any medication?

 Have you experienced any serious illnesses in the past year?

Acceptable

 Can you perform the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodation? (Only if asked of all applicants).

Questions related to age

 How old are you?

 What year were you born?

 How long have you been working? (You can only ask how long the candidate has been working in a certain industry.)

 I went to high school there too! What year did you graduate?

Acceptable

 Are you over the age of 18?

Questions related to religion or religious days observed

18  What is your religious affiliation?

 What religious holidays do you celebrate?

 Do you attend church every week?

Acceptable

 Can you work on weekends? (If asked of all applicants and weekend work is a necessity of the position).

Questions related to arrests and criminal records

 Have you ever been arrested?

 Have you ever spent a night in jail?

 Have you ever been caught driving drunk?

Acceptable  Have you ever been convicted of a felony?

Questions related to the military

 What type of discharge did you get from the military?

Acceptable  What type of experience, training or education did you receive while in the military?