1. Appropriate Interviewing
Welcome to appropriate interviewing. Before we begin, I would like to mention that this training is designed to be applicable to both staff and faculty. Also, while we are currently in a hiring freeze, we felt that the information discussed today will still be beneficial once the freeze is lifted and hiring committees are brought back together. That being said, I would like for you all to feel free to ask questions and even contribute if you have any tips that you have found to be helpful in your interviewing experience.

2. Preparing for the Interview
Screen candidates by phone
Min qualifications
Salary expectations
Pick an appropriate setting
Set aside sufficient time
Spaced
Phone Screening: One of the best ways to prep for in-person interviews is to first conduct phone interviews. This way you can easily eliminate candidates who do not meet the minimum qualifications and/or have unrealistic salary expectations. The way that you can ask the salary question is to state what you’re looking at paying and ask if the candidate is comfortable with it.
Time – 1 hour so you and your team are not rushed;
Space the interviews: you don’t want candidates running into each other

3. Preparing for the Interview
Prepare (same) questions to ask each candidate
Review the job description and the candidate’s resume and application immediately before
Prepare to provide information about UT Tyler and Tyler
Tell the candidate:
How to get here, where to park, who to ask for upon arrival
How long the interview will probably take
Type of interview
Review resume: you don’t want the candidate to have to do a total recap of his or her resume.
Info about Tyler: If the candidate is not from here, you may want to talk a bit about what the city of Tyler has to offer, that it’s growing and what all there is to do here.
Park: It would be nice to also send a quick to UPD to get a visitor parking pass for the candidate. You may even consider picking the candidate up if he or she is not familiar with the area.
Length: The interviewee is probably going to need to take off work so it’s a good idea to give an estimate as to how much time the interview will take.
Type of interview: You may consider letting the candidate know that you’ll be asking behavioral interviewing questions (if this is the case) rather than, say hypothetical questions to get an idea of the candidate’s past experience. We’ll get into more detail about behavioral interviewing in a bit.
These all may seem like small details, but they will likely be nervous and the more unnecessary uncertainties you can eliminate, the better.

4. The Interview (useful tips)
At the start of the interview:
Offer water
Monitor your nonverbal communication
Set the candidate at ease with small talk
Before delving into questioning, ask if the candidate has any questions.
Tips: These are some tips that we’ve found to be useful.
Nonverbal communication - facial expression - pleasant, clothing - professional, voice intonation - pleasant and speed. These can communicate more than your words.
Small talk - Keep the topics neutral such as traffic and weather. People tend to like the sound of their own voice, it has a calming effect, so get them talking
Questions: It may be good to ask if they have any questions before you begin questioning.
Once again, these seem like small matters, but they can clear the externalities like nerves so you can get the best assessment of a candidate

5. Interview Questions Structured Open ended questions
Behavioral interview questions
Ask about specific experiences that the candidate has had where that candidate exhibited the competencies that are needed for the job
Goal: Find out what the candidate has done in the past in order to best predict what the candidate would do in the future
Structured interview: Ask the same questions of each candidate. This will ensure fairness and give you a good basis for comparison. This will also serve to mitigate certain risks as we will talk more about in a bit. You can follow up the answers with individualized requests for clarification.
Open ended: will give you more useful information.
Behavioral: Not only will their actions indicate their competency, also their decision-making processes and rationale will speak volumes
Examples:
Tell us about a time when you have had to be proactive and take the lead on a project.
Tell us about a time when you have had to make a difficult decision. Walk me through how you came to that decision.
Tell us about a time when you had to deliver difficult information. How did it go? (If it did not go well) How did you de-escalate the situation?

6. Interview Questions (cont.)
Star Method
Situation
Tasks
Actions took
Result
Star: In behavioral interviewing a handy “check” to ensure that the past experience has been thoroughly covered is the star method. This can also be integrated into your note-taking. Further, this is a good method of answering if you find yourself on the interviewee side of the table. You would want to cover all of these in your answer.
Situation: Have they described the situation they were in?
Tasks: Have they articulated the goal/standard that they were working toward?
Actions: What actions did they take? You definitely want to look for the “why” here. As I said before, the candidate’s reasoning (or lack thereof can speak volumes)
Result: What was the end result of these actions?

7. Skillport video Conducting Interviews: Asking the Right Questions
I feel this video does a great job of demonstrating an effective approach to interviewing.

8. Candidate Responses
Listen to the full answer before preparing your next question
Take notes
Demonstrate unconditional positive regard
Notes: will be subject to record retention requirements. Be careful about what you put in them. Only record factual, relevant information. It’s always a good general guideline to only put into writing what you wouldn’t mind being read at a deposition. Also, it’s best practice to make sure that the candidate cannot see your notes. I recently heard a story in which a candidate was interviewing and when the discussion came around to salary expectations, the candidate communicated that she was thinking 40,000 a year or higher. The interviewer wrote “40+” very large on his notes and the candidate saw this. She was not offered the job. She was above the age of 40 and she interpreted this as a reference to her age and sued the company…..and won. So, this is just one example of why you want to be careful about what you put in your notes and do your best to keep what you are writing out of the sight of the candidate..
Unconditional positive regard: If you react negatively, you give the candidate cues on what things to hide from you. As a result, you may miss key pieces of information such as complete recall of past decisions.

9. During the interview
Candidates often arrive with an arsenal of prepared responses that may not be accurate portrayals of their competence.
Your response to rehearsed answers:
Look at the candidate expectantly and wait for more
Ask a vague follow up question: “Can you tell me more about that?”
Ask several specific follow up questions
Ask if they had any questions in reviewing the job description
Rehearsed responses: It is easy for candidates to find web sites, books, magazine articles with sample questions and with recommendations for answers. In fact, when I was building this presentation, my research for material came up with a lot more resources pertaining to how to interview as a candidate rather than how to conduct the interview.
Look at the candidate: Silence……can be quite the tool to elicit more information.
Follow-up questions: Such as: “Why did you take that course of action?” or “When you say “managed” what specific duties did you perform?” You want to sift through the “buzz words” to find out what the person’s actual experience has been and whether they handled situations effectively in the past. You can get away from the standardized format here because follow-up questions by nature are going to be different because these hinge on responses from the candidates, which are naturally varied
Job description: This can be a way to see if they’ve done their research. Also, it’s a good way to ensure that they are aware of the job requirements and a good opportunity for Q&A if there are some areas that they need clarification over.

10. Ending the Interview
Ask the candidate if there is anything else that the candidate would like to tell you about his or her qualifications.
Ask if the candidate has any questions
Provide documents describing UT Tyler and the benefits offered
Ask if the candidate is interested in the job based on the information you’ve provided during the interview
Documents: Information about the university and your department. Also, the Benefits Summary sheet found on our HR page is a good basic breakdown of the benefits offered here.
Ask: Are they sold? Remember throughout the process that the evaluation is two-sided

11. Ending the Interview & After
Notify the candidate of when to expect further contact from you.
Walk the candidate to the door and thank the candidate for the interview
Call each individual that interviewed in-person
Make offer first, if accepted then call those that were not selected
Contact estimate: Be realistic in your estimate of when you’ll contact the candidate next, if you’ve sold UT Tyler properly, they’ll be eagerly awaiting a response from you. Mention that you have other candidates to interview if that is the case.
Thank: Courtesy can leave a favorable impression of UT Tyler
Not selected: In my opinion, if they took the time to come in for a face to face, they deserve a phone call. Always thank the applicants and encourage them to apply again in the future if they find another position that they are interested in. Keep in mind that there may be an opening in the future that are a better fit for this person so you definitely wouldn’t want to burn a bridge here. Many times, they will ask why they were not selected. You want to be careful here. It’s best to simply state that you had another candidate who was a better fit for the position. If they press for details, it’s still not best to divulge more information than that.

12. Questions about the interview process?

13. Laws that affect the interview process
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA)
Citizenship
There are quite a few laws that affect the interview process. These are all reasons why each question needs to be very job-specific.
Title VII – Race, Sex, Color, Nation of Origin, Religion
ADEA: prohibits discrimination against individuals over the age of 40.
ADA: prohibits discrimination against individuals with a disability or a perceived disability

14. Laws that affect the interview process
National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)
Union membership
Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)
Membership or service in the uniformed services
Handout
Do’s and Don’ts
Related to these laws, we are working on modifying a handout of the Do’s and Don’ts for interview questions put together by the HR department for UT Health Science Center Houston. This is a pretty handy quick reference and we are very appreciative of their having given us permission to use this resource. That being said, once we are finished tailoring this resource to our campus, we will post it to our Training & Development page with the video and slides for this presentation.

15. What to ask and what not to ask
This next section is going to go through examples of how these laws affect what you can and cannot ask. It’s important to remember that if you do choose to ask some of these suggested questions, you must ask these of every candidate. This goes back to the need to have a standardized set of questions.

16. What to ask and not ask Age Instead of: When did you graduate?
When do you intend to retire?
Ask:
Can you supply transcripts of your education?
Law: ADEA
When did you graduate: This can seem like a harmless icebreaker and can come up in small talk situations however it can disclose age and knowing the candidate’s age (if over 40) can give the impression that the candidate was discriminated against if he or she was not selected but a younger candidate was.
Retire: While it may be a concern, asking about a candidate’s retirement timeline is off-limits.
Transcripts: If the position requires a degree, this will need to be communicated and you would want to mention that official transcripts will be required.

17. What to ask and not ask Disability Instead of:
Do you have a disability?
Have you ever filed a workers compensation claim?
Ask
Can you do the duties listed in the job description, with or without a reasonable accommodation?
If the applicant has an obvious disability or reveals a hidden disability, you may ask the person to describe or demonstrate how the applicant would perform job duties.
Must do
We must provide reasonable accommodation to employees who have disabilities.
Law: ADA
Can Ask: Someone was telling me the other day that they once new an HR manager who asked this of all the candidates he interviewed. This can give the candidate an opportunity to disclose if he or she needs an accommodation
Demonstrate: You can ask (as long as this relates to the job they are currently interviewing for) how they performed the duties at their last job. For example, let’s say the interviewee is in a wheelchair and appears to have limited mobility and the position requires typing. Noticing his or her last job was similar, you may ask how he or she performed this specific function at his or her last job. This might prove valuable in providing accommodation should the individual be offered the job.
Reasonable accommodation: HOP Workplace Accommodation for Disabilities provides guidance here, however if this comes up, it’s best to involve us. This can be rather tricky and we are happy to help! Reasonable accommodation must also be provided for people with a disability who come in for an interview. For example, if he or she uses a walker, a reasonable accommodation may be to make sure that walkways leading to the interview are clear.

18. What to ask and not ask Race Religion
A candidate’s race will usually be at least somewhat evident, but race related discussions or questions may imply a preoccupation with that factor.
Religion
Instead of:
What outside activities do you participate in?
Ask:
What professional associations are you a member of?
Law: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Religion: As a general rule, limit your questions about outside activities to those that are relevant to the job. Asking about volunteer work or memberships may elicit information that you don’t want, such as religious or political work. Similar to the age related scenario, stumbling across the religious affiliation of an applicant who is not hired can open us up to potential liability.

19. What to ask and not ask Sex/marital status Instead of: Ask:
Are you married?
When do you plan to start a family?
Do you have children?
Ask:
Are you available to travel frequently?
Can you work overtime during peak times?
Can you work evenings and weekends?
Law: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Pregnancy Discrimination Act (which is an amendment of Title VII), state laws on discrimination based on marital status
Sex: I recently heard about a situation in which a supervisor over an area in which the employees were predominantly female was asking all the male candidates “How comfortable are you working in an office full of women?”….don’t ask this. However, it’s important to ask yourself, what information are you looking for? As we’ve seen so far, there are ways to still get the information you are looking for without asking risky questions. Instead, the supervisor could have been asking the candidate to talk about a time in which he ran into different communication styles within the office. This is a gender-neutral question that could be asked of all candidates that still gets to the heart of what this supervisor was probably looking for.
Married/Children: Again, this can see like harmless “making conversation” talk, but these topics should be avoided
Frequent travel/OT: Questions like this can be asked as they are gender neutral and have to do with the individual’s ability to meet job expectations.
Overall, assumptions about traditional family roles can adversely impact women’s employment opportunities. It is best to avoid family related questions for both sexes.

20. What to ask and not ask National Origin/Citizenship Instead of:
Are you a citizen of the US?
What country are you from?
Where is your accent from?
What nationality is your last name?
When does your visa expire?
May Ask:
If you are hired, are you able to provide documentation to prove that you are eligible to work in the US?
Laws: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and IRCA
Country of Origin/Accent: For the same reason as age, these questions are best avoided.
IRCA prohibits discrimination based on the anticipation that a worker’s eligibility will have to be re-verified after a visa expires.
Documentation: An applicant is only required documentation to prove that he or she is eligible to work in the US. This is what you can ask, however ultimately this will be obtained through the normal hiring process.

21. What to ask and not ask Military Appearance Instead of: Ask:
Please provide the status of your military discharge.
Will you miss work to perform military service?
Ask:
What experience did you gain in the uniformed service that is relevant to the job you would be doing?
Appearance
Guidelines:
Managers need to be aware of religious and cultural variations on appearances.
Laws: USERRA, ADA
Military discharge status: may contain information about disability discharges, running into potential liability.
Miss work: Same as any other protected leave, you wouldn’t want to ask about this during an interview.
What experience: This is not only a safe question, but might give the candidate an opportunity to further demonstrate that he or she is qualified for the position.
Dress: You can mention (perhaps in the phone interview when talking about UT Tyler and your department) the grooming and dress requirements for your department (if applicable) such as business casual etc., but you need to be prepared to make accommodation if a worker’s religion requires specific clothes or hairstyle. If you do have specific guidelines here, communicate them and ask if the applicant can abide by these. You wouldn’t want to specifically ask anything related to religion or culture but you would want to give him or her the opportunity to communicate if the uniform guidelines are going to be an issue. If this comes up, feel free to reach out to us. We are happy to partner with you if this comes up as it can be rather tricky.

22. Questions?

23. Additional Training: Skillport
Essentials of Interviewing and Hiring: Conducting an Effective Interview
covers how to open an interview well, what types of questions to ask, and how to close the interview
OURSES/hr_06_a03_bs_enus
Essentials of Interviewing and Hiring: Behavioral Interview Techniques
describes the characteristics, question development and delivery for behavioral interviewing
OURSES/hr_06_a04_bs_enus
If you would like more training on interviewing, here are some courses out on Skillport.

24. Thank you!
Change the date above