job interview assistance

December 3, 2006 10:21 AM

I have a job interview tomorrow. The position is a supervisor in a public service government job. I know that they will ask me about my experience hiring new employees, of which I have none. Does anyone have any advice on how I can convince them that I am capable of hiring people although I have never actually done it? What would be a smart thing to say if the topic should come up?
posted by foxinthesnow to Work & Money (4 answers total)

There are plenty of non-work situations which you can use to demonstrate the same skill set. Basically you just need to show that you can meet people and assess their abilities quickly and accurately, to meet the needs of the organization. Some of these may feel like a stretch, but here's what I came up with:

-Assisting with hiring process at past job (reviewing resumes, pre-interview sessions, sorting through applications). Even if you did not have an input about which candidate was selected, it shows you are familiar with the process.

-Recruiting/selecting team members for a sports team (Bobo is on defense because he's a fucking truck)

-Recruiting volunteers for an event and assigning them particular tasks (painting the community center - Fred's on roller duty because he's tall, Judy's on trim because she's detail oriented)
posted by SassHat at 10:51 AM on December 3, 2006

Here's a simple straightforward hiring/interviewing method that you might be able to use. The title is a bit hokey, but the method seems sound.
posted by LeisureGuy at 11:24 AM on December 3, 2006

as SassHat says, there are a number of comparable tasks you may have done. in many of these you don't choose the basic group of people, but you may have been responsible for intelligently reorganizing them. have you ever:

*chosen roommates (say, off cragislist?) screening applicants and creating a good household is pretty analagous.
*been a camp counsellor or run a kids' group? maybe you had to sometimes help the kids arrange themselves into smaller teams to do certain activities?
*helped plan a large party or wedding where you delegated responsiblilities to the right people?
*helped cast/create a group to work together on a play, band, choir, team, garage sale, fundraiser, book club, road trip, etc?
*been on a selection committee for anything (like grant proposals, etc)?
*created a work schedule at a job, where you effectively "hired" a certain group of staff members for a given shift?

...if you've done anything comparable to these kinds of jobs, you can probably use that experience as a touchstone to talk about what you think is important when assembing a good team of good individuals.

if all else fails, just gloss over the "no i haven't" and get right to the "i'd do it like this". maybe think about how you'd create an evaluation form to help standardize your reactions to the applicants- many companies need such paperwork to legitimize the gut instincts they actually go on.
good luck!
posted by twistofrhyme at 7:02 PM on December 3, 2006

I don't entirely agree with the responses above, chances are if you'd done such similar things you wouldn't see a problem.

In my experience I'd be comfortable with someone as being capable of this skill given a few key items:
* understanding of HR policies or government requirements - this is an easy one and every employee should get this right.
* team lead experience (esp. demonstrating that they have good interpersonal skills / can deal with conflict) - this would demonstrate their people skills
* good experience in dealing with people in a 1:1 situation (even in customer service) - they would get the right info from the interview process
* good teamWORK experience (e.g. been a part of a large team of varying skillsets or backgrounds, team worked well) - this would show they understand what is needed from a team
* Conflict resolution is important, esp. if you're new you may hire the wrong person, you need to be able to deal with it.
* I'd also ask questions to understand their general approach to getting info from people. The skill is always more than being able to identify good candidates, but to get a full picture of a person and how they might behave/work at YOUR place of work
* Describe the hiring processes and basics of what you'd look for in a resume (no gaps in employment, spellcheck, cohert, relevant, references)


Good luck!
posted by kaydo at 8:53 PM on December 3, 2006