Interviews

An Applicant Summary Form and a Programme Summary will be sent to the Chair and panel members, normally 2 days prior to the interview date (contact your Recruitment Administrator if these have not been received by then).

The Chair should ensure that panel members are familiar with the University’s Code of Practice on Staff Recruitment and Selection. A copy of this Code will be provided to the Chair of the panel with the applications/cvs.

(See Section 6: Shortlisting for advice regarding interview format and questions).

Assess each candidate against, and only against, the published selection criteria and consider the results of any exercises.  You may wish to use the Interview Scoring Grid for this purpose.

Use the Interview Analysis form to record your decisions.

Decide on the preferred candidate, and on any reserved candidate(s).

Note – A decision not to appoint an applicant can be challenged under discrimination law at an employment tribunal.  It is recommended that a record is kept of interviews, along with the interviewers’ scoring/assessment of each applicant against the pre-determined criteria for six months after the date of the interview.

Equality and Diversity Guidelines

When questions are asked at interview they should relate to the requirements of the job and be presented objectively.  For example, interviewers should:
• take care not to discuss issues such as unsocial hours or mobility in different ways with men and women based on the assumption that women have child-care responsibilities;
• avoid questions about child-care arrangements, in particular when interviewing female candidates, as they may be interpreted as direct sex discrimination
• be aware of the risk of subjective biases and stereotyping affecting the interviewer’s judgements.

Further guidance can be found in the Equality and Diversity section.