Leadership Selection Process-Questions to Consider
In prepping for this process, here are some questions that we will definitely consider for next time.
What are the critical components of the position?
For our most recent position, we identified the following competencies: developing relationships, leading professional development, analyzing data, delivering feedback to a teacher, working with struggling students, and problem-solving in response to a difficult situation. Identifying the important aspects of the position is the most critical part in shifting your interview process. This allows the interview team to deeply understand what is valued and conveys to the candidate what is valuable to the organization within this role.
What authentic experiences can you create?
We then developed a model of authentic experiences that created an opportunity for the interviewer and candidates to dive deeply into each area. See the chart below for a brief description of how we did this. This helps understand the depth of experience of the candidate. Each activity has a direct connection to either a task or responsibility that a person in the position would be faced with or asked to do. This first time around we didn’t totally nail it…but we learned a lot from the process and have some ideas for making it better next time.
Who is on the committee?
Trust in your committee is super important. As the hiring manager, you won’t have the opportunity to see each candidate in each area, so your job is to get the right people in each room to evaluate the candidate in that competency area. You must trust their experience, insight, reflection, and expertise. Ultimately, you will be relying on this group to help you make a very important decision. The cool thing is that they now have a vested interest in the success of this candidate! We had an awesome reflective team for this round. It was balanced across different job responsibilities and roles. They were thoughtful, critically reflective, honest, and willing to take a risk with the process.
What has to be communicated in advance to the candidates and to the interviewers?
At least a few days prior to the day, an email with documents detailing any pre-work (such as developing a plan or a data-set) must be sent to each candidate. This really helps the candidate to prepare for the process and establish a mindset for the day. As I'm writing, I see how critical this is to the process. Don't we want candidates to be prepared and ready for the day?
What kind of feedback can we give to the candidates during the interviews?
Wait...we're going to give feedback to the candidates during an interview? That's what we did! We believe that the growth mindset is critical to our organization and receiving feedback is important. We wanted our candidates to be able grow as a result. We also wanted them to reflect. So, in some of the rooms, we asked them to reflect and then provided them with specific feedback.
What is going to be communicated after the interviews?
Again, we believe that feedback is critical. So, after the interviews we are synthesizing the feedback across all areas from members of the team and sending it to the candidates. Additionally, we are soliciting feedback from them about the process so we can make the experience better for them.
What are the critical components of the position?
For our most recent position, we identified the following competencies: developing relationships, leading professional development, analyzing data, delivering feedback to a teacher, working with struggling students, and problem-solving in response to a difficult situation. Identifying the important aspects of the position is the most critical part in shifting your interview process. This allows the interview team to deeply understand what is valued and conveys to the candidate what is valuable to the organization within this role.
What authentic experiences can you create?
We then developed a model of authentic experiences that created an opportunity for the interviewer and candidates to dive deeply into each area. See the chart below for a brief description of how we did this. This helps understand the depth of experience of the candidate. Each activity has a direct connection to either a task or responsibility that a person in the position would be faced with or asked to do. This first time around we didn’t totally nail it…but we learned a lot from the process and have some ideas for making it better next time.
Who is on the committee?
Trust in your committee is super important. As the hiring manager, you won’t have the opportunity to see each candidate in each area, so your job is to get the right people in each room to evaluate the candidate in that competency area. You must trust their experience, insight, reflection, and expertise. Ultimately, you will be relying on this group to help you make a very important decision. The cool thing is that they now have a vested interest in the success of this candidate! We had an awesome reflective team for this round. It was balanced across different job responsibilities and roles. They were thoughtful, critically reflective, honest, and willing to take a risk with the process.
What has to be communicated in advance to the candidates and to the interviewers?
At least a few days prior to the day, an email with documents detailing any pre-work (such as developing a plan or a data-set) must be sent to each candidate. This really helps the candidate to prepare for the process and establish a mindset for the day. As I'm writing, I see how critical this is to the process. Don't we want candidates to be prepared and ready for the day?
What kind of feedback can we give to the candidates during the interviews?
Wait...we're going to give feedback to the candidates during an interview? That's what we did! We believe that the growth mindset is critical to our organization and receiving feedback is important. We wanted our candidates to be able grow as a result. We also wanted them to reflect. So, in some of the rooms, we asked them to reflect and then provided them with specific feedback.
What is going to be communicated after the interviews?
Again, we believe that feedback is critical. So, after the interviews we are synthesizing the feedback across all areas from members of the team and sending it to the candidates. Additionally, we are soliciting feedback from them about the process so we can make the experience better for them.