So, can you tell me why you want this job?

 

We are interviewing for a new Impact and Research Coordinator at The Centre for Emotional Health this week. Those of us in the office have done our best to help relax candidates as they arrive early to avoid the infamous Oxford traffic and await their interviews. We have also been sharing our previous interview experiences with each other, both good and bad. I remember arriving for one interview a whole day early! I’m sure it was them who got the date wrong and not me and I got the job anyway even if I did leave three months later!

Every single time a new person joins a team the team changes as that person brings their unique skills, gifts and presence with them and as the existing team responds and adapts accordingly. Every single role in an organisation is significant and it is important to appoint the right person for the role and for the team.

It got me reflecting on the whole interview process. As a student, then as a teacher, I was always an advocate of continual assessment rather than an entire two year qualification being dependent on an exam at the end which is more a reflection of memory ability than skills or knowledge learned. I wonder why then an interview seems to be all about the amount the candidate can remember from previous roles, or from their research on the organisation they are applying for.

I have read a number of posts and articles online recently where people have decided to conduct interviews differently by giving candidates the list of questions beforehand so that they can prepare adequately. I want to see someone at their best so surely giving them every opportunity to show that is important. This is especially so for someone who is neurodiverse for whom the stress of fitting into a traditional interview might simply be too much to show their best. I understand the need to see how someone performs under pressure or their ability to speak from their heart but I suspect this depends on the particular context of both the role and organisation they are applying for.

I guess where I am landing for now is that we might need to be more flexible in how we conduct interviews depending on the context. Perhaps there are some guiding principles around showing empathy (a cornerstone of The Nurturing Programme and our work at The Centre for Emotional Health) and enabling everybody to show themselves at their best in relation to the person specification for the job. After all, isn’t that what we want for all our employees, and indeed for ourselves – to be the best we can be in our roles and as a person in the teams, organisations and communities we find ourselves.



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