Team members involvement in interview process

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Kenickie
Kenneth Attenborough
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Team members involvement in interview process

Post by Kenickie »

What's your experience/ opinion of having team members involved in recruitment for a new colleague? I.e. shortlisting or being on the interview panel.

Context: it's for a maternity cover, all three of my current team (ie the pregnant woman and the two others) are on the same grade (which is fine by our HR rules as you have to be the same grade or higher to be on the panel), and all academics. We'd need to have us plus at least one other man though as we're not allowed all female panels. :ella:

It seems like it would be nice for them to feel like they have a say, but I'm not sure if it would backfire if people think they weren't listened to, or have a different preference that the person that gets appointed?

I've only been involved myself when it was for an admin person of a lower grade, but I would have liked to have been asked to help recruit my maternity cover. That doesn't necessarily make it a good idea though!
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purple_dress
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Re: Team members involvement in interview process

Post by purple_dress »

I've been on a lot of panels (and sifted), never being the most senior person involved. We have to score against a matrix (that we set in advance according to the JD) for the application form and the interview. We sift individually but for the interview we tend to make our own notes and then score together in discussion so that we reach a consensus. Generally, the line manager of the role/the most senior person has the final say if there's any disagreement on how we score but that rarely happens.

Recruitment is so much hassle that we don't usually have team members clamouring to do it, so there's never an issue about who to pick. It's sort of expected that everyone does some through - both to contribute to the process and as professional development.
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Marth
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Re: Team members involvement in interview process

Post by Marth »

I don't know that I would want the colleagues I would work with (not under) knowing my personal details, last salary and interviewing me tbh.
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Ella77
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Re: Team members involvement in interview process

Post by Ella77 »

I think it makes for an unwieldy process and can lead to bad feeling if too many people are involved. Where I am, they’re bringing in steps to ensure (where possible) that women are allowed some input on their maternity cover, but beyond that I think it should be down to the hiring manager.

I’ve seen too many people get through 4 or 5 rounds of interviews only to be “vetoed” at the last minute by somebody they’d have been working alongside, often for a piss-poor reason. There’s no harm in colleagues helping to shortlist CVs, but beyond that it can get ridiculous.

Re Marth’s point, I wouldn’t discuss salary when interviewing somebody though.
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Marth
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Re: Team members involvement in interview process

Post by Marth »

Salaries are often on our application forms. That's current and previous salaries, along with reasons for leaving etc. Those are seen at shortlisting and are not filtered off.
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Ella77
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Re: Team members involvement in interview process

Post by Ella77 »

Yikes.
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purple_dress
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Re: Team members involvement in interview process

Post by purple_dress »

We don't see salaries and my work makes everyone start at the bottom of the pay band anyway.

We do see reason for leaving but people rarely put anything interesting.
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Livilla
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Re: Team members involvement in interview process

Post by Livilla »

My new role involved 4 interviews (plus a written test and psychometric assessment :overkill:), one of which involved the person I would be replacing. They are leaving permanently, it’s not a mat leave situation. I thought it was nuts.

Mat leave I am less bothered by having the incumbent involved. Other team members though? Not keen.
Elya
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Re: Team members involvement in interview process

Post by Elya »

When I moved roles (internally) recently, I thought it was a bit odd not to even ask my view on the replacement - still, maybe they all thought I was shit and were glad to see me go! All the team I joined got to comment on my application - but only three of them interviewed me.

I’d be happy with colleagues in the interview - maybe more importantly if it’s not a temp cover - they all need to work together and horrendous dynamics between team members might be avoided! Also, as a team member, I’d appreciate being asked for my input.
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Kenickie
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Re: Team members involvement in interview process

Post by Kenickie »

Thanks, definitely some extra stuff to consider! It's just a one interview process with standard scoring as PD describes.
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Pippedydeadeye
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Re: Team members involvement in interview process

Post by Pippedydeadeye »

I’d get one to administer/score a test (we always have a test, I usually try to get a clinician to do it) & have another do a tour for informal feedback, and the one being replaced sit on the panel.
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Re: Team members involvement in interview process

Post by Estrella »

I was on the panel for my maternity leave both times. And fit my most recent role, the person I was replacing was on the panel. I genuinely thought it was standard practice so am surprised by the responses on this thread.
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purple_dress
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Re: Team members involvement in interview process

Post by purple_dress »

I was on the panel for my own maternity cover and that of my job share partner.
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Re: Team members involvement in interview process

Post by Ella77 »

It was specifically requested by our Return To Work committee. I think it makes sense.
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Re: Team members involvement in interview process

Post by Morganna »

It was standard at my old place for candidates to give a presentation to potential colleagues (any grade) of academic staff and answer questions. This applied to mat leave and appointments from lecturer grade to Dean.

The actual interview with personal details etc would be with HR and grades at least 2 above the candidate, and the amount of notice taken of the opinions of staff would be greater the more junior or temporary they were, I think.

It worked quite well, as people need an audience to give a presentation, and saved time, as the presentations happened at the same time as the interviews (ie one person was presenting as another was being interviewed). HR and the interview panel only saw the forms and scores from the presentations, but if all else was equal for Equal Opps purposes they were a useful measure of how well someone was likely to fit in.
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