Description
As a manager or supervisor of staff you would probably be amazed if you sat down and worked out the proportion of your time spent interviewing. There is a tendency to believe that only recruitment interviews count but this is far from true. Every time an employee comes to see you about a problem or grievance, every time you have to speak to employees about their work performance or conduct, a customer rings to complain, a health and safety inspector calls, you are conducting an interview. At its simplest, it can be defined as a two-way flow of information designed to enable both interviewer and interviewee to decide on the most effective future course of action.
Partly because people do not think of an 'interview' in these terms, partly because of the widespread view that good interviewers are born not made, many managers are given little help in carrying out interviews effectively.
On the other side of the coin, there are those who do not believe they need to be given training: "I've been doing it for years you can't teach me anything new". However, an interview which is not properly planned, or where the wrong questions are asked, or even where the right questions are asked in the wrong way, can cause endless niggling problems: disciplinary matters are rarely resolved at the first informal stage; appraisal interviews always turn into battles of wits; or people who seemed to be so good at the recruitment interview turn out to be far short of perfect when they actually start work.
Interviews are not always easy: at times they may be extremely stressful, but if the interviewer has done the necessary homework there is much more chance of the interview achieving its objective. In this guide we aim to give advice and information on preparing for, conducting and following up the interview in order to be as sure as possible that any decisions resulting from it are made on the basis of the best possible information.
ISBN:0900319364
