Ace the Interview: An Insider’s Guide to Getting Hired at the University of California Office of the President

Screening candidates and requesting work samples

The goal of screening is to determine the best qualified applicants to interview. All interviewees need to meet all posted requirements. When you get a message that the job has been taken off the web, you log in to the Talent Acquisition Manager (TAM) to look for applicants who meet all the requirements that were posted. In TAM you review each candidates application, resume and cover letter.

• Use the temporary statuses (Reviewed – Yes, Reviewed – No, Reviewed – Maybe) to show how the applicants are being sorted so far.
• A Guest User username and password can be given in TAM to anyone who needs to look at job resumes but doesn’t already have access to a job posting. This allows them to look at the resumes online. Guest Users don’t need a TAM account; the person who first submits the request sets them up with access. Guest Users can only read applications and documents that have been given to them and for which they have been given a password.
• Change their status to “Not Qualified” if they don’t meet all of the requirements that were posted. “This turns their application into an inactive one, so it won’t show up on the first list of applicants.” Click on “inactive” and then press the “Refresh” button at the bottom of the screen to see applicants who haven’t applied yet.

Once the first round of screening is over, check to see if there are enough applicants to hold interviews or put the job back on the web. If there are qualified candidates who can be recalled first, you must talk to them before meeting with other candidates from the pool.

Once Interviews are scheduled, change the status of those applicants to “Selected for Interview” in TAM. For applicants who met all the posted requirements but are not interviewed, give reasons for non-selection. Please see the Hiring Managers Toolkit for more information and a list of reasons for non-selection. When the hiring process is over and the job offer is made, emails will be sent to people who were not interviewed. E-mails are not sent to interviewed candidates, so you will need to notify them separately. If an applicant backs out of an interview, doesn’t show up, or turns down an offer and their status changes to reflect this, they will be notified as soon as the new status is saved.

Work samples can be requested when you are scheduling applicants for interviews. A work sample is something that job applicants are asked to bring to the interview, like an example of their writing or editing. They are looked at by the hiring manager as examples of the kind of work the applicant can do. This review is part of the overall process of choosing who gets the job. See Requesting Work Samples for more details.

Phone screens are a good way to get more information about candidates or narrow down a large group of qualified applicants to the ones you want to meet in person. Before you start, make a list of questions and give them to all the candidates. This way, you can compare how they answer. It’s a good idea to get specific about their technical skills and experience, why they want this job and want to work for UCOP, and how much they are willing to pay. You want to determine whether the candidate is interested, qualified, available and willing to interview further. See the Hiring Managers Toolkit for information on telephone interviews and a database of interview questions.

Anyone from inside or outside your unit who knows about the job and is interested in it should be on the interview committee. Their knowledge and interest should help the interviews go well. Before the interviews, you might want to meet with the interview committee to decide how many candidates to recommend, go over the list of questions, and work out the details of the interview process, such as who will give an overview of the company and how the job fits in, who will ask which questions, etc. ). As closely as possible, you should use the same format for all interviews.

• Plan an interview place that is appropriate, comfortable, and where you won’t be interrupted.
• Make sure the interview committee knows when and where the interview is, and send a copy of each candidate’s resume.
• Tell each candidate when, where, and how to prepare for their interview. In confirmations, they should get information about where to park, how to get into the building, the interviewers’ names and titles, and how long they should plan to stay at the interview.
• Before the interview, send the candidate a copy of the job description, a list of benefits, and an organizational chart to look over. You can also include a confirmation email if you want.

Normally more than one interview is scheduled in one day as a courtesy to the committees time. One hour should be allotted for the interview, with a half-hour break between candidates to talk about their pros and cons and take a break.

Prepare questions exploring past job performance behaviors and covering all essential functions of the role. Ask all candidates the same set of questions for a fair comparison. Open-ended questions about their skills and experience can be particularly useful (i. e. Please describe a time when you looked over grant applications, how you did it, and what the outcome was. “Ask follow-up questions as needed to get clear answers about how someone did their job or behaved in the past. Talk about the questions Questions should be concise rather than long, multi-part questions that will lose the interviewee. The Hiring Managers Toolkit has a list of interview questions, “dos and don’ts,” and a guide on how to do interviews.

It’s important to make sure that all of the questions are legal, related to the job, the same for all candidates, and get the person being interviewed to talk about their background. (.

An interview is a chance to find out about a job applicant’s experience and skills and to make sure they understand what the job entails. Welcome the candidate, introduce the committee members, and give them an overview of the company and the interview process you will be using. Clarify information on the application/resume and ask them to summarize their background. Then ask the questions on their skills, knowledge and experience. Ideally, the candidate should talk at least 80% of the time. One good idea is to wait a moment after they answer so they can add something if they want to. Ask the candidates if they have any questions, and ask their permission to contact references. Close the interview by thanking them and giving them a general idea of the timeframe for a decision. See Hiring Managers Toolkitt for more tips.

Following each interview, provide time for each member of the Committee to rate the candidate on the requirements. There are tools in the Hiring Managers Toolkit to help you organize your feedback. Then discuss the interviewees strengths and weaknesses relative to the requirements for the position as a committee. If you don’t have time to talk after each interview, set up a time to meet after the last one to talk about each candidate, rank them, and choose who to recommend as the best candidate(s).

VICE PRESIDENT Interview Questions & Answers! (VP Interview TIPS!)