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Illinois School Board Journal
November/December 2003

Better retention begins with good interviewing

by Jennifer Bialobok, Tom Bill and Dennis Kelly

Jennifer Bialobok is community relations coordinator, Tom Bill is personnel director and Dennis Kelly is superintendent for Lyons Township High School District 204 in LaGrange, Illinois. This article is reprinted from their new Web site, www.recruitillinois.net, funded as part of a model recruitment grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

The interview plays a key role in a district's hiring process, which in turn plays a key role in attracting and keeping highly qualified staff. To improve the process, special attention must be given to the interview questions. While school board members hire just one employee themselves - the superintendent - it is important that they encourage good hiring practices in the district.

Those district personnel who conduct interviews should give careful attention and consideration to the following:

• Identify the competencies that are essential for teachers.
• Select interview questions that measure the level of competency in these areas. This will provide a variety of questions for the candidates.
• Determine the number and types of questions to be asked in the interview, preferably enough for a minimum of a one-half hour interview.
• Interview questions should require responses that tell, explain or describe. For example a good question might be, "What do you perceive are your strengths in teaching others? Weaknesses?" A good follow-up might be, "Please provide an example that demonstrates both the strength and weakness you described."
• Interview questions also should be stated in the superlative, if possible. For example, "What is the most frustrating situation you have experienced with a student?"
• Consider non-traditional questions in order to assess the candidate's ability to think, reflect, articulate and even collaborate. Adapt these questions to reflect the district's need and culture. Consider a question such as, "If you could go out to dinner tonight with anyone, living or dead, who would you ask and what would you talk about?"
• For consistency, the same questions need to be asked of all the candidates. However, follow-up questions or questions intended to "probe" may differ from candidate to candidate.
• Authentic assessments should be an integral part of the process, such as interviewing candidates for a foreign language position in their target language. Or ask candidates to complete a writing sample on site, using a district computer.
• Give candidates the opportunity to ask questions at the conclusion of the interview. Sometimes more may be learned about candidates by the questions they ask.
• Finally, tell candidates the district's timeline for making a decision.

Remember, the interview isn't over after the last question is asked. An interview provides only one level of information about the candidate. Be sure to check references.

To gain a realistic view of a candidate, go beyond the provided references. Talk to friends of friends you can rely on and who can give you a full picture of the candidate, even if it might not be positive.

Although no interview process is completely flawless, a deliberate and careful approach to interviewing can help eliminate making a poor selection. Employee retention and longevity begin with an effective interview process. Spending extra time upfront on hiring is far more productive than spending time remediating mistakes.

Resource

For additional teacher recruitment and hiring solutions, visit the Recruit Illinois Web site at www.recruitillinois.net.