For those of you who have already seen the first article in this series, you’ll know that I take a structured approach to interviewing. The first article gave an overview of the process of recruiting. Here, I’ll go through suggestions for the interview itself.

Preparation

You need to refresh your memory with the details about the post and the candidate. So go back and re-read all the related paperwork. This includes the ad you placed, the person spec and the applicant’s CV. The person spec is a description of what you are looking for in an ideal candidate and was described in the first article in this series. Reviewing paperwork seems obvious, but how often have you sat in an interview where it was clear they hadn’t read your CV? What did you think of their interest in you?

Decide what questions you want to ask, which questions you will ask everybody and which will be specific to individual candidates. Also think about the order and sequencing and what info you need to give out. For this, you can see my suggestions below.

It’s usual to have two interviewers and for them to take the roles of chairperson/questioner and note-taker. Be clear about these roles before starting. To ensure fairness in decision-making all candidates for the same post should be interviewed by the same people. Consider this when setting up your interviews.

On a practical note, have a clock in the room for the eyes of the interviewer.

Structuring the interview

I like to keep things simple and to ensure all areas are covered, I tend to go for a chronological structure:

• Past: qualifications and previous jobs
• Present: current situation, opinions and judgements about current ESL issues
• Future: short, medium or long-term ambitions

Remember to create the right atmosphere from the start: put the person at ease. You won’t gain anything by stressing the person out. You can do this by:

• Holding the interviews in a quiet place and refusing interruptions
• Not keeping candidates waiting without an explanation
• Starting with a friendly introduction to the interviewers
• Outlining the interview: first we’ll talk about…then… State how long you think it will last.
• Starting with simple questions that the candidate should be able to answer easily.
• Starting by asking about the most recent job as the candidate will remember it more easily.

As the interview ends, indicate what the next step will be, eg you can expect to hear from us in xx days. Thank the candidate for coming. All candidates should leave feeling they had a fair chance to express themselves and put across their case.

Always allow time between interviews to write up notes, discuss with the fellow-interviewer and to prepare for the next interview. You’ll also need a break, interviewing is a very tiring business. I would say no more than 4 hours in one day – 2 interviews of one hour in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. If you’re tired, you’re less able to listen to the candidates and that isn’t fair to them.

After the interview

Make a note of your initial impressions of the candidate as soon as the interview ends, then consider the interview again 24 hours later. You usually see things differently after “sleeping on them”. It’s wise to keep records of reasons for offering the job (or not). This is in case of future claims of discrimination, which unfortunately do occur.

If you have decided to request references, you can now go ahead and do this. Think about how you handle this, the more effort you put into your requests, the more info you are likely to get. Think about what exactly you need to know – eg points that were not sufficiently covered in the interview or anything that was vague – then ask specific questions.

Interviewing skills

Interviews differ from everyday conversations in that they have a specific purpose. Always bear your purpose in mind: how to gain enough information to decide whether or not to hire someone in a short space of time. Remember you’ll be working with the person on a regular basis, so you want to get it right. A certain amount of control is needed to achieve this objective. If not, the interview can go on too long and too much time can be spent on irrelevant issues. You come out feeling you know nothing about your candidate which is not the best use of your time. Control doesn’t mean being authoritarian, it does mean being able to help the candidate open up and guide the interview in the direction you want to go in.

To get the candidate to talk freely, remember to ask open questions, eg “what sort of classes did you teach in xxx?” and not closed questions, eg “Did you teach xxx?”. Open questions allow the candidate to talk freely and so allow you to get more information. With closed questions, it’s very easy for the candidate to just reply yes or no. Closed questions are useful for factual information but don’t stimulate discussion. For example, “Have you got the certificate?” “What grade did you get?” “When did you do it?” Here, you don’t need detailed information so closed questions get you a quicker and shorter answer. However, do be careful as too many can sound like an interrogation!

Ask for evidence that the person has the skills or experience they claim they have. Don’t just accept the answer “Yes, of course I can do that”. It’s a good policy to probe whenever you get a vague or general answer. Examples include:

• You say you’re good at handling difficult students, can you give me an example?
• You taught a mixed-level class, how did you handle it? What went well? Is there anything that didn’t go so well? What did you learn from this?
• Tell me more about…
• You find teaching beginners easier/more difficult. In what way?

Be careful when using leading or multiple questions. Leading questions elicit the answer you want. eg “What did you like about teaching beginners?” Maybe the candidate hated it but will feel obliged to say what they enjoyed. You’d get a more truthful answer by asking “What do you think about teaching beginners?” And, truthful answers give you a better picture of the person.

Multiple questions can confuse the candidate and so they are not sure which part to answer. They tend to answer the easiest part or the last part of the question. For example: “Why did you change that way of doing it and how did you go about it and what was the reaction?” It’s useful to have all this information but break this question up into three questions.

Your ability to listen and observe will help you get a clearer image of the person in one hour. Remember the Pareto rule 80 – 20. In this case, you talk 20% of the time and listen 80% of the time.

Examples of questions you could use:

• How would you motivate a class of students?
• What do you think are your strengths/weaknesses as a teacher?

For an inexperienced teacher:

• What do you think are the strengths/weaknesses of a teacher you had in the past?
• What would you do in the first ten minutes of your first lesson with a new class?
• How do you decide whether a lesson has been successful or not?
• What course books or materials have you used in the past? Then probe by asking:
  • What did you think of them?
  • Did you supplement/adapt?
• Have you ever taught a class of different abilities? a financial English class? etc

To probe:

• How did/would you deal with this?

For an inexperienced teacher:

• Have you ever been in a class of different abilities? How did the teacher deal with this? What did you think of that way of handling it?
• What levels have you taught? Which do you like/dislike? Why?
• Have you worked with people of a different culture to your own? What did you think of this?
• How do you deal with deadlines?
• Has your teaching changed in the last X years?
• What aspects of your teaching would you prioritize for development?

Remember to ask some questions about hobbies and interests to get a fuller picture of the teacher as a person.

An alternative…

An alternative or additional way for hiring is to ask the candidate to teach a demonstration lesson that will be observed. This is an excellent way to judge their capabilities. If you choose to do this, then provide all the necessary materials – course book, teacher’s book, cassette, etc. Allow the candidate to observe the class they’ll be teaching for the demo lesson well in advance and to talk to the class teacher. Remember to brief this teacher carefully on what is expected of them and the role they are to play.

In some countries, the law can regard this as unpaid work. So check the status in your country. If this is the case and you still want to go ahead with the idea, you could pay the person for the time they spend based on the hourly rate you pay your teachers. Alternatively you can give them the materials, describe a hypothetical class (age, level…) and ask them to plan a 45 minute lesson. They can then talk you through how they would handle the lesson. This also gives you insights into a teacher’s abilities, how they structure a lesson and what issues they consider when planning.

© Lucy Pollard 2004
Lucy Pollard has worked as a teacher, teacher trainer and Director of Studies for over 15 years. Her teaching experience is very varied: adults, English for specific purposes and English for academic purposes, as well as teenagers and young children. She has worked with multi-lingual classes in the UK and in various European countries. Lucy is available for teacher training and staff training in Western Europe, and further afield. Please contact lucy@tefl.net if you are interested.

Recruitment is the process of getting the right person in the right job and so is a key to success in your school. All too often you have one hour with somebody to decide whether they’re going to fit into your school and your existing team. If you hire this person, you’re going to see them on a daily basis, you’ll be sharing in their successes and failures, and the image of your school could depend on their abilities. So you want to get it right.

Mistakes that are made can be costly and very time-consuming. If the person doesn’t fit the profile or doesn’t fit into your existing team, you might find yourself starting up the recruitment process again. On the other side of the fence, if the interviewee doesn’t get all the necessary info regarding the post and the school, they’re not in a position to make an informed decision. They can regret their decision later and leave you. Out of fairness to interviewees and to save yourself extra legwork later, you need to be clear, precise and focused. I think that an hour is a very limited time for both sides to make such major decisions and like to use the time to the full.

Before starting any recruitment process, it’s essential for you to know exactly what you’re looking for. As one very wise person said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know whether you’ve got there?” This sounds obvious but you’d be surprised by the number of recruiters who jump this essential step.

Have your goal or end point firmly in sight. For this, you’ll need to ask yourself a certain number of questions. Here are some suggestions:

• Think about where your school is heading in the near future. For example, do you want to set up young learners’ courses? Do you want to expand the range of business courses offered? You won’t be looking for the same profile, so be clear to yourself about what you want.
• If your school is likely to be expanding, do you want to hire an experienced teacher? This person could move into a post of responsibility later or have a role training and guiding less experienced teachers.
• You also need to consider areas such as organisation, paperwork, report-writing. If your school (or one of your clients) insists on extensive paperwork, then you’ll be looking for a teacher who is happy with this.
• Do you want to hire a teacher who is autonomous? If you have a lot of in-company classes the teacher will get much less moral and pedagogical support than the teacher who teaches mostly in the school.
• Do you want to hire a full-time teacher on a permanent contract? This would increase the amount of commitment on both sides. Or do you prefer to hire one or two teachers on part-time contracts or hourly-paid teachers? These two options allow for more flexibility (both for you and the new teacher) for increasing and decreasing teaching hours.
• What are the legal requirements for interviewing and recruiting in your country? I can’t explore this here as I’m writing in an international context but I will say that the legal framework is crucial. If you’re unsure about any aspect, get professional advice.

Once you know what you want, you’re almost ready to start looking. Before starting, it’s helpful to brainstorm the profile of the perfect candidate. You could consider three categories:

1. qualifications – is a university degree important for you? do you want someone who has the TEFL Cert or Diploma? Will you train the teachers yourself and so think that teaching qualifications are not necessary?
2. experience (type of teaching, number of years, countries, size of school)
3. personal qualities (adaptability, rigour, good with difficult people…)

From this wish-list, you can decide which elements are essential and which are an added advantage. This is your person specification (person spec) and will help you at every stage of the recruitment process.

Think about how you are going to check each item on your person spec. What can you check through asking for references? What will you ask the candidate in interview? How will you check certificates and diplomas? Will you ask the candidate to bring them to the interview? What will you ask the candidate on the phone before deciding whether to continue with the recruitment process? Remember that bringing someone in for an interview is very time-consuming for you and the person concerned. So get as much information as possible before inviting the candidate in.

Now you know what you are looking for, you’re ready to start. Here is my suggested procedure and one that has worked for me.

1. Place advertisement – make the school look seductive and attractive, but be truthful. Essential info includes:
   • experience, qualifications and personal qualities you are looking for in a teacher
   • info about the school: location, structure
   • info about the classes: in-company or in-school; size of classes (group, one-to-one…); type of teaching (young learners, business English…)

   You might also want to add info about possibilities for training and development and the sort of support provided.

   Questions to ask yourself about placing the ad include: where should I advertise to find the person with a corresponding profile? Internet, daily newspapers that are widely read by teachers (eg The Guardian in the UK), word of mouth, the notice board in a library used by teachers. Of course, this will also depend on your budget.

   If you choose to advertise on the Internet, the advantages are that it is instant and worldwide. You can have CVs coming in within hours. Another advantage is that you can put more detail in your ad and even link it to your website. There are thousands of job boards to choose from, some free and others not. As with anything, you get what you pay for. Paid ads have the advantage of being more credible in the eyes of teachers looking for work and so you might get a different class of applicant.

   The disadvantage of recruiting at a distance is that you might not get a chance to meet the person. This is where I think care is needed. If you can, use a local agent to help you recruit. The extra cost will be compensated for if you get the right teacher. If you can’t go for this option, you should at least do a telephone interview and follow up references.

2. Potential candidates contact you and you give further details about the post. Decide beforehand whether this information will be given orally over the phone or written and sent out on request.
3. CVs are received. Qualifications and experience are checked and suitable candidates called for interview. Think about time management at this point. Your person spec will help you wade through the CVs. You can sort CV’s into three categories: teachers you definitely want to interview, those you are unsure about and those you definitely don’t want to hire. For applicants you’re not sure about, phone and ask a few questions for clarification so as not to spend an hour with an unsuitable candidate in interview.
4. Interviews are held in a quiet place to avoid interruptions. Put the person at ease, you won’t gain anything by stressing the person out. You won’t see them at their best and they’ll reveal less. What’s more, it’s unethical. Outline the interview, first we’ll talk about…then… As the interview ends, indicate what the next step will be, eg you can expect to hear from us in xx days.For the interview you’ll need to plan your questions. Decide what you’ll ask everybody and what information you need to give out to all candidates in the interests of being fair. There will also be specific questions that you’ll ask concerning each person’s CV.It’s usual to have two interviewers for two reasons. Firstly, to cover yourself in the event of any complaints from candidates. Unfortunately, it happens and so cannot be overlooked. Secondly, one person can take notes allowing the other interviewer to give their undivided attention to the candidate. The note-taker can also ensure that the essential elements are covered. This person very often notices discrepancies in the candidate’s answers, as (s)he is not involved directly in the discussion. So allow the note-taker some time at the end to ask questions.
5. Write down your initial impressions as soon as you come out of the interview, then consider the interview again 24 hours later. Follow up references, if you’ve decided this is part of your procedure. You can then decide whether to make an offer or send a letter of regret. Your person spec will help you with decision-making.
6. Make confirmed offer (or regret). It’s wise to wait at least 24 hours before contacting the candidate. If you decide to confirm by phone have a spiel ready in case you get an ansaphone. Make it clear and short. Give – and repeat – your phone number. Don’t leave a message turning down your candidate.
7. The contract is signed and details are finalised (start date, etc).

All the above can seem very time-consuming. Especially when you’re ready to hire. I strongly believe that any time invested in finding the right person is time well spent. The more time you spend getting your hiring right, the less time you’ll spend with problems and/or departures later.

The expected outcomes of a well-thought out recruitment process are an increase in the number of suitable teachers who come to work with you and stay with you. The extra costs of a teacher not fitting in and leaving should be reduced.

Of course, some people still prefer to see hiring staff as an art and follow their feelings. By now you will have guessed that I’m in the camp of those who see recruitment as a science. I love spontaneity, but not in the interview room!

Don’t forget that recruitment doesn’t end at the interview. You might have decided to have a probationary period – or the law of the country you work in might require this – if so, how will you handle it? You also need to work at keeping your staff. Newly-recruited teachers are expected to be effective as quickly as possible, and they have their expectations of you too.

© Lucy Pollard 2004
Lucy Pollard has worked as a teacher, teacher trainer and Director of Studies for over 15 years. Her teaching experience is very varied: adults, English for specific purposes and English for academic purposes, as well as teenagers and young children. She has worked with multi-lingual classes in the UK and in various European countries. Lucy is available for teacher training and staff training in Western Europe, and further afield. Please contact lucy@tefl.net if you are interested.