Preparing for an Interview

Shortlisting

You can see the university staff guidance for shortlisting to get a better understanding of the overall process.

For students, this process is fairly similar, but you may want to consider:

• Putting any staff involved through the unconscious bias training
• (if time permits) ask Unitemps to remove names or any identifying information
• (if short on time) saving candidates into numbered files, and referring to them only by their number, try not to look at names
• Double read- always have multiple people reading the same application and marking the same candidate to help mitigate against unconscious bias
  • This is particularly helpful if you can have someone who is not directly involved in the project work, but has an understanding of what you're looking for

  • Meet before assessing any CVs, to discuss selection criteria, including what skills may look like, discuss scoring, and think about how the candidate embodies your values as well as meeting the criteria.

• Keep a track of the general things that students didn't do well
  • Ask Unitemps to feed this back to the unsuccessful candidates
  • This prevents students not knowing how to improve, but saves having to do individualised feedback
• Think about the areas of the job description that you feel are least covered by all of the applicants, and pull together the questions you think will be good to ask in the interview

Interview set up

• Location: always try to offer either in-person, online or video interviews
  
  • If there is a requirement for in person, consider if you can provide expenses for things such as bus travel
  • If you can do online, not all students may have access to a laptop, but could borrow one through the IDGs student laptop loans
  • As a last resort, you could offer applicants to send in a video submission
• Timings: unitemps can often handle offering the timeslots to the students, but if this is being handled by your team, consider allowing flexibility for choosing their time slot:
  
  • Doodle 1:1 is a useful tool for people to book slots, so that they can choose a time that works best for them
  • If a candidate cannot make any of the slots, try to offer some flexibility
• Activity: Always try to give students something that they can prepare beforehand (see our Interview section for guidance on what this could be), consider what skills you would like to see that haven't been showcased in the CVs and Cover letters

  • By allowing them to present on something they are comfortable with/have had time to prepare they are more likely to showcase their own strengths without you needing to ask too many questions.

• Length: Consider the length of your interview, if you are running an assessment centre or anything longer, ensure there is at least a one-hour slot where students are not in 'interview-like' conditions (e,g, lunch, but interviewers are in the room).

  • Some students may need to walk around or take frequent breaks, but may feel uncomfortable asking for them. Including breaks throughout the interview process can allow for this

  • (where applicable) It might also help to give a small tour, as part of the interview day, of where they are most likely to sit or be working

The lead (often referred to as the Chair) should act as an inclusion representative-> their role is to act as a 'devil's advocate' and challenge group thinking during the evaluation process.

Invitation to interview

Timings: Give a minimum of 1 week's notice to attend and prepare for an interview

• Always allow approximately 15-20 minutes between interviews to allow for appropraite scoring, and to account for any potential run over due to techincal issues

Layout: Explain how the flow of the interview will work, along with approximate timings of each

Share the questions:

• Explain how the interview will be laid out and when/how you will be asking questions
• Either in the initial invite, or when confirming the booking (unitemps may be able to include this) include a copy of the interview questions you will be asking
  • If you're unsure, then try to let them know about the general theme
• Include where you would expect this to be covered

Resources: When sharing the invite, consider including

• Guidance or signposting to resources on how to approach an interview
• Frameworks used for answering interview questions (especially if there is an expectation for certain approaches due to your area)
• You can see some other resources in our setting up the Advert section

Who will be in the room: if you were unable to share as part of the job advert, then please dhare who will be in the interview- including job titles and relation to the project/interview.

• If possible, you could share pronunciation guides through name badges, always include pronouns!
• Some students may feel intimidated or concerned about being interviewed by (or working with) someone with whom they overlap in their studies (personal tutor, professor, someone responsible for awarding them marks)
• If they may be working with someone directly responsible for their grades, address what boundaries/safeguards will be put in place

Accessibility and access needs: whilst some students may have included this in their application, offer them a second chance to arrange to meet their needs

• Ask for preferred pronouns and, if possible, a guide to pronunciation of their names

Responses: Be explicit in how you expect them to indicate they are interested in the role or are able to come to the interview, when you expect to hear back from them and how you expect to hear back from them.