BENEFITS FOR ALL
Essentially, the speed interview consists
of mini interviews by five different inter-viewers
during a set time frame of eight
minutes each. Designed to augment the
traditional process, candidates are asked
questions that garner the best insight into
their skills.
“We asked questions to assess organiza-tional
skills, customer relationship skills,
problem solving and critical thinking and
working within a team,” said McKay. “We
did ask a few thought-provoking questions
to assess the candidates’ ability to think on
their feet. All of this was part of reaching
our goal to find the best qualified candi-dates
for our openings.”
SEP’s company culture is fast paced
and innovative. Because of this, the speed
were a ‘fit’ for the role, company and our
culture.”
At the conclusion of the speed inter-view,
the interviewers individually ranked
the candidates based on their respons-es
and SEP’s desired answers. Candidates
were evaluated one by one and given a
ranking. Interviewers must defend why
they ranked the candidate as they did.
“Surprisingly, each person ranked the
same top candidates,” said McKay. “We
then invited the top candidates back to
our office a few days later to meet with a
senior person on the team and the depart-ment
head in a more traditional interview
format.”
Feedback from interviewees on the
speed interview process has been very pos-itive.
For some, this was their first chance
to interview and, for others, they like that
they were not on the spot for a 45-minute
meeting with one person, but could share
their experience with a number of inter-viewers
in the same amount of time.
“WE ALSO WANTED
OUR COLLABORATIVE
TEAM ENVIRONMENT
TO SHINE THROUGH
AND ENSURE THE
CANDIDATES WERE
A ‘FIT’ FOR THE ROLE,
COMPANY AND
OUR CULTURE.”
– ALLISON MCKAY, DIRECTOR
OF HUMAN RESOURCES,
SEARCH ENGINE PEOPLE
innovation
interview process encompasses these two
facets.
“In addition, we have a very strong col-laborative
team culture and having more
people involved in the process and deci-sion-
making supports this,” said McKay.
The benefits to the company from this
new hiring process have been swift and
immediate with efficiency topping the list.
“We are able to interview more can-didates
in the same amount of time and
gain other perspectives,” said McKay. “We
could determine which candidates could
prioritize, had critical thinking skills and
were able to adapt on the fly. We also want-ed
our collaborative team environment to
shine through and ensure the candidates
HRPATODAY.CA ❚ MAY/JUNE 2014 ❚ 57