 Sections
 Syndication |
|
|
|
|
Interviewing Potential Team Members
Interviewing Potential Team Members
Remember your first big interview? You shined your shoes,
made certain your hair was just right, brushed your teeth, and had a breath mint
just in case. Your goal was to get the job, so you did your homework: you
researched the company, investigated the position, made certain your resume and
references were up-to-date, and then gave it your best shot.
Guess what? As a project manager, you may find yourself conducting
interviews to woo internal employees onto your project team. You’re mission will
be twofold: impressing the candidates while at the same time learning about them
to see if they are the right fit for your project team.
Why You Need
Interviews
If you are one of the lucky project managers and you get to
handpick your project team, you’ll need to interview potential project team
members. You, or you and the project sponsor, may discuss which employees should
be placed on the project and why. The type of work to be completed will serve as
your primary guide for the talent needed on the project. You may also need to
look for other attributes such as aptitude, track record, and current
workload.
An interview will help you ascertain each prospect’s level of
ability before you invite that person onto the project. Or, in the instance the
individual has been assigned to the project, an interview helps you learn about
her abilities and how they may contribute to the project.
Interviews for IT projects can be completed formally, with resume,
or informally conducted over lunch or coffee. Regardless of how the interview is
completed, you’ll need to learn if the prospective team member will be able to
complete the type of work you have in mind. This means, of course, that you’re
looking for a specific type of worker based on your planning.
An interview, even if it’s a simple, informal meeting, allows
you to discuss the prospective team member’s abilities and how they can help on
the project, and it gives you an insight into the person’s goals, ambitions, and
outlook regarding work. Interviews allow project managers to learn about the
team members, their assets for the project, and how much of a learning curve may
be required if the interviewee is to join the team.
How to
Interview
Your goal when interviewing potential team members (or team
members who have been assigned to your project) is to determine what their role
in the implementation may be. Any project is only as good as the people
completing the work. Your team will be a direct reflection on your own
abilities, so this task is one of the most important you’ll have on the entire
project.
When interviewing potential team members, you’ll need a job
description for each open team position. A job description is needed for two
reasons:
A job description is more than a title for a role on the team. A
job description details the activities of the role, the scope of the position,
the responsibilities, and the working requirements of the team member. A job
description should be clear, concise, and easily summarized. For example, here
is a job description for the role of a team member responsible for creating
logon scripts: Logon script creator—This team member will be responsible for the
creation, testing, and implementation of logon scripts for several thousand
users. The logon script creator will be responsible for following the logon
guidelines as assigned by management, updating current logon script procedures,
and documenting the various logon scripts created.
You will also need selection criteria to determine which prospect
is the best fit for the team role. The selection criteria will stem from the job
description, as it should be a set of requirements that, if met, indicates the
individual would be able to wholly complete the tasks of the job description.
Selection criteria can include
-
Education
-
Knowledge on the tasks
-
Experience with the tasks
-
Skill sets applicable to the tasks
-
Accomplishments within the company
-
Other essential qualities such as aptitude, leadership, and
the ability to work with others
Many project managers balk at completing interviews. Don’t. They
are not difficult if you’ve prepared. Interviews can help you properly assign
tasks to team members during resource assignment and scheduling. To prepare for
an interview, develop good questions. When interviewing, there are several
question types that you should know and use:
-
Closed question These questions must be
answered with a yes or no. For example: “Have you ever created a batch file
before?”
-
Essay questions These questions allow the
candidate to tell you information—and they allow you to listen and observe. For
example: “Why are you interested in working on this project?”
-
Experience questions These questions focus
on the candidate’s behavior in past situations, and they allow you to see how a
candidate has acted to predict how he may act in future situations that are
similar. For example: “How did you react when a teammate did not complete a task
on a past project and you had to do his work for him to complete your own? How
was the situation resolved?”
-
Reactionary questions These questions
evolve from the candidate’s answers. When you notice a gap or an inconsistency
in an answer, use a follow-up question that focuses on the inconsistency without
directly calling it a lie. This gives the candidate the opportunity to explain
herself better or flounder for an explanation. Reactionary questions also allow
you to learn more information that may be helpful on your project. For example:
“You mentioned you had experience with Visual Basic. Do you also have a grasp on
VBScript?”
-
Questions not to ask In the United States,
it’s illegal to ask candidates questions that aren’t related to their capacity
to do a job. Basically, avoid questions that center on child care, marital
status, religion, racial background, or physical disability. Use common sense,
and this area of the interview should not be a problem.
Interviews are a great tool for learning about your potential
team members. They are also an opportunity for potential team members to learn
about you. Invite the candidate to ask you questions about your role on the
project and the importance of the project. When conducting an interview, allow
the candidate to do most of the talking so you can do most of the
listening.
230 times read
|
|
|
|
|
|
