An article in Third Sector entitled
'Unstructured interviews are a bad way to recruit' by Gill Taylor got
me thinking yesterday. Gill is right, going on your gut instinct
alone when recruiting could result in you employing the best blagger
rather then the best candidate for the job. The problem with
interviews is that they are an unnatural environment - stressful for
the candidate who will probably be very nervous and on best behaviour giving answers that
will impress the panel. The panel in amongst scoring the candidates
experience will be thinking, is this person a good fit for us? Will
their personality work with our team? That is where gut instinct
comes in, can take over and get it wrong!
To give yourself the best chance of
hiring the best candidate for the job you need to make sure you have a robust job
description that clearly sets out the role responsibilities and has a
measurable person specification. Whether you use an application form or
CV and a covering letter, drilling down into what someone has
personally achieved is key to determining if they can do the job. In the case of hiring fundraisers, a CV
that shows 'personally responsible for raising millions for x cause'
is great, but finding out what part the individual actually played in
bringing in the money is crucial as fundraising is often collaborative. Finally, whether its through face to face, a
direct mail pack, a corporate pitch or a trust application
fundraisers need to inspire. Inspiration and passion for a cause are
not an easy things to measure but a presentation and a well thought
out work exercise could help make it more visible. Put all the above together and you'll certainly make it easier to find 'The One'.
