Interviews and assessments

Think about how we can make the interview process as smooth as possible and get the best out of our candidates.

Diverse panels

Ensure that interview panels include a diverse group of employees wherever possible. For applicants, seeing a diverse panel helps them feel more at ease and give their best, compared to a panel with more diversity.  The same panel should also carry out the shortlisting.

The recruiting manager should also consider reasonable adjustments to the interview process to ensure that disabled applicants are not disadvantaged.

Reasonable adjustments

Check whether the interviewee needs any reasonable adjustments, then remember to make them and communicate them to the candidate, ahead of time.

Online interviews

Include more time in interviews for screen freezing and any technical issues that might come up. Make sure you make any reasonable adjustments online too.

Advance notice

It can also be helpful to give candidates notice of the questions in advance. This is particularly valuable to those with neurodiverse needs, who may have all the skills you are looking for but struggle to articulate this in the pressure of an interview situation.

Provide information about what the interview format will be, how it works and what the candidate can expect from us as well as what we’ll be looking for them to do.

Reiterate this at the start of the interview.