Building a Team: Interviewing

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-Introduce yourself.

-Ask open ended questions that covering the following aspects:

  • Behavioral - Conflict, challenges, prioritization, pride project
  • Technical - Process work flow, instructional design, instructional theories and their application

-While the interviewee grapples with the questions take additional notes on:

  • Communication skills
  • Individual dynamic and the impact it might have on your team
  • Skillset that the candidate adds to the team

-If you are a panel of interviewers, divide the questions. Allow some overlap.

-Provide an overview of the company's operation and function.

-Address the any questions that the interviewee might have. Which area do the questions fall in?

-Fill out a predefined evaluation format that covers the parameters that are important for your team.

-Debrief

Comments

Alok said…
Yeah..and onething that we should also look in a candidate is....expression of ideas and thoughts...some candidates do have lot of han hours experience....but they could not discuss even a single project properly.
3:06 AM
Aradhana said…
I think as Instructional Designer, it is important for the candidate to be able to articulate what they know simply because our work needs us to interact with different teams during various project stages.

Clear communication therefore, in my opinion becomes the key to having a smooth workflow. Unless, the ID is required to work in isolation (does that happen?)where s/he can dig into their rich experience to generate value for the project.

What do you think?
7:08 AM
Alok said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
3:06 AM
Alok said…
Yeah very true.....clear communication is the key....ID's need to interact with whole lot of offshore and onshore SMEs and if they are not able to grasp their ideas or not able to express their own...they can make a mess out of the script....Coz wat happens Aradhana..if one is not a good communicator then..he/she is not able to express his/her ideas..no matter how great it may be....and they end up accepting not so great ideas...coz they can't put up their..own.....and am dissapointed to see that..no damn elearning company is focussing on the soft skills of their IDs.......they think only the manager's job is to communicate....whereas..these guys mostly communicate only to save their asses.....Wat do u think?
3:08 AM
Aradhana said…
I agree. But I have another thought around your comment - I think many IDs in India do not have confidence in their own skills - probably because we do not really have any instructional design course to speak of or maybe because our counterparts in the West have more exposure and maturity as far as designing elearning is concerned.

In the absence of confidence and communication skills, IDs may feel safer with their Managers making decisions for them.

I think its important for us to be mindful of the parameters and contraints under which a project is operating and check if our ideas actually add value.

Once we are convinced ourselves, we need to be able to effectively communicate the idea to the team - how its implementation would enhance learners' experience, how the idea can be developed within the organization's constraints and the time required. With thorough homework done, I see no reason why our ideas would not be heard, though not necessarily accepted (a team member may build on the idea or might bring to light a constraint that one had not considered).

If one's ideas are not respected despite putting in a matured thought, its probably time to move on to an organization that would. :-)
3:41 AM
Alok said…
Ohhh Girl....you wite very well :)
Will reply to it over the weekend ..loads of work ya:(
4:19 AM
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