Interviewing

The ECC Specialist assigned to a hiring department evaluates each applicant's education, experience, and skills in relation to valid job requirements and the minimum State recruitment standards. Applications meeting these requirements are referred to the hiring department.

Departments may interview only candidates whose applications are referred by the Office of Human Resources. Upon request, the ECC Specialist assigned to a hiring department may provide advice and training on structured job-related interviewing.

The hiring department determines which applicants are the best qualified among those referred and then contacts those candidates directly to schedule an interview. Interviews may take place by telephone or in person. All layoff re-employment priority referral applicants must be interviewed for the vacant position if referred (see Layoff).

All contacts with applicants should ensure fair and impartial treatment by using only job-related criteria. The "Guidelines for an Effective, Legal Job Interview" should be followed when interviewing applicants.

Hiring supervisors with questions about appropriate interviewing should contact the ECC Specialist assigned to their department.

Summaries of all interviews must be maintained by the department for two years.

• Prepare carefully for the interview (no interruptions during the interview, schedule adequate time, study the job description, prepare written interview questions in advance)
• Provide the applicant with a current work plan and organizational chart (the copy of the work plan must not contain any personal information for a current or previous employee)
• Review with the applicant the job duties, hours, shift, deadlines, any planned program/organizational changes.
• Provide the applicant with information about the University.
• Ask the applicant only job-related questions.
• Ask the same questions of each applicant so that each interviewed applicant receives equal treatment.
• Ask questions that require the applicant to describe his or her knowledge, experience, and training as related to the job opening (avoid questions that produce "yes" or "no" answers).
• Let the applicant do most of the talking.
• Check for inconsistencies in interview answers and application information.
• Document the applicant's answers during or immediately after the interview.
• Allow time during the interview for applicants to ask questions about the job, the work unit and the University.
• Confirm names, addresses and phone numbers with the applicant for obtaining reference information.
• Evaluate the applicant immediately after (not during) an interview and evaluate based on objective, job-related reasons.

It is a violation of University policy to ask job interview questions related to race, color, sex, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, or veteran's status.

In regard to an applicant with an obvious disability, an applicant who voluntarily discloses a hidden disability, or an applicant who expresses the need for reasonable accommodation, it is permissible to discuss the accommodation that may be needed and how the disabled applicant would perform the essential functions of the job. Other considerations regarding disabled applicants are:

1. It is unlawful to use any standard, requirement, qualification or other selection instrument that, on the basis of a disability, eliminates a disabled applicant from employment consideration.
2. It is unlawful to reject a disabled applicant who otherwise is the best qualified.
3. It is unlawful to reject a disabled applicant because he or she cannot perform a marginal job function.
4. It is unlawful to reject an applicant or discriminate against an employee because of a known disability of an associate or relative of that applicant or employee.
5. The law requires that any medical information about a disabled employee be retained in a confidential file physically separated from that employee's Personnel File.
6. The federal regulations define "essential functions" with such considerations of the following:
   1. the reason the position exists is to perform that function;
   2. the limited number of employees in the work unit among whom the performance of that function can be distributed;
   3. specialized knowledge and skills required to perform the function;
   4. the amount of time spent performing the function;
   5. duties actually carried out by past incumbents in the position; and
   6. the consequences of not performing the function.

Pre-employment tests (written, oral, physical, or skills) may be administered by the hiring department with prior approval from the Compensation & Staffing Programs Department.

Pre-employment test procedures and results must be retained by the hiring department for two years.

The Compensation & Staffing Programs Department provides clerical skills testing (typing and spelling) on-site through the Employment Security Commission. The clerical skills typing test is administered on personal computers. Both internal and external candidates must be tested according to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) testing guidelines. Test results are provided to the hiring department.

A Performance Test is a selection procedure that involves producing a sample of the position's work product or sampling a specific skill necessary for successful performance of the open position under the following guidelines:

1. The hiring department may conduct a performance test when it has the equipment or facilities used by the position.
2. The performance test should closely approximate an observable work procedure or produce a sample work product.
3. The manner and setting of the performance test and its level and complexity must closely approximate the actual work situation.
4. The conditions under which the performance test is administered must be maintained on a standard basis from candidate to candidate.

The hiring department:

1. Assures that the candidate is properly licensed where applicable.
2. Ensures that necessary safety precautions are taken.
3. Confines the performance test to a work sample so that it is not used to offset the unit's work load or production goals.
4. Provides for retesting where justified.
5. Documents and maintains each performance test evaluation for two years from the test date.