Selection

1. Selection is a two way process between you and the applicant. Both trying to work out can they do the job and do they want to do it. Decisions should be based on information. There should be information about your Practice on the internet but often there may be information about applicants as well. Please be wise in how you find and use this information.
2. Finalise who will be assessing the applicant. Discuss and decide who will be involved in assessing before advertising so you know the availability of people when setting the assessment date.
3. Finalise the role each person is going to play as part of the process and define any questions that you are going to ask.
4. Finalise practical arrangements for the assessment giving consideration whether it will be face-to-face or remotely. Consider such things as; accessibility to the assessment space, reducing interruptions, confidentiality. It is advisable to test technology well before the assessment is due to being. This is particularly important for remote assessments. 
5. Do not appoint if you have reservations. Never ignore your gut instinct.
6. At interview be clear that you will take up to 24 hrs to make a decision.
7. Sometimes it is immediately obvious that the candidate is the right person, in which case don’t delay in telling them. Other times there is some doubt or differing opinions, in which case it is advisable to sleep on it and reconvene the interview panel the next day. This doesn’t need to be face-to-face.
8. Consider arranging a visit to the area which would include meeting key staff. It has been found that a visit to the area and meeting key staff in a more informal setting can be beneficial. Applicants get a chance to see what the job entails, where they would be working (location) and also gives an opportunity to see the wider location (area/community etc). How you do this and who you include is up to you and what you feel would work best.

Consider:

• Interviewing on a Monday and arranging opportunities for candidates to see the practice, community and surrounding area in the preceding weekend. This gives them the opportunity to consider what is likely to be a big move for them and their family.
• You may wish to consider asking members of the community to participate in describing the community/place by taking them around the area and explaining how the community works. Maybe ask a few different people to meet them at different times over the weekend to show specific things. You may decide that this involvement will not work for you and your setting - that’s okay so long as there is someone available that can paint the picture realistically about what it’s like to work and maybe live in that area/community.

This advice may be more appropriate for more remote/rural communities. Whatever your plan, it’s important that applicants have enough time to reflect on their own.

• At the start of the weekend clinician could show candidates the medical facilities then hand over to the community representatives and/or practice staff to do their bits. On the Sunday afternoon/evening the leading clinician could meet with applicants and answer any questions.  The advantage of this is that by the time candidates arrive at interview on Monday, they will have a very clear idea of the job, the location, the community and whether this is right for them. They will have had a number of opportunities to ask questions of different people and time to quietly reflect on what they have seen and experienced.  You and the community will have demonstrated your commitment to them as an individual/family.
• If you have had community/practice staff involvement during the visit, ask for feedback. This is powerful triangulation.
• The interview can then focus on assessing clinical aspects.

There are many ways to assess the suitability of a candidate and gather the evidence needed to come to a reasoned decision. It is important to be flexible and consider other means rather than a panel interview. Below are just a few of the many ways.

Values Based Recruitment (VBR)

VBR is an approach to help attract and select prospective employees whose personal values and behaviours align with your organisation's values. You can find tools to assist you in implementing Values Based Recruitment and embedding values across your employment practices.

Competency based interviews

Competency based interviews (structured interviews) are where a candidate will be asked a series of questions based on the skills required to do the job. Competency based interviews are very good at revealing the experience and character of the candidates as opposed to hypothetical answers. The applicant will be expected to give examples of when they have demonstrated these competencies/skills/practices and its helpful if the applicant uses a different example for each question. If the same example is used, ensure that it’s in response to the specific area of question that you are asking about — don’t give in, it’s okay to allow a silence (hopefully thinking time on behalf of the applicant) but if it becomes prolonged then re-phrase your question. The response that you are looking for should provide some context by describing the situation, outline what it was they were doing and why, what they did in that situation, the role that they played (their input) and what the outcome was. Here is one source of assessment questions.

An example question:

Tell us about a recent, very challenging situation where you have used your communication and interpersonal skills, such as leadership, mediation, facilitation, arbitration, to get a positive outcome.

Things you might want to listen for in the candidate’s answers:

• Can articulate an example of a very challenging situation within approx the last decade.
• The candidate has insight into the specific communication and interpersonal skills that they possess.
• Evidence that they deployed the skills in an appropriate and considered way.
• Evidence of ability to achieve win / win outcomes.

It’s also helpful as part of the interview process to ask the applicant questions based around specific/particular scenarios, that is relevant to the role. Scenario questions are designed to make the applicant think on their feet, testing their problem solving skills, logic and suitability for the role. It also assesses their ability to synthesise information and get to the heart of the problem.

The objective is not so much to get it ‘right’ - there is unlikely to be one definitive answer - but to demonstrate their ability to solve complex problems and show how they have thought through them, including an explanation of any assumptions they have made in providing an answer.

Scenario based assessment

A scenario based assessment helps to evaluate how a candidate responds to hypothetical work situations. You can undertake scenario questions in various ways:

• Give a written scenario prior to the interview, the applicant writes answers and these are then later marked against pre-determined criteria.
• Prior to the interview, the applicant receives a written scenario, writes responses and then comes into the formal interview space and as part of questions is asked how he responded to each of the scenarios.
• Scenarios are given as part of the formal interview.

By the end of the assessment you should have a clear understanding about the character and personality of the candidate as well as a reasonable idea about their clinical expertise, experience and attitude.