Structured Panel Interviews in Quelixa

Three people, seven interviews

Lina: Monday in Singapore. Seven candidates passed the paper, and the panel has three people on it.

Kenji Sato: Seven interviews in a day. How do we keep the fourth as fair as the first?

Elena Novak: Everyone marks alone, on their own sheet, before anybody says a word.

David: That sounds simple. It rarely happens.

Lina: Which is why the system makes it the only way to do it.

Lina: This is chapter eight. A panel of three interviews the seven, each member scores on a sheet of their own, and the sheets become one interview mark.

The panel, set up once

Lina: Elena opens the interview register — the same idea as the test register, with a panel attached.

Lina: The panel is the Design Selection Panel, marking in numbers, forty-five minutes per candidate.

Lina: Friday the twenty-third, at half past nine, on video from the Singapore studio.

Lina: Marked out of a hundred, with a pass at fifty.

David: And those marks came from the post again?

Lina: Again. The interview's weight and pass mark were published on the advert in chapter three.

Lina: This time James signed the procedure off before the call, so readiness is already five of five.

What makes an interview comparable

Lina: An interview is the easiest place in hiring to fool yourself, so three things are worth insisting on.

Lina: Everyone marks alone. Three sheets, filled in before the panel talks to each other.

David: Otherwise the first person to speak sets the tone for the rest.

Lina: Every time. Second, everyone marks against the same criteria, and those come from the post — not from whatever the room feels like asking that morning.

Lina: And third, in writing. Strengths, concerns, a recommendation, for every candidate. Not just for the ones you argue about.

Called

Lina: She fetches the seven and locks the register. The invitations go out at once.

Lina: And the register now says what it is waiting for: none of three marking sheets submitted.

Seven slots, three sheets

Lina: Underneath, the day itself.

Lina: Three marking sheets — Ines, Mei and Kenji — one per panel member, each at nothing so far. And seven slots, forty-five minutes apart, starting with Sofia at half past nine.

David: One sheet each, not one sheet for the panel.

Lina: One each. That is the whole design: three people, three independent sheets.

A room, generated

Lina: It is a video interview, so Elena generates a room. The link goes onto every invitation.

Sofia's invitation

Lina: On Sofia's side, her tests and interviews page now has one more line: the interview, on Friday at half past nine, on video.

David: And the link to join?

Lina: On her application page — here is that page on Friday morning.

The link, where she needs it

Lina: At the top, her invitation: the time, the video room, and a link to add it to her calendar.

Lina: Further down, the interview card — and the button she needs.

Lina: Join the call. It opens in her browser, with nothing to install.

David: And after the interview?

Lina: The card goes. It is only there while the interview is still to come.

Mei's sheets

Lina: Friday, just after Sofia's slot. This is Mei's screen.

Lina: As a panel member she sees her own marking sheets — and the candidates only through them.

David: Not the other panel members' marks?

Lina: Not until all three are in. Otherwise the first sheet would quietly set the bar for the others.

The scoring desk

Lina: Her sheet opens as a scoring desk: one card per candidate, in the order of the day.

Lina: And the submit button stays locked until every candidate who attended has a score.

David: In the order of the day — so Sofia first.

Lina: Sofia first, at half past nine, and the rest in their slots.

Marking one candidate

Lina: Mei marks Sofia. Ninety, out of a hundred.

Lina: A recommendation, from strongly recommend down to strongly do not. She strongly recommends.

Lina: Each competency gets a rating, and a line of evidence: what did the candidate actually say or do? Technical knowledge, outstanding: she took a real checkout problem apart in ten minutes.

David: Evidence, not adjectives.

Lina: Evidence. And then in her own words: the strengths, the concern, and an overall view.

Saved, not submitted

Lina: She saves as she goes. Saved is not submitted — she can still change anything until she hands the sheet in.

Lina: One of seven, and the day has six more interviews in it.

David: Six more today. Does she have to mark them all at once?

Lina: Right after each slot is best, while it is fresh. The sheet waits for her either way.

Seven of seven

Lina: Three in the afternoon, and every card is scored.

Lina: The submit button unlocks.

David: And if one candidate had not turned up?

Lina: She unticks attended for that one, and the sheet can still be submitted.

Submitted

Lina: And submitted. The desk becomes read-only.

David: What if she wants to change a mark tomorrow?

Lina: She can reopen it, and the reopening is recorded. Changing a mark after the fact is possible; doing it quietly is not.

Three of three

Lina: Back on Elena's register at four o'clock: three of three sheets submitted.

Lina: Now — and only now — the marks can be combined.

David: And if one member never submits?

Lina: Then the register waits, and shows whose sheet it is still waiting for.

One mark per candidate

Lina: She closes the interview, and each candidate gets one mark: the average of three independent sheets.

Lina: Sofia, eighty-eight.

Lina: Emma, eighty-six. Claire, seventy-eight — and all seven above the pass mark.

David: Did the three sheets agree?

Lina: Closely, not exactly — which is what three honest sheets look like. The average evens out one person's good or bad morning.

Chapter eight, in five lines

Lina: Five lines.

Lina: The panel is set up once, with the pass mark from the post.

Lina: One sheet per member, and nobody sees another's marks until all three are in.

Lina: Marks come with evidence: what the candidate actually said or did.

David: And changing your mind later?

Lina: Possible, and recorded.

Lina: And the interview mark is the average of three independent sheets.

Two marks each

Lina: Friday evening. Every one of the seven now has two marks: the paper, and the panel.

Mei Tan: So who is first?

Elena Novak: The merit list decides that — by the weights on the advert, not by who we liked most.

Lina: That is the last chapter.

Lina: Next time the two marks become a merit list, the chair releases it, the offer goes out by rank, and the person who applied on a Tuesday evening in October becomes an employee.

David: See you in chapter nine.