But What Does the Recruitment Process ACTUALLY Look Like?

So you’ve applied for a job, and have now been invited to take part in an interview or recruitment process. But with employers using such a wide variety of selection methods, in can be tricky to know what each type entails. To help you out, here’s a quick overview of some of the different formats you may come across in your job search.

Skill testing

If your interview invitation mentions skill testing, the employer is looking to see if you can prove you have the skills to do the job well. As Omer Molad from Vervoe highlights:

‘Skill testing is all about understanding whether someone can do something or knows something. It can be a simple task, a range of complex tasks or demonstrable knowledge. It’s possible to test for almost any skill because you can simply watch people perform tasks.’ (Source: Vervoe)

So depending on what job you’ve applied for, it could be anything from formulating a report in Excel to write a short article on a topic of the employer’s choosing.

Assessment centre

An assessment centre gives the employer several hours to get to know a number of candidates, and see how they interact with each other. Usually there are a number of activities – both group tasks and one-on-one assessments. Each assessment centre is different depending on what job it is designed for, so the tasks may be different too.

These types of interviews are commonly used by medium to large businesses, and you will normally be tested against a set of criteria the employer would have devised beforehand.

Pre-employment assessment

A pre-employment assessment includes things like personality assessments, with an emphasis on behaviour rather than technical skill.

‘Most personality assessments are based on the Five-Factor Model, which asserts that there are five personality supertraits:

1. Openness to experience
2. Conscientiousness
3. Extraversion
4. Agreeableness
5. Neuroticism

Therefore, if we gain an understanding of someone’s personality, and particularly these five supertraits, we will have a good chance of knowing how they will react in different situations.’ (Source: Vervoe)

It’s not always the most accurate of interviewing methods (in that there aren’t necessarily right or wrong answers), but some employers use this particular method to determine whether their candidates (aka YOU) are a good fit for the role and the workplace. These are often done online, and may be used as part of a bigger interview model.

Interviews: one-on-one, panel, phone, or video

An interview is the more standard format of recruitment for most businesses, and it’s pretty self-explanatory. If it’s a one-on-one interview, you’ll be sitting down with an employer as they ask you a series of questions about you and your experience. A panel interview is very similar, but it will involve two or more people interviewing you rather than one.

There are also two types of interviews that can take place from a distance: phone and video interviews.

Phone interviews are normally roughly ten minutes long and they will ask you the same sort of questions as a normal face-to-face interview. They will usually let you know beforehand when they’re going to call, so be sure to prepare and find a quiet spot to take the call.

Video interviews are often done over Skype, and despite being a remote option, it will take much the same format as a traditional interview. Make sure to set up somewhere with good lighting, minimal background noise, and dress as you would to a face-to-face interview: business attire.

For each of these types of interviews, be sure to prepare beforehand with examples, research, and answers to common questions.

To read more about the differences between pre-employment assessments, skill testing, and interviewing click through to Omer Molad’s article on Vervoe.

Featured image courtesy of Unsplash