Interviewing Change Management Candidates

It happened again last week!

A change lead reached out to me for help – this time it was about preparing for interviewing change management candidates to join her project team. Her people leader had asked her to do two things:

1.       Brief the external recruiter who will search and shortlist the candidates

2.       Carry out the interviews with the shortlisted people

She did not know where to start. She has project deliverables and has been asked to ‘interview on the run’. And...on top of an already busy schedule and with little or no training on how to do this effectively.

This is a common scenario. Although it's great to be invited to choose your own team members, interviewing to ensure that they are the right fit with the necessary skills for the project may not be your primary strength.

Let’s start with the first task:

1.       Briefing the Recruiter

To help you ‘begin with the end in mind’ we created this unique interview planning canvas.

Use a canvas like this one to help you identify a candidate profile, brief internal and/or external recruiters who will be interviewing for the roles and to plan your own overall interview process.

It prompts you to capture:

• Roles: Which roles are you recruiting? Do you have budget? Is the job open to internal and/or external candidates? Will the role be onsite or hybrid?

• ·Logistics: how many interviews? Virtual or face to face? Where will the role be advertised? What are the ideal start dates?

• Hiring manager/s: Is this you? Is an external recruiter involved? Who will interview with you? An HR Business Partner or a colleague? Who does the role report to? Who will be onboarding the new starter?

• Essential capabilities: Years experience, certifications, specialised experience?

• Nice to have: What are the capabilities that would be bonus? But not essential to the role?

• Responsibilities: In the role description, what are the listed responsibilities and key role challenges?

• Success measures for the role: What does good look like? What are the KPIs for the successful candidate?
  

Now, for the second task:

2.       Interviewing Shortlisted Candidates

You will need a set of interview questions with a focus on the specific skills you need for the change initiative and role. To help you, we have created our Interview Companion. This resource (eBook) has been designed for both change management candidates and interviewers, with over 140 Interview questions sorted in three parts: change capabilities, business capabilities, and questions to evaluate mindset and adaptability. It also includes:

• Change capability and role level definitions

• Explanation of the difference between project management and change management

• Questions on mindset, adaptability and tolerance to ambiguity

• Emerging capabilities
  

This resource will save you time, often hours for each candidate.

The preparation is worth the effort. You want the best people to join your team.

Side Note

If you run a change management office, you are probably conducting numerous interviews. Check out our product for CMO leads – Change Management Office in a Box - for setting up and/or uplifting your change practice as we recently dropped in a full Interview Kit into this content-rich resource bundle.