Your Selection Interview GuideNow t

Your Selection Interview Guide

Now that you have constructed a detailed picture of the person whom you would like to recruit, secure an interview guide (either design your own or purchase one). Following are some guidelines on how to build your own guide.
Fust, list the subject areas to be explored in the interview. At a mini­
mum, include:
• insurance sales experience
• noninsurance sales experience
• education
• social contacts and activities
• plans for the future
For each of these subject areas, write down broad, open-ended questions designed to give you information about whether the candidate has the

necessary attributes for selling life insurance. For example, under the topic of
insurance sales experience, some questions might be:
• How do you approach a prospect? (Communication ability)
• What is your objective in an interview with a prospect? What kind of sales talk do you use? (Controlling the sales situation)
• What is the toughest objection that a prospect can give you? How do you deal with it? (Sales presence)
• How do you feel about the supervision that you have received? (Independence)
• How do you decide how you will spend your time during the week? (Ability to manage time)
• What professional challenges have you encountered in this business?
How have you reacted to them? (Need for achievement)
After writing down questions for each subject area, review them to make sure that they are properly worded and that they cover the necessary topics. Also, think of each question in terms of EEO requirements. Justify each question, using the following list as a guide:
• Is the question job-related? How?
• Is the information that the question will reveal specifically tied to job requirements? •
• Can the question be interpreted as discriminatory? How? Against whom?
• Does the question apply to both men and women?
In general, don't ask a woman a question not asked of a man. Consider all applicants on an individual basis and base your hiring decisions on merit.
Ask only job-related questions and be able to justify how they are job-related.

Conducting the Selection Interview

You have written your specifications for the job,- listed your personal requirements, and designed or purchased your interview guide. You have now arrived at the heart of the selection process-the in-depth selection interview.
Before you begin to interview, make sure that you have made all of the preparations that were suggested in an earlier section -providing for privacy, scheduling enough time, reviewing the resume or application form,
etc.
Your interview should approximate the following outline:
1. Introduce yourself and establish rapport.
2 Work through the interview guide.
3. Solicit the candidate's comments or questions.
4. Explain what will happen next in the selection process.
5. Conclusion.