Best practice approaches, positive experiences for all
A well-designed, thoughtfully delivered interview process isn’t just about finding the right candidate — it’s about creating a fair, inclusive, and positive experience for everyone involved. But where do you start?
How do you define clear, consistent evaluation criteria—and ask the right questions to uncover what really matters? How do you ensure candidates have the chance to showcase their strengths? How can you connect questions to company values and other important cultural cues? How do you balance structure with spontaneity? What steps can you take to actively mitigate bias? Clearly there’s lots to consider.
In this programme — combining some benchmarking against evidence-led best practice, ahead of a facilitated workshop for your leaders and hiring managers — we’ll examine such questions and more.
The outcome will be actionable ways to refine your existing approach to interviewing across the organisation, and enhanced skills among key team members when it comes to questioning, listening and bringing the best out in those keen to join it.
Programme elements
The first step enables a collaborative, internal audit of existing processes — using a simple digital tool, and providing some reflection and benchmarking around best-practice.
We facilitate action-oriented discussion among a core group; pulling in perspectives from the first audit stage, defining priority areas for change and creating accountability for action.
Best practice benchmarks
— Mapping role requirements to job description wording
— Defining role must-haves and nice-to-haves
— Signposting DE&I commitments
— Neuroinclusive language
— Physical and virtual accessibility
— Inclusively priming candidates, pre-interview
— Establishing a rubric for evaluation
— Designing competency and behaviour-based Questions
— Interview mindset and preparation
— Knowing key biases and mitigating them
— Questioning and listening frameworks
— Gathering and sharing feedback in both directions
Programme learning outcomes
• Reflective audit of existing approaches, identifying strengths and weaknesses.
• Define clear and consistent evaluation criteria to fairly assess candidates.
• Craft competency-based questions, and culture-based questions.
• Structure interviews for both rigour and flexibility.
• Recognise and mitigate biases that can impact decision-making.
• Strengthen questioning and listening skills to uncover meaningful insights.
• Improve feedback loops for candidates and interviewers alike.
Combining self-directed digital learning with expert-led workshops — we helped the digital retailer to engage 98% of their workforce in collaborative, value-aligned and individually actionable inclusion. Ongoing evaluation is revealing sustained behaviour change; from the way meetings are facilitated to the shared vocabulary captured in DE&I surveys.
From privilege to neuroinclusion, YCN helped us identify the right angles to take on timely topics — and then put practical tools and talking points into the hands of our team members, sensitive to the many different environments that conversations were happening in. And we're sustaining these conversations continually.