Formal interview

For formal interviews, a panel of three people is good practice. This ensures a range of perspectives as well as enabling a fairer assessment.

Having just one person interviewing risks subjectivity and even discrimination. Two people offer an extra layer of accountability and enables a mix of genders, but may be subject to power dynamics between the two.

Once you have decided who should be involved, meet in advance to determine who will ask which questions and how you will assess the person’s suitability. ​ 

​Using the same, structured questions for each candidate enables fair assessment. You may consider using a scoring sheet for your interview to reduce subjectivity. If you do this, ensure you agree first on what your scoring system means. Scoring from 1-10 may be unhelpful as for one person, 5/10 is an adequate, average answer but for another this is not good enough. 1-4 may be a better option.

As well as asking questions, you may consider other ways of assessing suitability e.g. role play, written exercises, discussing individual work-place scenarios, or involving children and young people in meeting candidates. These should, however, be relevant to the role that is being applied for.

In-person or online?

​Interviews should take place in a calm, professional environment that is accessible for all your candidates, whether this is a physical or a virtual space.

Things to consider: 

• Is your environment free of unnecessary noise, distractions or other stimuli that would place those with sensory sensitivities at a disadvantage?  
• Can someone who uses a wheelchair enter your building, access your toilets and move around freely?  
• Have you offered a virtual interview as an alternative for anyone who would benefit from this?  
• Are captions enabled on your video call?  
• Have you given someone sufficient instructions to be able to find your building or access your virtual interview platform?  
• Have you allowed sufficient time for the interview (taking into account reasonable adjustments for processing and communicating information)?