R&R Toolkit: The Interview Process

[As published in FASNY's The Volunteer Firefighter Magazine-February 2008]

By: TIGER SCHMITTENDORF

This article is one in a series of toolkits focusing on recruitment, retention and fire service marketing.

In my last toolkit we talked about the Prospective Member Guide as an effective sales tool. Good documentation leads to a clear understanding of the opportunities, benefits and requirements associated with volunteering in your organization.

When the prospect moves beyond the inquiry stage and demonstrates a real interest in belonging, they fill out your fire department’s standard application. Once the paperwork is complete, an interview can be scheduled with the membership committee, board of directors, officers or some other ad hoc committee as is the practice in your department.

Like the Prospective Member Guide, the interview can be an effective sales tool in sealing the deal with a candidate for your organization. It’s the last step before voting and is probably your last chance to provide, as stated in the first paragraph, ‘a clear understanding of the opportunities, benefits and requirements associated with volunteering in your organization.’

While you want to avoid repeating the guide information word-for-word, the interview offers you the opportunity to verbalize the values of your organization. It allows you to emphasize the objectives of your team, the individual commitment required of the candidate and the benefits realized when the team meets those common objectives. And, it allows you to put a face to the voice or e-mail address you’ve been corresponding with.

INTERVIEW WITH PURPOSE:

“Tell me again why we’re here?”

Ever been in one of those interviews?

The interviewers as well as the interviewee (I think that’s a word) need to be prepared and focus on why we’re here for the interview. It’s a meeting, a discussion, an opportunity for both sides to sell the benefits of the two parties coming together.

The interviewers should be selling the prospect on the virtues of why they should want to belong to their organization. The prospect in turn should be doing a sales job to make the interviewers’ decision an easy one as to why they would want him or her to become a part of their team.

To accomplish that requires bi-directional communications, starting with open-ended questions that elicit more than a one word response and encourage real discussion.

LINE OF QUESTIONING:

The key to a successful interview is that it is completed consistently and professionally. I’ve sat in on my share of interviews over the years in both my paying and volunteer jobs, and from both sides of the table, and have often been frustrated by the inconsistencies in the interview process.

Creating a consistent process for the interview assures that the results are consistent. It ensures that the candidate is interviewed thoroughly and effectively. It leaves no stone unturned.

While the same questions are asked of each and every candidate, the resulting answers will certainly not always be the same. This can provide valuable feedback about your membership process, identify opportunities for change and set the stage for an open, honest communications with your membership.

Especially if you ask questions like, “Can you suggest any improvements to the membership process or documentation?”

Oh yeah, and you can learn more about your prospect too!

After all, isn’t that the purpose of the interview in the first place? In my fire company, we actually coach our candidates on the interview questions by listing them in our prospective member guide. Although we don’t want canned answers, by doing so, we hope that the prospect will arrive better prepared for an effective interview.

We want them to give their answers some thought and have the time to do so. And we think it’s the fairest method. Surprising them with essay type questions can make for some awkward moments in the interview. Besides, if the bright spotlight focused right in their eyes and the water dripping on their forehead doesn’t break them; no silly little interview question is going to.

After all, the interview is supposed to be a two-way conversation – not an interrogation – and certainly not a “Spanish Inquisition.” Are the interviewers asking questions or cross-examining the witness?

That’s why I never understood why some departments refer to the people who review the application and conduct the interview as an “investigating” committee.

Exactly what are they investigating? What will they do with the results of the investigation? Does CSI stand for Candidate Screening Investigators?

And, can a person actually be found “guilty” of wanting to become a volunteer firefighter?

Sometimes I think we make them feel that way.

Don’t give them the answers to the exams but at least give them a fightin’ chance. Prep them right and you should get the answers you’re looking for.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS:

Even the environment in which you conduct the interview is important. Is it noisy and full of distractions? Are people allowed to come and go out of the room or can a private discussion be secured?

Disruptions = Disrespect. Setting the stage by demonstrating disrespect for their time isn’t going to win them over any time soon.

Is the interview held in a large boardroom with the candidate sitting alone at one end, and the “congressional hearing” board sitting at the far end of the room? If you need to use a microphone for the candidate to hear you, you may be a bit too far away.

I suggest holding the discussion with everyone seated at a round table with comfortable chairs. Eliminating the angles on the table evokes the feeling of a group discussion.

Proper lighting is key as well. Don’t dim the lights to the dozing level but don’t create broad daylight at night by using the flood lamps off your rescue truck either.

Creating the proper interview environment sets the stage for honest dialogue between all of the participants and demonstrates your interest in and your commitment to the candidate – not just to a ‘fair and speedy trial.’

Try to use two to three interviewers and delegate the questions amongst them. You don’t want to outnumber them by more than 3-1. It’s not fair and it’s damn uncomfortable for them. If you need more than three people to meet and interview the candidate, consider a second interview.

At least one interviewer should be a line officer. One or more interviewers should document their answers on the ‘Volunteer Candidate Interview Form’ while allowing the person asking the questions to be an effective listener to the prospect’s responses.

How you dress, how you present and portray yourself are environmental concerns as well. Consider wearing at least a Class-B uniform or business casual fire department apparel. Make them feel comfortable while still maintaining a certain level of formality. But try not to be intimidating.

If you aren’t interested enough in them to look and sound good, what can they expect from you in the future? If you don’t put forth a professional presence in the interview, what can you expect from them in the future?

REFERENCES:

In addition to asking questions of the candidate, do you make any other inquiries? How about personal references? Do you follow-up on them? What kind of questions do you ask? Again, this is where a standardized set of questions comes in handy.

If they previously belonged to another emergency services agency, do you follow-up to ask for a reference? I know many departments are leery about providing references, good or bad. I’m not sure why they’re so afraid of being honest, especially if the candidate was a solid contributor in their fire department.

REFERRALS:

Earlier, we talked about the prospective member guide and the interview process as being important sales tools in your recruitment efforts. Another key element taught in “Salesmanship 101” is, after you’ve closed the sale – always ask for the referral.

We do this by asking, “Do you know anyone else who might be a good candidate or interested in joining our organization?”

This accomplishes a couple of things. One, it demonstrates your confidence in the candidate that you value their opinion on an important subject: “Whom else should we seek out to belong to our organization?”

You’re actually paying them a compliment by popping the question. They may be flattered that you would ask them for a personal reference.

Secondly, it accomplishes the obvious. It gets you the names of other people who you should follow-up on to generate interest in joining. If you like this candidate for membership, you might like their friends, relatives or other acquaintances who share a common interest in serving their community.

You may even find that they’re willing to open the door for you and make the first contact. Their new-found excitement and enthusiasm for your organization may spill out on to others. Word of mouth referrals are powerful sales tools too.

ATTITUDE IS (ALMOST) EVERYTHING

What we look for most in our interviews is attitude, because it tells a lot about what we can expect from them as a member.

You can’t always judge a book by its cover – but you can tell a lot if the pages are stuck together.

What I mean is: How much enthusiasm do they display? Do you think to yourself, ‘I should’ve been a dentist… because getting them to answer the questions is like pulling teeth?’

If so, expect the same response at future meetings, drills and trainings once you accept them into membership. Do they volunteer information about themselves or are they evasive and withholding? What’s their mood?

You should be able to tell the difference between someone who is just externalizing interview jitters and a person who is masking psychopathic tendencies.

Some people may say that in relying on a subjective line of questioning, you may be overlooking other qualities that may far outweigh shyness, interview anxiety or an inability to be at ease with others.

But what are we conducting the interview for in the first place: to select or decline a candidate for serving our customers? The same customers we’ve worked long and hard to make and keep happy.

Thus, there’s a lot riding on the prospect’s answers, attitude and communications skills in the interview.

THE SEARCH IS ON!

My suggestion is this. Throughout the interview process, stay focused on the simple premise of my Tenth Commandment for Recruitment & Retention, which states: “When searching for the ultimate recruit – think of the person you would want to serve with … or be saved by. Then go out and get ‘em.”

The interview is just one step in the entire membership process, but probably the most important. Therefore, it should be planned carefully and documented properly.

I’ve developed a checklist that allows a recruitment coordinator to track the progress of the process. It follows the steps outlined in the prospective member guide and offers a system of checks and balances to ensure each task is assigned and completed.

You can download a sample interview package including the checklist from my blog site at: www.firefighternation.com/profile/tiger5. Click or call and let me know what you think.

If you have something to share with us, we may even send you the original Microsoft Word document so you don’t have to re-create the wheel yourself. If you do use the information, all we ask is that you give credit where credit is due.

Until next time… “Stay safe. Train often.”

Download Volunteer Candidate Processing Package.pdf

Here are links to some of my other R&R Toolkits:

The Prospective Member Guide

The Annual Report

Tiger's Top 10 Commandments for Recruitment & Retention

A New Pyramid Scheme for Your Volunteer Fire Department

Fix It. Now.

Trigger Happy!

Trigger Ads

Great PR Article!

Promoting your Fire Department to the Public

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Tiger Schmittendorf serves the County of Erie Department of Emergency Services (Buffalo NY) as Deputy Fire Coordinator and created a recruitment effort that doubled his own fire department’s membership and helped net 525+ new volunteers countywide. He is a Nationally Certified Fire Instructor and has been a firefighter since 1980.

Schmittendorf can be reached by e-mail at tiger5@firehousezone.com or visit his blog at: www.firefighternation.com/profile/tiger5.