Big Brothers Big Sisters
Interview Guide
Match Support Specialist
Interview Guide
About This Guide
The following Interview Guide is based on
research that identified competencies frequently
used by high performing staff in BBBS agencies.
Using this guide will help you hire more effectively and
increase the likelihood of selecting the right candidate.
Note: If you did not attend the “Interviewing and
Selecting the Right Candidate” workshop and/or read the
accompanying participant document, click here to download
and read it before using this guide. That document provides complete instructions and mustknow information regarding interview best practices and legal information. You may find it helpful
to also print and refer to the Quick Reference Card; click here to download.
Interview Process Tips
1. Review the job description and the interview guide.
2. Customize this guide with questions to ask during the telephone screen and take notes in it.
3. Telephone screen in 3 focus areas: qualifying questions, salary questions and skills probing.
a. Most importantly, ask why they left/are leaving positions, last salary, and probe for
most important technical skills (such as MS Office and customer relations)
b. If time, describe Realistic Job Preview (RJP) to candidates you are interested in
taking to the next step. If time does not allow, be sure to provide RJP during the inperson interview.
4. Try to limit the number of in-person interviews to no more than 3.
5. Select 3 – 4 competencies to explore with every candidate. Choose 1 or 2 questions for
each of those competencies. Then, based on your notes from the telephone screening,
identify follow up needed on 1 or 2 additional competencies for this specific candidate.
6. Customize the interview guide with the selected competencies and questions and take notes
in it.
7. If using a panel, use no more than 3 questions. Assign different questions to each
interviewer. Each interviewer should make his/her notes in the guide.
8. During the interview, use the SHARE model to probe. Make notes in the Interview Guide.
a. Situation: “Tell me about a situation when you were particularly effective in your job
as...”
b. Hindrances: “What obstacles/challenges/problems did you face?”
c. Action: “What did you do?” “What was your first reaction to that?”
d. Results: “What was the final result?”
e. Evaluation: “What did you learn about this situation?”
9. Have each interviewer rate the candidate on the competency they interviewed for. Add up all
ratings and determine next steps.
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Interview Guide
Telephone Screening
JOB TITLE: MATCH SUPPORT SPECIALIST
CANDIDATE:
DATE:
INTERVIEWER(S):
BEFORE THE TELEPHONE SCREEN
 Determine who will conduct the screen
 Review required skills from job description
 Prepare RJP talking points and insert
DURING THE TELEPHONE SCREEN
QUALIFYING QUESTIONS
 Ensure candidate has
interests and meets basic
requirements
 Ensure candidate can
perform the duties at the
specified hours
SALARY QUESTIONS
SKILL PROBING
 Determine match or gap now
to save time
 Learn their previous final
salary
 Learn their salary
expectation for this position
 Ensure candidate has transferrable skills
as defined in job description by selecting
and asking 1 or 2 most appropriate
questions
 Learn how they verbally communicate
 Determine whether or not to communicate
the RJP (based on your interest in
candidate and time)
QUALIFYING QUESTIONS
QUESTIONS
NOTES
Why are you interested in this position,
and BBBS?
For each current or previous position, ask
the candidate: Why did you leave?
(If applicable) This position requires ___%
travel; how does that work for you?
(If applicable) This position is homebased. Do you have a location in your
home for a private office?
SALARY
QUESTIONS
NOTES
What is/was your final salary for your
current position?
What are your expectations for salary to
move to this position?
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Interview Guide
SKILL PROBING
QUESTIONS (SELECT 1 – 2 FROM EXAMPLES NOTES
BELOW)
Can you give me some examples of work
you’ve done in Word? Outlook? Excel?
Have you had training on any of these tools?
Give me an example of an extraordinary
level of customer service you have provided.
Describe a time you formed a solid
relationship with someone that resulted in
changing their behavior.
Tell me about a time you faced cultural
differences with co workers or friends. How
did you resolve them?
Tell me about a time you had to prioritize a
variety of tasks and deadlines. How did you
manage and decide on your priorities?
Describe a time when you analyzed data
and drew conclusions. What process did you
use?
DISPOSITION
NOT RECOMMENDED FOR FURTHER
CONSIDERATION
SENT FOR
INTERVIEW
DATE:
INITIALS:
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Interview Guide
Realistic Job Preview (RJP)
JOB TITLE: MATCH SUPPORT SPECIALIST
CANDIDATE:
DATE:
INTERVIEWER(S):
 Use during telephone interview if time (and interest in candidate) or during in-person interview
 Place your notes below (see Participant Guide for example) regarding culture and specific responsibilities (how
many interviews per day, travel, when notes must be data-entered, working hours, etc.)
 Do not give to candidate; use as your talking points only
 Use only with candidates you choose to interview; don’t provide to candidates you are not interested in
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Interview Guide
Interview Guide
JOB TITLE: MATCH SUPPORT SPECIALIST
CANDIDATE:
DATE:
INTERVIEWER(S):
BEFORE THE INTERVIEW
 Determine who will lead and coordinate the interview process
 Review competencies
 Select 3 – 4 competencies to explore with every candidate. Choose 1 or 2 questions for each of those
competencies. Then, based on your notes from the telephone screening, identify follow up needed on 1 or
2 additional competencies for this specific candidate.
 Determine the following:
o Who will ask which questions
o Who will provide overview of job and organization
o Who will make job offer and discuss salary and benefits
DURING THE INTERVIEW
SET THE STAGE
 Build rapport
 Ask a general opening question
 Tell me what you heard about the
job that interested you.
 Walk me through your resume at a
high level.
 Describe the behavioral interview
process
GAIN BEHAVIORAL
CLOSE THE INTERVIEW ON A
EXAMPLES
POSITIVE NOTE
 Ask competency questions
 Probe using SHARE
 Allow for silence
 Seek contrary evidence
 Take careful notes
 Respond to candidate’s
questions
 Review RJP if you didn’t
have time during the
telephone screen
 Describe next steps
AFTER THE INTERVIEW – ALL INTERVIEWERS
REVIEW COMPETENCIES
READ NOTES
RATE EACH COMPETENCY
ONE-BY-ONE
TOTAL RATINGS
DISCUSS OUTLIERS
M AKE RECOMMENDATION
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Interview Guide
COMPETENCY: CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT & GET RESULTS
DEFINITION: Able to identify and apply "best practices" in own work; improve efficiency by planning and
organizing work effectively, eliminating barriers and streamlining work processes; monitor, evaluate and
track own performance; adapt work practices in order to meet goals and deadlines; persist in the face of
ongoing obstacles or setbacks; accept responsibility for the quality and outcomes of own work.
QUESTION: People often feel pulled in many
INTERPRETIVE GUIDE: Did the candidate take care
directions at once. Describe a time when you
of the customer's needs first, perhaps redistributing
prioritized your work in a way that ensured that a
the other work to people who could ensure timely
customer's needs were met, even though you had
completion of that as well? Was there
other important work.
reprioritization only of obviously unimportant work?
NOTES:
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QUESTION: Tell me about a time when you
identified a need for an improvement in a work
process. How did you recognize the need for
improvement? What did you do about it?
INTERPRETIVE GUIDE: Did the candidate identify the
need for improvement through benchmarking or
understanding of best practices and take effective
steps to bring about a change? Was there an
ineffective implementation of the best practice, or
was there a system that had little impact on key
deliverables?
NOTES:
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Interview Guide
QUESTION: Think of a project or assignment that
required you to persist in the face of repeated
challenges. What did you do?
INTERPRETIVE GUIDE: Did the candidate address
each challenge in turn, without losing time
unnecessarily? Were there unnecessary
slowdowns due to procrastination, frustration, or
any other negative emotions?
NOTES:
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Interview Guide
COMPETENCY: CUSTOMER FOCUS
DEFINITION: Able to build strong working relationships with external customers; identify unexpressed
customer needs and potential services to meet those needs; independently anticipate and meet
customer needs; prioritize work in alignment with the needs of the customer; use knowledge of customer
to improve own work results.
QUESTION: Describe a situation in which you had
INTERPRETIVE GUIDE: Did the candidate ask
to assess a customer's situation, anticipate his/her questions to get an accurate picture of the situation
response to you, and respond accordingly.
and then use sound judgment in his/her response?
Was there only superficial effort to gather
information and/or an ineffective or inappropriate
response based on misreading of the situation?
NOTES:
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QUESTION: Tell me about a time when you asked a
customer questions to uncover his/her unstated
needs, and then effectively matched those needs
with something you had to offer.
INTERPRETIVE GUIDE: Did the candidate ask
questions to understand a client's needs so he/she
could either better meet them? Was there merely
execution of standard, pre-scripted questions?
NOTES:
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Interview Guide
QUESTION: Walk me through how you built a
strong working relationship with an internal or
external customer.
INTERPRETIVE GUIDE: Did the candidate provide
high quality service or advice to a point where they
trusted one another and communicated openly and
helpfully? Was there little more than task-related,
situation-based interaction, and little evidence of a
"strong" working relationship?
NOTES:
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Interview Guide
COMPETENCY: DECISIVENESS AND JUDGMENT
DEFINITION: Able to demonstrate sound judgment in routine, day-to-day decisions; think critically to make
decisions and take action, even in non-routine situations; rapidly make reasonable assessments with
limited information; consider impact of various options when making decisions; use sound judgment in
deciding whether to make a decision or escalate it to a supervisor for additional consultation.
QUESTION: Tell about a time when you were faced INTERPRETIVE GUIDE: Did the candidate identify
with various options and needed to make a
multiple options, and examine both intended and
decision. How did you work through the process?
potential unintended consequences for each? Was
there consideration of only the one or two most
obvious consequences for each option?
NOTES:
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QUESTION: Tell me about a time when you
demonstrated good judgment in deciding whether
to make a decision or escalate it to a supervisor for
additional consultation.
INTERPRETIVE GUIDE: Did the candidate recognize
that he/she was overstepping responsibilities or
lacked appropriate authority, capabilities, or
knowledge to make a sound decision? Was there
unwarranted escalation or making the decision
when someone else should have?
NOTES:
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Interview Guide
COMPETENCY: FLEXIBILITY & ACHIEVING CHANGE
DEFINITION: Able to positively deal with changes that affect job requirements or work assignments; adapt
to shifting priorities in response to the needs of matches; quickly recognize situations/conditions where
change is needed; remain calm and professional in emotionally charged interactions; work to clarify
situations where information, instructions, or objectives are ambiguous; support organizational change.
QUESTION: In this job, you will be contacting clients
and need to adapt to shifting priorities. Describe
something you've done that shows you would be
good at that.
INTERPRETIVE GUIDE: Did the candidate use time
well and make good decisions about which items
were most critical to focus on? Were the choices
made inappropriate for the situation or was
excessive time spent finishing tasks whose priority
had become secondary?
NOTES:
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QUESTION: In this job, you will be contacting clients
and need to adapt to shifting priorities. Describe
something you've done that shows you would be
good at that.
INTERPRETIVE GUIDE: Did the candidate use time
well and make good decisions about which items
were most critical to focus on? Were the choices
made inappropriate for the situation or was
excessive time spent finishing tasks whose priority
had become secondary?
NOTES:
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Interview Guide
QUESTION: Think of a situation in which information
or objectives were ambiguous or unclear. Describe
what you did to clarify the situation.
INTERPRETIVE GUIDE: Did the candidate ask
effective questions, seek additional information and
use other appropriate techniques for clarifying the
situation? Was there an attempt to clarify the
situation that didn't result in a clear understanding
of all the factors involved, or was there an overdependence on others to tell the candidate what to
do?
NOTES:
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Interview Guide
COMPETENCY: OPEN COMMUNICATION
DEFINITION: Able to use active and attentive listening to confirm understanding; coach others through the
use of reflective questioning; personalize communication content and delivery to fit different
perspectives, backgrounds or styles of audience; document information about matches clearly and
concisely in order to keep records accurate and up to date.
QUESTION: Tell me about a situation where INTERPRETIVE GUIDE: Did the candidate learn the
you were not successful in dealing
importance of expressing appreciation for the other
effectively with a difference of opinion.
person's opinion and try to understand it? Was there little
What did you do? What did you learn from evidence of learning how to deal with difficult
this situation that you used the next time
communications situations more productively?
you needed to deal with a similar situation?
NOTES:
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QUESTION: Tell me about a time when you
were successful at coaching someone who
you knew wasn't open to being coached.
What specifically did you do to reach
them?
INTERPRETIVE GUIDE: Did the candidate provide indirect
coaching, using active listening and reflective questions
and modeling effective communication skills? Was there
an attempt to coach the person through "telling" and
without a good understanding of the other person?
NOTES:
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Interview Guide
QUESTION: Think of a time when you
adapted your communication style when
dealing with someone who clearly had a
different perspective or background than
you. Tell me how you adapted the content
or delivery of your message to ensure that
your message was effectively received by
the other person?
INTERPRETIVE GUIDE: Did the candidate use the
appropriate level of detail, use terms and concepts
relevant to the person, and communicate in a
style/format/medium with which he/she was comfortable?
Was there nothing more than delivery of the same
message with a few minor changes to the wording?
NOTES:
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Interview Guide
COMPETENCY: PROBLEM SOLVING & ANALYSIS
DEFINITION: Able to gather appropriate data and diagnose the cause of a problem before taking action;
separate causes from symptoms; apply lessons learned from others who encountered similar problems
or challenges; anticipate problems and develop contingency plans to deal with them; develop and
evaluate alternative courses of action.
QUESTION: Tell me about a time when you INTERPRETIVE GUIDE: Did the candidate identify necessary
had to gather information so you could fully versus desirable information and locate the correct
understand the nature of a problem before resources to obtain the information? Was there seeking of
coming up with a solution. How did you
information that wasn't useful or was there inability to
determine what information you needed
locate necessary data?
and how did you get that information?
NOTES:
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QUESTION: There are often many workable
solutions to a single problem. Describe a
time when you had to develop and
evaluate alternative courses of action.
INTERPRETIVE GUIDE: Did the candidate systematically
and consistently evaluate each possible course of action?
Were there changing criteria for evaluating the options or
inconsistency in analyzing the options?
NOTES:
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Interview Guide
COMPETENCY: STRATEGIC ALLIANCE
DEFINITION: Able to align own work objectives with the organization's strategic plan or objectives; take
organizational priorities into consideration when making choices and trade-offs in own work; act with an
understanding of how the community affects the business and how own actions and decisions affect
other jobs or outcomes; maintain perspective between the overall picture and tactical details.
QUESTION: Think of a time when you had a INTERPRETIVE GUIDE: Did the candidate consider which
choice or trade-off to make in your work
option would be most consistent with the organization's
and your decision was influenced by the
priorities and emphasize that one, perhaps despite
organization's priorities. Tell me about it,
personal preference to the contrary? Was there a minor
and explain the logic you used.
trade-off, or reliance on customers or management to
dictate the choice?
NOTES:
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QUESTION: Think of a time when you had a
choice or trade-off to make in your work
and your decision was influenced by the
organization's priorities. Tell me about it,
and explain the logic you used.
INTERPRETIVE GUIDE: Did the candidate consider which
option would be most consistent with the organization's
priorities and emphasize that one, perhaps despite
personal preference to the contrary? Was there a minor
trade-off, or reliance on customers or management to
dictate the choice?
NOTES:
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Interview Guide
RATING
STEP 1: RATE EACH COMPETENCY AND SKILL
AFTER REVIEWING THIS CANDIDATE’S RESPONSES, HAVE EACH INTERVIEWER RATE EACH COMPETENCY THEY OBSERVED BY
PLACING A CHECKMARK IN THE COLUMN THAT BEST DESCRIBES THEIR OBSERVATION OF THE COMPETENCY.
CANDIDATE:
JOB TITLE: MATCH SUPPORT SPECIALIST
DATE:
INTERVIEWER(S):
Very
strong
evidence
skill
NOT
present
RATING ANCHORS:
Strong
evidence
skill
NOT
present
Some
evidence
skill
IS present
Strong
evidence
skill
IS present
Very
strong
evidence
skill
IS present
Insufficient
evidence for
or against
skill
COMPETENCIES
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
& GET RESULTS
CUSTOMER FOCUS
DECISIVENESS AND
JUDGMENT
FLEXIBILITY AND ACHIEVING
CHANGE
OPEN COMMUNICATION
PROBLEM SOLVING AND
ANALYSIS
STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT
TECHNICAL SKILLS
ADD TECHNICAL SKILLS HERE
AND RATE
STEP 2: TOTAL RATINGS
ADD THE NUMBER OF
CHECKMARKS IN EACH COLUMN
AND WRITE THE TOTAL IN THIS
ROW. CANDIDATE WITH HIGHEST
TOTAL IN GRAY COLUMNS SHOWS
STRONGEST MATCH.
CHALLENGES THAT CANDIDATE MAY HAVE ON THE JOB THAT WE SHOULD PROBE FURTHER:
DISPOSITION
NOT RECOMMENDED FOR
FURTHER CONSIDERATION
SENT FOR SECOND
REFERRED FOR OFFER
INTERVIEW
DATE:
INITIALS:
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