I'm not involved in recruiting, but I have helped to assess peers for
potential hire in the past. Your recruitment method seems fairly
standard to me. 

You mentioned that in the past it was difficult to assess suitability
for the job, so were the performances of your previous assistants
somehow inadequate? 

If they were acceptable, perhaps there is some underlying factor that
prevents retaining a qualified assistant. Some things to think about: Is
there enough variety and responsibility delegated to the position? Room
for growth/development? Or might someone consider it "dead end"? (There
is nothing worse to an employee than to feel like s/he is simply a warm
body that performs a task).

Is the pay commensurate with the level of skills you are asking for?

Have there been any personality conflicts in the past?

Is the culture of the organization being accurately represented?

If this person would interact with other departments in the organization
regularly, would it be possible to team up with another department
manager during the interview process to get a second opinion?

I would look for a pattern in these sorts of things before trying to
overhaul the process.

Jessie Miller
Records Coordinator
Vogel Consulting Group


-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Sandra Dunkin
Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2008 2:20 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Recruitment

Hello all,

My name is Sandra Dunkin and I work for a non-profit Community
Organization
in British Columbia.  I am the records manager, librarian, and tech
support
person.   I have been working here for almost 5 years now.  During my
tenure
I have recruited two assistants with varying degrees of success.  My
current
assistant has just offered her resignation, and I am therefore
confronted
with the challenge of recruiting a new assistant.

I have searched the ARMA site, and can find no resources for employers
(appropriate interview questions, suggested skills based interview
assessment activities, etc.).  I am hoping to benefit from the wealth of
experience on this list, as I am sure many of you have done recruitment
in
the past.

I found it difficult in the previous two recruitment  processes to
accurately and adequately assess personal suitability for the Records
Management Assistant position.  In the past I have always approached the
interview with some generic "get-to-know-you" questions, suitability for
our
office (how would you handle ____ situation), personal employment
history
inquiries etc..  I've also tried to incorporate an activity to assess
the
level of attention to detail, comprehension of instructions, computer
skills
and understanding of filing principles.  However, I feel that much of
the
information I am harvesting from this process is superficial and not at
all
indicative of the qualities required to actually do the job on a regular
basis.

Could any of you point me in the direction of interview techniques for
records management/filing positions?

Regards,
Sandra Dunkin

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