A round up of 2012

2012 has been an eventful year in charity recruitment; the shadow of recession is still affecting charity jobs, there have been several significant changes in employment law and nation-wide events gave us all extra holiday time.  TPP Not for Profit were busy throughout the year, volunteering and helping to support the sector in many different ways, as well as supplying high quality experienced charity staff.

In this round up of the past year, we look at what happened during 2012.

January

 
TPP.co.uk mobile site
TPP successfully launched our mobile platform, allowing our candidates to search and apply for jobs directly from their mobile phone.  It helped boost visits to the tpp.co.uk website, and January 2012 was our busiest month ever for jobseeker traffic, with over 22,000 visits (we’ve since passed 25,000).
TPP’s mobile site was also featured in Recruiter magazine.



Innovation for Fundraisers seminar
Presented by two leading industry experts, this free workshop for fundraisers looked at thinking creatively to diversify your fundraising and inspire your teams and supporters.
You can see the slides from the presentation here.

January’s blog post was on How to offer the right salary.

February

New gift aid declaration guidance
On the 24th February 2012, HMRC published updated guidance on Gift Aid declarations for charities and provided new declarations for donation forms. In this article, Wellers accountants take you through the changes to declarations and the best way to incorporate these.

Our February blog looked at how Part time workers can add value to your organisation

March

TPP HR Seminar - Employment Law Update
This seminar was presented by Julie Fewtrell, HR Consultant
You can see the slides from the presentation here.

Are your accounts compliant under the new charities act?
Since 1993 The Charities Act has been recycled through the House of Lords a further two times. The most recent being the Charities Act 2011, which came into force on 14th March 2012. In this article, Wellers Accountants explains which Act to refer and from when, and the differences between new and old. 17 May 2012



TPP raises £4k for Sense
On the 8th March this year 12 employees at TPP took part in the Sense 'Battleshops' Charities Corporate Challenge and raised £3,998 for Sense. You can find out more about the event or see our photos.


NCB CV Workshops
TPP employees provided CV workshops and interview advice as part of the National Children’s Bureau – Skills Development Programme.

Nick Billingham, Manager at TPP, was quoted in How to get hired as a head of fundraising on the Guardian Voluntary Sector Network

March’s blog dealt with Achieving diversity from the bottom up

April

Charity Marketing & Communications Salary Survey
The results of our Charity Marketing & Communications Salary Survey were released in April.  Based on data from over 500 roles, the survey maps out salaries for marketing and communications professionals in the third sector.
You can see the survey results here.






Marie Curie Cancer Care Swimathon
TPP staff members Shelley Hawkins, Emma Lucas and Jo Buckley all successfully completed the Marie Curie Cancer Care Swimathon on the 28th April and raised over £1,100.

Inca Trek Challenge
Charlotte Callin from TPP successfully completed the Inca Trek challenge and raised over £4,600 for the Rainbow Trust Children's Charity.  You can see photos from her journey here.

TPP’s article on Recruitment Trends in International Development was published in Bond Opportunities magazine.

April’s blog was one of our most popular ever and examined Interview questions you should avoid (and what to ask instead).

May

Launch of CPD Voucher
In May, TPP launched our CPD voucher together with the Institute of Fundraising.  All fundraisers successfully placed in a role by us now receive £100 to spend with the Institute of Fundraising to support their ongoing career development.

The CPD voucher has proved extremely popular with both our candidates and their new employers.  More details are available on our website.


KnowHow NonProfit published TPP’s guide on How to avoid illegal or innapropriate interview questions.


May’s blog post look at How many candidates should you interview?

June

Finance Seminar - Risk Management & Governance
This seminar was presented by Kingston Smith, one of the UK's top 20 audit and chartered accountancy firms.
You can see slides from the presentation here.

Flexible Working Survey
In June 2012, we surveyed 376 employers and employees across the sector, asking them about the flexible working options their organisation offered and the options they would most like to receive.
You can see the results of the survey here or see the article on our survey in Charity Times magazine.


To complement the publication of our Flexible Working Survey, June’s blog post was on Five ‘hidden’ employer benefits of flexible working.

July

IoF Convention
Once again, TPP sponsored the Job Board at the Institute of Fundraising National Convention 2012.  Thanks to everyone who came and visited us there!

 

Fundraising Salary Survey
The results of the 2012 TPP Not for Profit Fundraising Salary Survey were released in July.  Based on data from over 320 roles, the survey maps out salaries for fundraising professionals in the third sector. Find out more or read the full survey results here.




July’s blog topic looked at 17 ideas for measuring employee effectiveness.

August

  
The 2012 Olympics
The UK practically shut down for August, as everyone stopped work to watch the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics.
As well as supplying hundreds of exceptional temporary employees to charities suffering staff shortages, TPP staff also went to cheer on the Olympic Torch.


August’s blog dealt with the The right way to check references.

September

Sophie Butler from TPP was quoted in the Charity Finance Function Survey 2012 from Charity Finance magazine.

Women in finance flagship event: Head hunters – realising your dream job
Rob Hayter, Associate Director at TPP, spoke at this event.  More details can be found on the ICAEW website.

The blog post for September listed our Top tips for managing employee departures.

October

Kingston Run Challenge
TPP Managing Director Tracey George successfully completed the 13k Kingston Run Challenge and raised £400 for Crohn's and Colitis UK.

National Minimum Wage Changes
The UK National Minimum Wage went up from 1st Oct 2012.  Find out more here.



Our article on Using LinkedIn to find your next fundraising job was published on the IoF Conference & Exhibition 2012 Blog.


Amendment to Audit Exemption Thresholds
The audit exemption thresholds for charities changed in October 2012.  Wellers Accountants took us through the changes.

TPP HR Seminar - Managing Culture and Risk
This seminar was presented by Ann McFadyen, Head of Training and Events at the Institute of Risk Management.  You can see the seminar slides here.

October’s blog post looked at Using behavioural interviewing to look behind the mask.

November

Part time Charity Jobs
Research in October from Skills Third Sector showed that while the overall number of workers in the voluntary sector is falling, the number of those working part time has increased. TPP could help your organisation benefit from part time staff.



Centrepoint Sleep Out
TPP staff members Danielle Lock and James Hunt braved the cold in November for Centrepoint's Sleep Out. You can view the photos here.





Institute of Fundraising London Conference
TPP presented at this event on 'Plotting your path to success - what you really need to make your fundraising career shine'.  You can view the slides from our presentation here.

Client Relations Manager Donna Newton took part in a walk to raise money for a Romanian Dog charity.  Donna is also a regular volunteer for Alaskan Malamute Rescue.

TPP Finance Seminar - Top tips for charities in an economic downturn
Our speaker for this seminar was Norma Stewart from Wellers accountants.
You can view the seminar slides here.

Movember
TPP Manager Nick Billingham grew a very fine moustache in aid of Movember.

Our November blog post was all about How to reject candidates without turning them off your brand.

December

Best Recruitment Agency
TPP has been shortlisted for Best Recruitment Agency by the Institute of Fundraising.  If you or your organisation are IoF members, please vote for us.
Why?  Find out more here.




DBS replaces CRB checks
Disclosure & Barring ServiceThe Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) has now launched, following the merger of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA).  Find out more about how this change might affect you.

Coming up in 2013…

We’ve got more planned for 2013.  Here are a few things on the radar at the moment – details will be released in our email newsletters.

A new office to deal with regional recruitment
Having been inundated with requests from charities struggling to find high quality staff for locations outside of London, TPP are planning to open another office to help deal with regional recruitment.  More details soon…

More professional development seminars
We’re currently planning our calendar of free seminars for 2013.  So far, it’s likely to include HR seminars in spring and autumn and a seminar for finance professionals.  If you’d like to be sent details of these when they are finalised, please email marketing@tpp.co.uk

Talk to the leader podcasts
TPP is pleased to announce that we will be sponsoring the next series of Talk to the Leader podcasts from Bertie Bosredon.  In this series of podcasts, charity leaders reveal what they do and why they do it.  Find out more here.

Development Directors’ Forum
TPP will sponsor the meetings of the Development Directors’ Forum, a networking group for Fundraising and Development Directors in the South West region.

Free use of our boardroom
In 2013, TPP will continue to offer any not for profit organisations the free use of our Boardroom and interview space.  More details are on the website.

Thanks so much to all our clients and candidates for choosing to work with us in 2012.  We wish you all a Merry Christmas and look forward to a successful 2013!

How to reject candidates without turning them off your brand

All too often, when candidates apply for roles, they are never contacted if they are unsuccessful.  Even attending an interview does not guarantee you any constructive feedback.

When employers do send out rejections, they tend to be impersonal and non-specific, either through a lack of time or from fear of causing offence.  Failing to give feedback is one of the most common mistakes employers make.

Why bother?

This is especially important for not for profit organisations, as their employees usually overlap to a great extent with their supporters and donors.  You want candidates to feel good about your organisation, even if they are unsuccessful, so they don’t spread negative comments about you among their friends and relations.

Candidates also might not be right for one role, but could be a good match for a future vacancy, or could be a potential employee after they have gained skills and experience elsewhere.  Turning them off your employer brand means you’ll lose them as a potential candidate (and possible donor or advocate) forever.

Finally, if a candidate has taken the time to fill in an application form, or to attend an interview, it’s only polite to let them know the outcome.  It may even save you time in the long run, as you won’t have to field calls or emails from candidates following-up.

When should you do it?

Best practice is to give a candidate feedback as soon as you are absolutely sure they are not right for the role, and to let them move on as soon as possible.  You don’t need to wait until you have filled the post if you are sure the candidate isn’t right.

Many employers already know at the end of interview (either on the phone or in person) if a candidate is a definite rejection, and it can be a good idea to let them know right there and then.  Candidates usually have an idea if an interview has not gone well, and most appreciate candour and honest feedback.  By giving a candidate feedback at the end of an interview, you won’t have to spend time following up with them at a later date.

Very occasionally, the candidate will be able to counter your points, bringing them back into the recruitment process.  You don’t want to miss an ideal candidate just because they may be a nervous or inexperienced interviewee.

However, most employers still prefer to take some time after an interview to reflect on a candidate’s performance or compare notes, and contact them at a later date.

What should you say?

The rule of thumb is to make feedback as constructive and personalised as possible.  A standard email may be acceptable for candidates rejected prior to the interview process, but more detailed feedback is important for interviewees.

There is really no excuse for not sending at least an email to rejected applicants – most email software will allow you to set up a mail merge or autotext that enables you to do this in seconds.  At this stage, all you need to say is that there was a high level of response to the vacancy and that other candidates met the person specification more closely.

Sweeten the pill

When you’re giving constructive criticism to a candidate, whether on the phone or by mail, it’s always a good idea to start off with the positives and give them some compliments before you tackle the areas where they fell down.  Wherever possible, you should also end by repeating their strong points.  This softens the blow of any negatives and is more likely to leave them with a positive impression of your organisation to take away.

Be honest and specific

Unsuccessful candidates who have turned up for an interview expect and deserve a clear reason for their rejection, even if it is just “we have other candidates who better matched our requirements”.

Wherever possible, tell them exactly which areas of the interview they could have handled better - most will already have a good idea of where they struggled.  Make sure your reasons are concrete, not subjective like “I didn’t feel your personality would fit with the rest of the team”.  You also need to avoid any comments that could be misinterpreted, like “I didn’t feel you could handle the workload” that could leave you open to potential charges of discrimination.

Be candid but gentle in the language you use – being honest is not the same as being blunt and ultimately you want to leave the candidate feeling good about your organisation and about themselves if possible.

Don’t mention the person you decided to hire in any way, even as a comparison.  Feedback should focus exclusively on the person you are talking to.

Finishing up

To make the feedback process feel less one-sided and more of a conversation, why not ask the candidate to supply their own comments on the interview.  This can help head off problems with your recruitment process and gives you the chance to improve your interview technique.

If you are likely to consider the candidate for future opportunities, letting them know you’ll keep their details on file will help soften the blow of the rejection.

If the candidate has been interviewed, thank them for their time and wish them luck with their future job hunt.

Always sign-off from a person, not just “HR Manager” or similar, and give them a way to contact you for further details if they need to.

Of course, all this takes time

Using a recruitment consultancy like TPP will take most of the administration of recruitment out of your hands, freeing you to concentrate on your day job.

We do the initial sift through candidate responses to advertisements, only shortlisting the ones we are confident will be a good match.  We’ll also contact all unsuccessful candidates and pass on your feedback to them, ensuring they leave with a good impression of your organisation.

We’ll also pass on any comments they make on the interview process back to you, which can be extremely useful as candidates are also more likely to be candid with a third party.

For more information or to talk about a specific role, please contact the relevant TPP division.

Further resources

Some sample rejection letters:
Sample Letter 1
Sample Letter 2
Sample Letter 3

And some examples of how not to do it!
A job rejection letter to end all others
A famous rejection letter allegedly from the BBC
Rejection letter from a candidate

Using behavioural interviewing to look behind the mask

What is behavioural interviewing?

Behavioural interviewing is an increasingly popular type of job interview, where an interviewee is asked to provide examples from their past employment of specific situations and go through how they behaved in those circumstances.  The logic is that past performance is predictive of future performance, ie how you behaved in the past will forecast how you will behave in the future.

Why use behavioural interviewing?

Behavioural interviewing is said to be the most accurate predictor of a candidate’s future performance.  Rather than simply taking a candidate's word for it that they have the skills and capabilities required for the role, this method of interviewing allows them to prove their worth.

Traditional interviewing, using open questions like “tell me about your past work experience”, often doesn’t give you enough data to accurately evaluate a candidate.  As each candidate can choose to answer these questions in a completely different way, it also makes it hard to compare candidates in an objective way.  Ultimately, a traditional interview tends to mostly judge candidates on how well they interview, rather than how well they will do the job.

Situational interviews are better, as they ask the candidate to describe how they might handle a certain situation.  However, this does allow the interviewee to talk about what they might do, rather than stick to what they did do.

By focussing purely on actual examples, behavioural interviewing makes it easier for an interviewer to objectively judge how a candidate will perform in the role.  Each question can be followed up by further questions to get more detail and depth on specific behaviours, such as “what factors did you consider when you made that decision?” or “what were you thinking at that point?”.  This makes it very difficult for interviewees to exaggerate or ‘fudge’ their answers to give you the responses they think you want to hear.

Behavioural interviews are also a really good way to discover new talent and avoid age discrimination, as they do not require the candidate to have a great deal of direct work experience, but concentrate more on transferrable skills and competencies.  Answers do not necessarily need to come from the workplace but could use examples from volunteer experience, extra-curricular activities or even family life.

Preparing your questions

Before you start putting together your list of questions for the interview, you need to establish exactly what behaviours are necessary for the role.  Use your job description and person specification to put together a list of the key responsibilities for the role and then determine how an employee would be judged successful in those responsibilities.

You’ll then need to think about the characteristics and traits necessary in an employee to deliver those successful outcomes.  Look at current successful employees in similar roles, and the qualities and skills they possess, to form a picture of your ideal candidate.  You should also consider your organisation's culture and whether you want your new employee's personality to be similar or complementary. A typical profile would include competencies like interpersonal skills, decision-making skills, creativity, flexibility, enthusiasm, time management etc.  Stick to the most important skills or you could be interviewing all day!

Once you’ve got a list of your ideal behavioural traits, you can start to make up a list of questions to judge interviewees against.  Make sure you use the same questions, in the same order, for every interview so it’s easy to compare candidates.

Typical behavioural interview questions

Behavioural interview questions are generally more specific and more probing than traditional interview questions.  Each question should be designed to elicit an example of performance from past experience and should be followed up with further tailored questions to get to the key behaviour shown.

Typical questions include:

• Give an example of an occasion when you used logic to solve a problem.
• Give an example of a goal you reached and tell me how you achieved it.
• Describe a decision you made that was unpopular and how you handled implementing it.
• Have you gone above and beyond the call of duty? If so, how?
• What do you do when your schedule is interrupted? Give an example of how you handle it.
• Have you had to convince a team to work on a project they weren't thrilled about?
  How did you do it?
• Have you handled a difficult situation with a co-worker? How?
• Tell me about how you worked effectively under pressure.

You should be asking two-three behavioural questions for each competency to give you enough information to make an accurate assessment of the candidate’s ability.

STAR statements

When answering a behavioural interview question, candidates are expected to use the STAR method to shape their responses.  When all candidates answer the question in a similar way, it makes it much easier to compare them afterwards.

STAR is an acronym for the four parts of an answer to a typical behavioural question:

Situation – the background to the example.  The situation the candidate was in or the problem that faced them. 

Task – the ultimate goal or what the candidate needed to achieve.

Action – what the candidate did and the reasons why they made this decision.  If the action was a team initiative, it is important for the candidate to focus on their role only.

Result – what did the action achieve and was the goal accomplished?  It’s not necessary for all examples to have positive results, as long as a candidate can justify their actions and show that they learnt from the results.

Assessing interviewees

Once all the interviews have been completed, use your interview notes to rate each candidate on the answers they have given.  One of the benefits of using behavioural interviews is that it helps avoid bias in interviewing, so stick to a scoring system.

For each question, identify the key behaviours that would separate an excellent candidate from a poor one.  The interviewee can then be scored against each competency.

A typical rating scale would be 1-5 where 4 or 5 was an excellent demonstration of that competency, 2 or 3 was adequate and 1 was extremely poor.

Things to consider

• Make sure your list of desired behaviours is actually reflected in the job description and person specification that you use to advertise the role, or you will end up with unsuitable candidates for interview.

•  Make sure candidates know it will be a behavioural interview when they are invited, giving them a chance to prepare their answers.  Giving a candidate the chance to prepare will get you better interview answers and should help you judge their responses more easily.

• Taking very detailed notes is an essential part of the behavioural interview process, so that you can score a candidate’s performance accurately.
   
• If you are using a recruitment agency like TPP Not for Profit, they should be able to help you put your list of desirable competencies together and help you construct behavioural interview questions.

Useful Links

Lists of behavioural competencies:
http://questionsininterview.com/list-of-core-behavioral-competencies
www.nielsongroup.com/articles/list_of_competencies.pdf
www.hr-guide.com/data/A302.htm

Top Ten Behavioral Interview Questions

75 Behavioural Interview Questions To Select The Best Candidate

TPP’s guide for candidates to competency-based interviews

Top tips for managing employee departures

An employee leaving for pastures new can throw an organisation into turmoil, particularly if they are in a highly specialist role with a lot of technical or legacy knowledge. In this blog post, TPP Not for Profit offers some tips on how to ensure a smooth handover for everyone concerned.

Be prepared

Your team may seem settled, with a good level of morale and productivity, but don’t assume that means no-one will be leaving in the near future. Employees leave their jobs for a wide variety of reasons, ranging from being headhunted or taking early retirement to resigning because of family responsibilities or relocation.

It is vital to have a policy in place for unexpected departures, as notice periods can go extremely quickly and it’s easy to forget vital steps in the handover process. It’s also always a good idea to share vital knowledge across teams, so departures don’t result in the loss of key information.

In the notice period 

Once an employee has handed in their notice, it can be very difficult to keep them productive for the rest of their time. Work out which projects they can reasonably finish within their notice period and sit down with the employee to create a plan for their completion. Any tasks which will remain outstanding once the employee has left should be handed over to other staff as early as possible.

Use the notice period as time to sit down with the departing employee and create a thorough handover document detailing the jobs they are currently working on and including any key contacts. Don’t just rely on the original job description to define their role, as it may have changed considerably during their time with your organisation.

Make sure they leave on a high 

The departure of any valued employee can be a stressful time, but wherever possible you should ensure that they leave with a positive feeling about your organisation. Many employers choose to throw a party or buy gifts to say goodbye. Exit interviews are a great opportunity to clear the air if there have been tensions at work, as well as an extremely useful tool in preventing further departures.

Ex-employees can still act as fantastic advocates for your organisation in their community. Leaving them with a bad impression can potentially damage your employer brand and possibly even future donations. The not for profit sector is a small world, and it’s quite possible that the leaver may return to your organisation at some point in the future.

Decide if you need to recruit

In the short-term, preferably before the employee leaves, you’ll need to create a plan to share out their workload and responsibilities so nothing falls through.

At this point, you’ll need to decide whether to recruit a replacement or if you can restructure your team to absorb the leaver’s duties without recruiting. Natural wastage can be an effective way to reduce costs in times of economic hardship, and is generally preferable to making redundancies, but can result in resentment among the remaining workforce unless managed correctly.

If, as is most likely, you do decide that you need to recruit, it does not necessarily have to be a straightforward like-for-like replacement. This is an opportunity to improve efficiency and to add or move around responsibilities within your team. Look at flexible working options – could making the role part-time, a job share or home working widen your pool of candidates or improve productivity? Don’t forget to consider whether it could be a promotion opportunity for an existing member of staff.

Consider interim cover 

For some roles, especially particularly specialist or senior ones, you may need more time to find exactly the right candidate and the rest of your team will not be able to cover the role indefinitely. In these circumstances, it is a good idea to use temporary or contract cover.

As well as ensuring the leaver’s role is covered, using interim staff can give you an opportunity to ‘try before you buy’ or test out a possible permanent replacement before committing to a permanent contract. Alternatively, if your organisation is going through a period of change, you may wish to delay recruiting permanently until you have a more settled view of the future. Interim employees can be used to bring in new skills that are particularly helpful on a short term basis, such as change management experience.

Reassure remaining staff 

When employees leave an organisation, particularly at the more senior level, it can leave the remaining staff feeling unsettled and dissatisfied. It is important to meet with your team as soon possible to reassure them and to explain the leaver’s motivations. Ideally, this meeting should be in person, so that employees can ask questions.

Explain why the employee is leaving as honestly and specifically as possible. It’s important to stop the rumour mill and staff know that platitudes such as ‘leaving to spend more time with the family’ are not generally the real reason. Go through your steps to deal with the departure, including any temporary solutions, and wherever possible promote the situation as an opportunity to improve the team and for internal promotion.

Don’t forget practicalities

There are many small actions to take when an employee leaves, that are easy to overlook in the rush to replace them. Don’t forget to retrieve keys, passcards, mobile phones etc from the leaver. It may be necessary for them to sign a confidentiality agreement, if they have very sensitive information, and best practice is to change the passwords for all systems they had access to.

Communicate the departure internally, and externally if appropriate, and make any necessary amendments to organisation charts, websites, phone lists, brochures etc.  Encourage the leaver to update their social media profiles to reflect the change (eg update their current employer on LinkedIn) and purge any of their contacts if necessary as per your social media policy.

Need some help? 

If you’re having difficulty deciding on the best way to replace a departing employee, TPP Not for Profit can help. One of our specialist consultants can arrange a visit, talk through the old role and what your organisation needs from a new employee. We can then offer help on writing the job description and person specification and advice on salaries and availability of potential candidates. For more details on this no-obligation service, please contact Donna Newton, Client Relations Manager on 020 7198 6111 or donna.newton@tpp.co.uk.


Of course, the best solution to losing valuable employees is to stop them leaving in the first place. Our past blog post on how to stop best employees leaving may give you some tips to keep hold of your organisation’s valuable assets.

The right way to check references

Checking the references of prospective employees is often left until late in the recruitment process, if it’s done at all. Checking references is a great tool for deciding between equally qualified candidates, or for weeding out applicants who won’t be suited to your organisation’s culture. It can be very hard to tell what someone is like to work with on a day-to-day basis from a formal interview.

It’s also increasingly important to check reference as CVs can be incomplete or even contain misrepresentations. There are currently a lot of jobseekers on the market, and the extreme pressure of applying for a limited number of jobs can lead some candidates to knowingly exaggerate their credentials and experience in an effort to stand out above their competition.

In a recent survey by ELAS, one in three managers have admitted to lying or exaggerating about their qualifications in the past. With many charity fraud cases in the headlines recently (the NFA estimates that charities lose 1.7% of their annual income to fraud), it’s even more important for non-profit organisations to protect themselves and vet potential employees prior to offering them a job.

In the case of senior employees, if there is an inconsistency or misrepresentation on a CV and the truth comes out, it can be potentially extremely embarrassing for the organisation involved and potentially damage relations with their donors. Take the recent scandal that ensued when Yahoo’s then-Chief Executive Scott Thompson was found to have an "inadvertent error" on his CV.

When is the best time to conduct checks?

The best time to check references generally varies depending on the responsibility of the role in question and the amount of time spent recruiting.  You don’t want to get to the end of a lengthy recruitment process, only to find out your chosen candidate’s references don’t stack up. However, obtaining references can be a time-consuming process and too difficult to do for every candidate in the running.

Many employers leave reference checks until after the first-stage interviews, when they have narrowed down the pool of potential employees. A previous employer’s opinion can be extremely useful at this stage to decide between candidates with similar experience or qualifications. Another approach is to conduct a two-stage reference checking process, with written requests to verify basic details made early on, followed by detailed telephone conversations later with previous line managers of the favourite candidates.

You will probably have to wait until after a conditional offer is made to the candidate to contact their current employer.

What’s the best way to do it?

There are essentially two ways in which you can get references – in writing or over the telephone. While a written reference may be sufficient for a junior role, other roles are likely to require a phone conversation to get anything but the most basic information.

Some organisations have a policy of not giving references, and will only confirm basic employment details, while others try to shunt you off to the HR department. However, be persistent and try to speak to a line manager, as they will give you the most useful information. Contact the referees in advance (or ask the candidate to do so) and book in a specific time for your conversation.

Who should you talk to?

As mentioned above, a previous line manager of the candidate’s is best, even if they have since left the organisation, as they will have direct experience of managing the candidate on a day-to-day basis. If the candidate has lost contact with their previous line manager, suggest they use LinkedIn to track them down.

Don’t bother with personal references, as it’s highly unlikely you’ll get objective feedback from a candidate’s friends or family. If they’ve had no previous paid employment, talk to someone who has worked with them on a volunteer or extracurricular basis.

If you have any doubts as to whether a referee is genuine, always ring back the organisation’s main number to check their identity.

Please note, you should always have your candidate’s permission to contact referees. Many jobseekers will prefer you not to contact their referees until an offer is made and accepted, especially if they are a current employer. If you have a signed statement of permission from a candidate, it may be worth attaching this to any initial email making contact with a referee to reassure them.

What should you ask?

Essential questions for basic written references include:

• Dates of employment
• Job title and main responsibilities
• Attendance record and number of days sick leave taken
• If they were reliable, honest, hardworking etc
• Any disciplinary actions taken against them
• If there are any reasons why they should not be employed

 Questions for more detailed telephone interviews include:

• What were the main responsibilities of the candidate in their last role?
• What are the candidate’s greatest strengths?
• Do you think the candidate is qualified for this new role?
• What specific qualities does the candidate have that will help them fulfil these responsibilities?
• What kind of management style did the candidate respond best to?
• What sort of office environment did the candidate work best in?
• How well did the candidate handle a specific skill or situation?
• What was the candidate’s reason for leaving?
• Would you rehire this candidate?

Always make sure questions are as open-ended as possible, not ones that solicit simple yes or no answers, and let the referee do most of the talking. Don’t ask leading questions – let the referee supply the information instead, eg instead of “John Smith has told us that one of his key responsibilities was x – is that correct?” ask “What were some of John Smith’s key responsibilities?”.

Don’t ask questions that are designed to solicit negative comments, eg “What are this candidate’s weaknesses?”. Most referees will feel uncomfortable giving bad feedback on a previous employee, and are likely to clam up altogether. Instead, you need to coax information out of them and intuit negative feedback from what is NOT said.

Don’t ask questions which are too general or open to interpretation, eg “What is your impression of this candidate’s character?”. It’s best to stick to the skills involved in the candidate’s old and new positions. Make sure you probe sufficiently into their responsibilities – previous volunteers can be particularly prone to over-inflating their duties.

Don’t forget to check unpaid staff

Reference checks are also an excellent idea for potential volunteers or trustees, particularly if they will be coming into direct contact with your supporters. The Charity Commission estimates that only 23% of charities carry out checks on prospective trustees.

With these unpaid staff, it is even more important to make sure the candidate is comfortable with the nature and timing of reference requests before you contact referees.

Some things to remember…

Stay legal when requesting references. Thomas Mansfield have produced some legal guidelines to conducting reference and other background checks.

Be consistent when comparing candidates. It’s best to prepare your questions in advance and keep detailed notes of the answers so you don’t stray into unconscious bias.

While TPP only supply reference checks as standard for our temporary candidates, all our candidates are interviewed face-to-face before we send over their details, enabling us to pick up any inconsistencies or cultural mismatches prior to shortlisting and allowing us to supply a consistently high quality of employees.

Further resources

100 sample questions for job reference checks

Template for a letter granting permission for reference checks

Background checking services:

Experian

NorthgateArinso

17 ideas for measuring employee effectiveness

Measuring your employees’ effectiveness is an important part of managing a team, and ensures your organisation is running at its most productive. Some roles are easier than others to evaluate, eg fundraising roles usually have quantifiable targets to hit and the effectiveness of these employees is purely based on performance against these goals. However, it can be much harder and more subjective to evaluate the performance of other employees, eg support staff. Below is a list of different metrics that you could use to evaluate employee effectiveness during appraisals.

When deciding which metrics to use, it’s worth bearing a couple of things in mind. Firstly, ask your employees how they measure their performance. They have the best knowledge about their role and what success looks like, and allowing them input into the metric used gives them ownership of the measurement process. Try to use a combination of objective (measurable numbers) and subjective (rating by a manager) measurements, and make sure you cover the whole of their role, to give you the full picture of how they are performing.

1. Management by objectives

This is probably the most common way to measure employee performance. Objectives are set periodically, eg each quarter, and reviewed at the end of the target period. Progress towards each objective is then scored and new goals set.

2. Use rating scales

For subjective measurements, such as cooperativeness, dependability and judgment, a manager can rate their employee on a scale of 1 to 10. The rating should be done at regular intervals and be consistent in both what it measures and the scale used, to track changes in staff performance. Use the job description to set criteria necessary for the role.

3. Focus on performance

To keep employees focussed solely on tasks which are critical for the success of the organisation, you can look at how much time they spend on other things, eg how often are they online or checking emails? How much time do they spend on admin? Do they often take personal calls at work? This can help identify more efficient ways of working. It is also interesting to look at productivity statistics at various times during the day, to see if there are any times where employees typically ‘slump’.

4. Ask staff to rate their own job satisfaction

Happier employees are usually more productive employees, and job satisfaction is a particularly important motivator for charity staff. This is also a very useful indicator about whether employees are likely to leave in the near future.

5. Track digital trails

Computer software increasingly allows managers to track their employees’ work, eg through keystrokes made, tasks completed or percentage of an employees’ time spent using a particular application. These metrics are especially useful for data entry or processing roles.

6. Team performance

Measuring the performance of a team as a whole, as well as the individuals within it, will help determine whether they work well together, and if a reorganisation may help boost productivity.

7. Peer appraisals

Other staff members in similar roles can be asked to rate an employee’s performance, on the basis that they know best what the job requires. This is also a good way to monitor an employee’s ability to work well with others.

8. External evaluators

The use of professional assessors who monitor employees during simulated or actual work activities gives truly objective results, but is probably not a realistic option for most not for profit organisations.

9. Quantity and quality

It is important to always make sure these measures are linked. For example, scoring call centre staff purely on number of calls fielded ignores whether the majority of these calls have a satisfactory outcome or not.

10. Cost effectiveness

If the employee has some control over their budget, this can be a useful indicator of performance.

11. Absenteeism / tardiness

Obviously, an employee is not performing when they are not at work. However, you must be careful not to discriminate in cases of absence due to sickness.

12. Creativity
This is difficult to measure but can be an incredibly important part of some roles, eg design or marketing and communications jobs. Ask an employee to keep a record of their creative work and use appraisals to go through examples and score them.

13. Feedback forms

Whenever employees have contact with either donors or service users, you can use feedback forms to track the success of the interaction and grade the staff member on their performance. Limit feedback forms to a couple of easily answered questions and you should get a sufficient flow of replies to establish a track record.

14. Mystery shopping

For staff who regularly interact with the public, eg supporter services, mystery shopping is a good way to track intangibles like knowledge, friendliness or helpfulness. Someone pretends to be a service user and uses a pre-prepared script to gauge the employee’s ability to deal with a certain situation.

15. Advocacy

Staff advocacy is particularly important for not for profit organisations, as it is important for employees to feel enthusiastic about their organisation’s cause. However, it can be difficult to measure. You could look at using net promoter scores for employees, based on their willingness to promote your organisation’s services or internal jobs.

16. Personal appearance/grooming

The key thing to measure here is appropriateness. Different roles will require different levels of personal appearance, depending on who the employee is in contact with, but it is important that employees know the standard that they are expected to adhere to.

17. Physical fitness

An increasing number of organisations are investing in their employees health and physical fitness, for instance with regular exercise classes. The idea is that healthier employees are more productive employees, and improvements in fitness can be tracked to correlate against increased productivity. However, this works best when employees are asked to track their progress themselves, as an employer doing so would be too intrusive.


Remember, it is never enough simply to measure the effectiveness of your employees. The key thing is to act on that information, so that the performance of your organisation as a whole improves.

Five ‘hidden’ employer benefits of flexible working

Recent research from TPP has shown just how valuable offering flexible working can be for non-profit organisations, and the positive effects it brings to productivity, morale, recruitment and retention have been well-documented. However, some organisations are still reluctant to introduce flexible working practices or extend them more widely throughout their staff.

There are benefits that flexible working brings that are less obvious than those mentioned above, but should still be taken into account when considering whether to introduce or extend your flexible working scheme.

Improved diversity

Offering flexible working is one of the key ways in which organisations can build a more diverse workforce. Employees with different lifestyles, family responsibilities or long-term health conditions usually find it difficult to manage a 9-5 office-based job, and flexible working is vital for them.

Diverse workforces have a broader mix of skills, knowledge and experience, giving an organisation more creativity and flexibility to overcome challenges. It has also been proven that increasing diversity leads to better staff retention.

Find out more about improving diversity

Support for local communities

In recent years there has been a growing trend within charities to decentralise resources, as charities increasingly try to keep close to the local communities in which they work. Local communities also play an important part in fundraising.

International development organisations have been at the forefront of this trend, as their service users are in a different country, and often in a different time zone, and on the ground employees can be much more effective.

Some of the larger UK-based charities have set up regional units in satellite offices to encourage localism, but for smaller charities this is not always possible. However, recruiting staff from the local community and encouraging them to work from home wherever possible can help a charity to keep in touch with its service users. It can also benefit the local community as staff spend more of their salary in that area.

Environmental impact

Most charities, whether it is part of their mission or not, tend to act in an ethical manner regarding the environment wherever possible.

According to the Office of National Statistics, the typical carbon footprint of an officer worker is 1.5 tonnes of CO2 per year, compared to the 865 kg footprint of a home worker. That’s a 42% saving, roughly the equivalent of 100 loads of laundry.

Even if it’s not possible to offer full-time remote working, encouraging employees to work some of the time from home and use web- or telephone-conferencing rather than travelling to meetings can all help reduce their carbon footprint.

Cost savings

The average office cost per employee in the UK is £6k per year. That’s a huge amount of money considering the average UK office is only at 45% occupancy over the working day.

In the current economic climate, when charities are being forced to explore ways of cutting costs without affecting their services, this is really a factor you cannot afford to ignore.

Staggered home working, combined with hotdesking, can really improve the efficiency of your office and help bring down overhead costs.

Skills sharing and upskilling

Having staff members who are regularly out of the office can have a positive effect on the team as a whole. Responsibilities and the skill sets they require are more likely to be shared across the team, and the likelihood of skills silos decreased.

This gives employers the opportunity to take over tasks they might not normally handle, allowing them to grow their skills and giving them a more varied work life, which can help boost morale. Spreading skills and knowledge across a team also helps to ensure that productivity does not drop in periods of staff turnover.

However, to really foster a spirit of cooperation in an office, it is important that all employees are given equal opportunities for flexible working. Allowing some staff to work remotely but giving others no flexible options can create resentment and will make it much harder to create an environment in which workers are willing to share their knowledge and skills.

Now is the time

At a recent conference, Transport Minister Norman Baker, encouraged organisations to use the London 2012 Olympic Games as an opportunity to test different flexible working strategies that allow staff to work from home or from offices closer to where they live.

The Family and Parenting Institute expect the Olympics to be a “watershed moment” that embeds widespread flexible working practices in the UK, as organisations create opportunities for flexible working, see the added value it brings, and implement these schemes on a more permanent basis.

Business Secretary Vince Cable has said that flexible working is essential for future growth in the UK, so why not embrace the challenges of the Olympics as an opportunity to harness the full value of flexible working for your organisation?


More information

For more help with flexible working strategies, see:

TPP Blog - Part time workers can add value to your organisation

TPP Blog - 5 ways to engage remote workers

Civil Society Finance - Flexible working: the new normal

HR Zone - Four managerial traits to ensure flexible working works

Small Business Blog - Five Ways Flexible Working Can Boost Productivity

How many candidates should you interview?

Have you ever spent days interviewing jobseekers for a role, only to find you don’t have anyone who really fits the job description or that you can’t agree on a favourite candidate? In this blog post, TPP looks at the pitfalls of interviewing too many (or too few) candidates and how you can get to the perfect ratio.

Why not interview everyone who’s suitable for the role?

Some organisations take the view that you should interview everyone who may be suitable for the role, so that you can compare different skill sets to find the best possible candidate. While this is a good idea in theory, in practice it creates a lot of problems for the interviewers.

First and foremost, interviewing a lot of candidates takes a huge amount of time, both in the interviews and in pre- and post-interview discussions. Having many different possibilities also means that everyone involved in the process could have a different favourite candidate, who supports their own aims or ideals, making it difficult to come to a consensus.

Lots of interviewees also create more administration. It’s important to keep in touch with your candidates and give them feedback, to manage their expectations and ensure they have a good recruitment experience that doesn’t damage your employer brand. This adds even more to your workload and eats up time.

All this prolongs the decision-making period when recruiting for a new role. Even though there are lots of jobseekers in the market at the moment, top-notch candidates still tend to get snapped up swiftly. Delay the recruitment process and you risk losing your best candidates to another organisation.

Interviewing too few candidates is also a problem, as you many not be able to fill the role, and if you do you may feel you have had to settle for a less than ideal candidate.

So what is the right number of candidates to interview?

Obviously, there is no magic formula to find the right number of interviewees. Some roles attract a wider pool of applicants, giving you a huge pool of candidates to choose from, while others may only have a couple of potential interviewees.

In TPP’s experience, admin or communications roles tend to attract huge numbers of applicants, while harder to fill roles in fundraising or at the senior end usually only result in a few candidates. But huge responses do not mean you have to interview hundreds of candidates.

As a general guideline, we suggest you meet with 3-5 candidates in the first round of interviews, and 2-3 in the second. If you are interviewing more than these, it may mean that you are not qualifying your candidates sufficiently prior to the interview. Spending some extra time in putting together a job description and person specification can save you hours spent debating the merits of different candidates later on.

How do I narrow down the list?

First of all, you shouldn’t be interviewing people with different skill sets. When putting together a job description, you should create lists of essential and desirable competencies. Also decide on the level of training you are willing to provide. Anyone who does not have all of the essential competencies can be discarded and the remainders ranked by the number of desirable skills they possess. The interview can then be used to judge cultural fit and personality instead of skills.

You can further narrow down your list of potential candidates using pre-screening techniques, such as aptitude tests and personality profiles. You can also check references and qualifications and make CRB checks if required to rule out candidates before you invest time in interviewing them.

A common reason for organisations to interview too many candidates is that they are trying to duplicate their existing star performers. This can waste far too much time and rule out candidates who many perform just as well, but in a different way. A mixture of personalities tends to work best in most organisations, as it aids idea generation and innovation.

Any potential deal breakers, like salary expectations, should be brought up in advance, not at the end of the interview; a very common interview mistake.

If you are using a recruitment agency to preselect candidates for you, make sure you give them all the available information and that they truly understand your needs. TPP always take the time to make sure we fully recognise your requirements, however urgent the role, and present you with only those candidates we are confident fully meet the brief. At TPP, the offer management process starts as soon as we meet with a potential candidate, so there will never be any nasty surprises when you’re ready to make them an offer.

Things to remember

You only actually NEED to interview one person and if the first person you see is perfect for the role, you can offer it to them straight away. Recruiters often simply don't believe their luck, and continue to interview more candidates just to compare or see who else is out there. This risks losing the original interviewee, as a candidate who is that good for you is likely to be highly viable for other roles and greatly in demand. If the candidate truly meets all your requirements, and is a good personality fit, strike while the iron is hot or you risk losing them.

If your first round of interviews fails to come up with any suitable candidates, there may be a problem with your job description. Limiting the number of applicants you see gives you a chance to fix the problems before launching on a second round, and means there are still potential candidates out there to interview.

If you are in any doubt about the ideal number of candidates to interview, your TPP consultant will be able to advise you. Plus, all of the candidates we suggest to you are pre-screened in face-to-face meetings, so we can be confident they will be a good fit for your organisation both in terms of competencies and personality.

Further resources

8 ways to effectively shortlist candidates
How many people should you call in for a first in person interview
The guerilla guide to interviewing
How many candidates should I interview

Interview questions you should avoid (and what to ask instead)

Job interviews are the best opportunity a recruiter has to find out whether a jobseeker has the skills and personal qualities required for the role, as well as determining whether the candidate’s personality would fit with the organisation’s culture.

There are some interview questions that are obviously discriminatory and avoided by almost all employers. However, when trying to build a friendly rapport during an interview, it can be easy to innocently stray into ‘grey’ areas which may seem harmless but are in fact discriminatory, and therefore potentially illegal. Employers may think they are making conversation but could be leaving themselves open to litigation.

In this blog, TPP examines how you can find out all the information you need in an interview without straying into potentially litigious territory

This information is for guidance purposes only and not legal advice. Not all the questions below are necessarily illegal, but it is best practice to avoid straying into any of these areas.

Before you start the interview…

Although anti-discrimination legislation can feel like a minefield, it doesn’t have to complicate the interview process.

By simply asking questions in a different way, you can find out the information you really want to know (ie the candidate’s suitability for the role) without asking the interviewee to divulge information about their personal life (that you don’t need to make a decision).

The exception to these guidelines is when there is an occupational requirement for a role, when an employer can objectively justify why a specific type of candidate is required, eg a religious organisation may stipulate that only candidates of that religion should apply, if it is a genuine requirement of the role.

Place of Birth, Ethnicity or Religion

Employers should steer clear completely of any questions regarding a candidate’s birthplace, background or religious affiliation. If an applicant has an unusual name, don’t ask about its origin, as the answer could possibly be grounds for discrimination.

While it is legal to ask about ethnic background on application forms, this is for monitoring purposes only and usually anonymous, and should never be brought up in an interview.

You may want to ask about religious practices to find out about any scheduling conflicts around weekends or religious holidays, but you should never ask a candidate about their beliefs. Instead, simply confirm they are able to work when they will be required to.

Don’t ask: What country are you from? Where were you born?
Do ask: Are you eligible to work in the UK?

Don’t ask: What is your native language?
Do ask: This job requires someone who speaks more than one language. What languages are you fluent in?

Don’t ask: What religion do you practice? Which religious holidays do you observe?
Do ask: Can you work in the days/schedule required for this role?

Marital Status, Children or Sexual Preference

Asking questions about someone’s children is usually just making conversation, but not appropriate in an interview setting. You cannot ask a candidate if they are planning a family, if they are pregnant or about their childcare arrangements.

This also applies to questions about marital status, which could be grounds for discrimination, as some employers may believe that married employees are more stable, or single people may have more time to devote to the job.

Any mention of an applicant’s sexual preference should also obviously be avoided.

Don’t ask: Do you have or plan to have children?
Do ask: Are you available to work overtime on occasion? Can you travel?

Don’t ask: How many children do you have? Do you have childcare arrangements in place if we need you to work out of hours?
Do ask: This job may require some overtime work on short notice. Is this a problem for you? What days/hours are you available to work?

Don’t ask: Is this your maiden name?
Do ask: Are any of your references or qualifications under another name?

Don’t ask: If you went on maternity leave, would you come back to work afterwards?
Do ask: What are your long term career goals?

Gender or Age

Steer clear of any questions that reference a candidate’s age or gender. You should certainly ask about their ability to handle the challenges of the role, but never imply that their gender or age may affect this.

The only question regarding age which is acceptable is to establish whether they are of the minimum age required for the role. A prime example of what not to say to an applicant would be to ask of someone in their sixties, “and how many more years do you see yourself in the workforce?”

Don’t ask: We’ve always had a woman/man in this role. How do you think you will handle it?
Do ask: What can you bring to this role?

Don’t ask: How do you feel about managing men/women?
Do ask: Tell me about your previous experience of managing staff.

Don’t ask: How old are you?
Do ask: Are you over the age of 18?

Don’t ask: How much longer do you plan to work before you retire?
Do ask: What are your long term career goals?

Don’t ask: When did you graduate?
Do ask: Do you have a degree or other qualification related to this role?

Location

It is very common in interviews to ask about commuting distances and times, to make sure the candidate will be able to get to work on time. However, this can be difficult to judge, as how far people are willing to commute varies wildly. Some employees are willing to travel for over an hour, while others think 20 minutes is too long.

In addition, asking someone about where they live could create discrimination issues if it is in a neighbourhood heavily populated by a specific ethnic group or social class.

Don’t ask: How far would your commute be?
Do ask: Are you able to start work at 9am?

Disability or Illness

Interviewers should be careful around any questions related to illness. Asking a candidate to explain any gaps in their CV due to long term sick leave is acceptable, but asking directly if they have any health conditions is not.

Questioning a person over a disability and whether or not it would affect their ability to do the job is grounds for disability discrimination.

Don’t ask: How many sick days did you take last year?
Do ask: How many unscheduled days of work did you miss last year?

Lifestyle Choices

An employer cannot ask an interviewee whether they smoke or how much alcohol they consume. While an employer can set rules for professional conduct and substance use at work, what an employee does in their own time should have no bearing on whether they are suitable for the job.

While you can ask about criminal records on an application form, it’s generally not a good idea to bring it up at interview. Likewise, while some roles require a CRB check, you cannot discuss the findings in a job interview.

Questions about political affiliations or group memberships should not be asked during interviews, unless they are relevant to the role in question. Although you might want to find out if they are involved in any activities that may have an impact on their time commitments, it is better to simply ask if they are able to commit to the role.

Don’t ask: Do you belong to any clubs or organisations?
Do ask: Are you a member of any professional group that’s relevant to this role?

Don’t ask: Are you a member of the Territorial Army/Special Constabulary/Other Volunteer Force?
Do ask: Do you have any upcoming commitments that would require extensive time away from work?

Height or weight

Questions about a candidate’s weight or height are also best avoided unless there are certain minimum or maximum requirements required for the role.

Don’t ask: How tall are you?
Do ask: Are you able to reach items on a shelf that’s five feet tall?

Don’t ask: How much do you weigh?
Do ask: Are you able to lift boxes weighing up to 50 pounds?

How TPP can help

If you need more help with interviewing, please see our articles on Interviewing Advice and 6 common interview mistakes employers make. TPP are always happy to advise our clients on the best questions to ask to rate a candidate’s suitability for a role.