Recruitment involves more than posting a job advertisement and choosing the best CV. Finding the right person requires clear job definition, a fair and structured process, and skillful interviewing. Competency-based interviews — asking candidates to describe specific past situations — are more predictive of job performance than unstructured conversations. The STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) gives candidates a framework to answer clearly and interviewers a framework to compare answers fairly. For candidates, preparation is everything: research the company, prepare specific examples for each competency, and practise articulating your achievements concisely. For interviewers: ask consistent questions, listen more than you talk, and assess evidence — not personality likeability.

💡 Did you know? Research by Google found that their famously difficult brainteaser interview questions had zero predictive value for job performance. They have since switched entirely to structured, competency-based interviewing.