FIDM Apparel Operations Supply Chain Logistics Manager Discussion

Interview Guides – Core Competencies

• Competencies are the measurable/observable knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors critical to successful job performance
• Choosing the right competencies allows employers to evaluate employees objectively and:
  • Plan how they will organize and develop their workforce
  • Determine which job classes best fit their business needs
  • Recruit and select the best employees
  • Manage and train employees effectively
  • Develop staff to fill future vacancies
• There are many models that businesses use to help them develop a baseline framework of competencies or qualities that they want to evaluate their employees on
  • One popular model is the Polaris Model which is developed by a company called OSI
    • The Polaris model breaks up the competencies into 7 categories and in each category there are multiple sub “competencies” that can be identified – they are listed in this slide
    • A “Card sort” is a common activity that takes place when an employer decides to create a new position using the Polaris Model
    • There is a panel of 3 or 4 people and each one is handed a deck of cards with these competencies

• • • The person facilitating will give a short description of the position or give more information about the role
    • Each of the participants will then go through their deck and pick 6 competencies they feel are the best fit for the role
    • Then everyone will come together and discuss
    • The 6 choices with the most picks become the competencies that position will be rated on
    • The competencies selected are now used for every aspect of that job from performance reviews to hiring

Interview Guides

• When we are interviewing people for a role, what are some of the different issues we encounter if we are meeting with multiple candidates?
  • How do we compare them against each other?
  • How do we objectively assess who is the best fit?
  • How do we standardize things?
• That’s where an interview guide comes into play
  • Interview guides provide structure for the interviewers to follow / it provides “apples to apples” information so that what we compare is the same and it is helpful for note-taking

• In the first section we’ve gone through the card sort and identified the competencies we’d like to use for the role
• The next parts are a step by step guide of what questions to ask the candidate, how they responded, and a numerical rating of the answer based on the interviewers thoughts
• This provides a structured approach to evaluating candidates’ fits for positions

Scenario

Your startup apparel company just turned 2 years old and recently landed 3 retail distribution accounts that would require you to manufacture and deliver 5 times as much product than your current output.

There are currently 3 coordinators that work in the Operations Supply Chain / Logistics area of the business, but the executives have decided that the company needs to hire a seasoned manager to take over and lead that function.

The person who fills the position will need to have a wide breadth of experience and knowledge to oversee the existing group, interact with overseas suppliers, and execute on the work in this high pressure / fast paced work environment.

Let’s make a good hire!

Assigned Chapter: Read Chapter 8 – Onboarding, Training, and Developing Employees

Assignment

Pick 5 competencies for the role described in the scenario and develop an interview guide to use for interviewing candidates that position (the interview guide should have 2 to 3 questions per competency that you pick)