The key to success in any hiring process is finding the candidate with the right skills, interests, and qualities for your organization’s needs, culture, and leadership. The candidate interview is an essential part of that process. In general, you should apply the same rules to conducting bridger interviews that you would to evaluating any candidate from the nonprofit sector. For example, interview questions should always cover the competency areas specific to the functional requirements of the position. However, when evaluating someone coming from the forprofit sector, it is also important to consider transferable experience and qualities that will allow the candidate to perform well in a nonprofit environment.
This guide is not meant to replace your existing interview process. Instead, it should supplement your current process by helping you develop questions specifically targeted at translating skills, experience, and qualities across sectors. Then you can determine whether a bridger candidate has demonstrated those abilities in the past, despite being in a different environment and/or function.
The guide provides competency areas, suggested interview questions, and key points to look for in candidate answers that will help you evaluate the candidate’s ability to be a successful bridger.
In using this guide, expect to cover only a few of the competency areas during an interview. The guide is designed to be used throughout the interview process. During a first interview, Bridgestar recommends focusing on functional expertise and four other competency areas that you deem the most critical for success in your organization. As candidates progress through the interview process, use the guide to help structure your conversations and learn as much as possible about them. For finalist candidates, we strongly recommend that at least one of your interviews include a dinner or lunch meeting in a relaxed setting. Having the opportunity to meet outside of the office and get to know each other on a more personal basis may help to solidify your impressions of the candidate and provide information about him or her that will allow for a more thorough interview process.
Competency Area | Sample Questions to Ask | What to Look for in Candidate Answers |
Ability to manage teams, people, and organizations |
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Ability to manage operations across functions |
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Ability to adapt as a manager |
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Ability to lead |
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Ability to influence/motivate others |
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Ability to work with stakeholders |
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Ability to collaborate and resolve conflict |
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Ability to work in a resource-constrained environment |
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Ability to understand nonprofit sector |
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Ability to explain motivation for transition from the for-profit sector |
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Ability to show commitment to organization’s mission |
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Ability to share organization’s core values |
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Ability to fit into organization’s culture |
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