When selecting your evaluator, begin by considering these questions:

• Who will be involved in the selection process? It is usually a good idea to create a selection committe comprised of a diverse group of program staff and stakeholders. This will reduce the possibility of individual preferences or prejudices contaminating the hiring process, provide different perspectives on the applicants, and make for livelier interviews. If you intend to work with your evaluator in a collaborative or participatory manner, a group interview also demonstrates this value and objective to applicants. Try to keep the group to four or fewer; a larger number can be seen as intimidating and cause scheduling challenges.

• What materials will you request from candidates? In addition to resumes, ask candidates for reports of evaluations they have conducted and written up -- particularly if they have worked with programs similar to your own. Ask for samples of the complete report(s), as well as copies of executive summaries and presentations that they have developed to share their findings. Ideally, you could also ask candidates to prepare a written proposal for your evaluation -- though you might want to reserve this request for your pool of finalists. To get a good proposal, provide candidates with clear information about your program's goals, activities, and audience.

• How many people will you interview? This will depend on the amount of time you have to devote to this process and the number of qualified candidates applying for the position.

• How many levels of interviewing do you plan to do? Will there be a second interview of the two or three best? Or even a (rare) third interview?

• What questions will you ask of all candidates?To better compare candidates and protect yourself legally, it is a good idea to generate a list of four to seven questions that you will ask everyone. Of course, you can and should also ask other questions that are tailored to each candidate's background.

• How will you schedule the interviews? This can often be one of the hardest parts of the process. Decide whether you want to schedule interviews back-to-back (all on one or two successive days), or spread them out over a longer period. Spreading them out may be easier logistically, but will lengthen the hiring process and increase the possibility of losing a good candidate to another job while the process is being completed.

Choosing Applicants to Interview

Applicants will send you a variety of materials which your hiring committee will have to read through and rank. There are two approaches to scoring or rank-ordering applications: formal and informal.

• A formal approach involves assigning points to each criterion (e.g., evaluation philosophy, education and experience, cost). Candidates accrue a certain number of points for each criterion they meet: the better their qualifications, the more points. You can also add points for such things as living in the target community or particular kinds or amounts of personal or work experience. You can also score cover letters according to how well they are written, how much care was taken with them, and how well they are presented. Once applicants are scored, you can move forward in one of two ways: (1) you can interview candidates with the highest scores, or (2) use the scores as a starting point for group discussion.

• If you use an informal approach, then it is likely that you will use discussion to make your decisions without the scoring system as a guide. However, you will need to develop some approach to help steer your discussion in a positive direction. Either way, the real work usually gets done during group discussions.

Interviewing Applicants

Interviews typically include introductions, information for the candidate, questions for the candidate, and questions from the candidate to the committee. Before conducting your interviews, consider these questions:

• How will you rate the applicants' performance? Consider having a "training" session before the interviews, particularly for those for whom hiring is a totally new experience. Taking notes or making an effort to remember important features of an interview may not be obvious strategies for someone who has never conducted an interview before. Framing open-ended questions may take some practice as well.

• Who will do what during the interviews? Before each interview, decide who will facilitate (e.g., offer greetings, introductions, and explanations), who will provide an overview of the program, who will keep track of time, and who will move the interview to the next stage. Divide your standard interview questions among committee members and allow time for all members to ask any follow-up questions that they may have.

• Will there be any other aspect to the interview besides conversation? For example, will you take candidates on a tour of the school and/or community? Will they meet with people other than the interview committee? Will you ask them to demonstrate their competency at something (e.g., explaining evaluation concepts)?

Following the Interview

If you have not already checked references, now is the time. Be sure that the references include directors of programs with whom the evaluator has worked. After references have been checked and materials reviewed, sit down with your interview committee to discuss the candidates. Have everyone state and support their opinion. Hopefully, you will quickly arrive at a common, mutually-accepted conclusion. If you encounter a disagreement that you cannot work through, you may need to schedule another interview -- perhaps one with a different format. Once you reach consensus, and your candidate of choice accepts your offer, prepare a written contract for him/her to sign. This will help make sure that you are all on the same page and ready to proceed.