There should be a team in your organisation in charge of selecting candidates for the interview. If there is not a team in charge of this (because your organisation is small for instance), make sure that the selecting committee includes the director, the financial manager and a selection of 3 team members. There should be a list of 5 candidates to invite for an interview (in exceptional cases and if the number of applications exceeded your expectations, you can invite up to 10 but it is not advisable).
During the interview, make sure to approach the candidate in a professional yet friendly manner. Make them feel appreciated and listen carefully to what they say (this is also why it is better to have a small pool of people to interview). There should be a maximum of 5 people in the interviewing team. Questions to be asked should have been previously arranged by the team. Questions should be open ended to enable the candidate to answer freely and also to allow them to structure their answer according to their personality and mind frame. It is also important to allow candidates to demonstrate that they possess the right skills for the jobs. You could ask them to solve imaginary problems or you could ask them to tell you about a time in which they were faced with a contingent problem and they solved it. Both strategies are valid and they will help you understanding which candidate suits better the organisation as a whole.
It is a good idea to invite short-listed candidates to spend a day working in the organisation before making the final decision. For instance, all the interviews could happened at the beginning of the week and then, for each remaining day, one of the interviewed candidates will be invited to work in the NGO. You will give time to all the members of the organisation to assess the candidates and to express their opinions. Also, it is good practice to assess how selected candidates interact with the existing members of staff and how they approach working in the NGO environment.
Probation and Assessment
Normally, there are 3 to 6 months of probation. During this time the director of the organisation (or the person to whom the fundraiser reports) will monitor and assess the performance of the new member of staff. At the beginning of the relationship, a series of targets for the fundraiser to meet should be set and agreed upon. These targets should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Targets should be realistic! For instance, you can set that the fundraiser will have written at least 1 concept note in 3 months and identified at least 3 open calls where to send applications. Targets highly depend on your organisation’s goals and pace. It is important to closely monitor the activities of the fundraiser independently from the 3-month deadline. The fundraiser should be given constructive feedback on a weekly basis. During these weekly meetings, the fundraiser should also be prompted to ask for explanations or to be further assisted in the process of settling in.
Remember that you have the right to end the contract with the chosen fundraiser if he/she does not meet the established targets.
