Rubrics are assessment tools used to evaluate a person’s performance during a variety of tasks or activities. They are used to evaluate presentation skills, on-the-job performance and even interviewing skills. Using a rubric effectively requires upfront planning to develop and clearly spell out performance criteria and an assessment scale. When putting together a rubric to evaluate interviewing skills for self-determination, make sure to distinguish between levels of acceptable and unacceptable skills for individuals under evaluation.
Development Approach
Self-determination skills include independent goal setting, initiative, decision making, self-confidence and the ability to adapt to change. Successful interviewers evoke information that indicates the presence of these skills. The rubric sets criteria in which the interviewer will be judged. Examples of performance criteria include interviewer preparedness, quality of questions, interaction and the ability to remain unbiased. On-target performance receives the highest score, with average, acceptable and sub-par performance receiving lesser scores. For simplicity, only three to five scoring levels are needed.
Preparation
Preparation is the key to effective interviews. To evaluate interviewer performance in this category, observe whether or not the interviewer has prepared questions that assess self-determination. Self-determined individuals are likely to complete work on their own, have the ability to make informed decisions, and are very self-aware. An example interview question is, “Tell me about your greatest strength and weakness.” Another example is, “Why do you want this job?” The interviewer should score well on preparation if they ask these type of questions.
Quality of Questions
Good interviewers ask questions that get individuals to open up about their knowledge and skills, including those that point to self-determination. An interviewer must ask high-value questions for a quality interview. For example, “Do you have a five-year career plan?” is a low-value question because yes or no responses are likely. “Can you tell me about your short- and long-term career plans?” is a high-value self-determination question because it requires a discussion response that speaks to goal setting, self-awareness and self-confidence about reaching goals. Interviewers who get this should score high.
Interaction and Bias Control
Skilled interviewers are able to put people at ease so the focus is on learning more about candidate qualifications. They know how to ask questions that are fair, consistent and non-judgmental. They do not ask leading questions that might bias a response and they refrain from judging a response, other than to clarify information. A rubric can use criteria to assess positive interaction skills and the ability of the interviewer to remain neutral and unbiased throughout the interview. The interviewer who meets all of the criteria receives a high score in this category.
