Our City does not have a policy. I have my own policy that I will not sit

on an oral board if there are more than seven candidates.

Dave Bass

City of Lake Forest

I think you are right on. Especially for the technical/professional

positions, eight is about right. For some of the clerical jobs, 12 is

probably around the high end.

Mark Alvarado

Administrative Services Director

City of Monrovia

(626) 932-5510

From:	"Zenda James" <ZJAMES@ci.alameda.ca.us>

I think it really would depend on the type of position you

are recruiting for. I do tend to agree with you that 8

candidates in a day would be my limit in order to do a

proper assessment. You generally allow for 30 -45 minutes

interviewing and then another 15 -20 minutes to collect

your thoughts and allowing for an hour to compare notes at

the end of the day.

I'm not sure that we have a policy, but we try to limit the number of

candidates to about 8, or what can reasonably be accommodated in one day.

You're right, it's hard to really listen and evaluate more than that (and 8

seems like a lot too!) in one day.

Hope this helps,

Joan

Joan Streit

Director, Finance & Administrative Services

City of Albany

1000 San Pablo Ave.

Albany, CA 94706

From:	"Dave Millican" <Dmillican@ci.fremont.ca.us>

We do not have a policy but we almost never try to do more than 8 people in one day. Six is preferred. We will do up to three separate boards comprised of customers, employees and technical experts or community members. When numbers increase we cut the interview time to make sure the board has time to write notes and score the candidates. We also reserve time at the end of each day to debrief the boards. We do not assign detailed scores candidates either are qualified with a strong recommendation, qualified, or not recommended. Interviewers are instructed to fail any candidate that they would not hire. Hope this helps. We have a rule of the list rather than appointing the highest ranked candidate so numerical scores are not relevant to the selection.

There is a lot of flexibility in this process and we add structure and scoring complexity when dealing with a lot candidates (e.g. firefighter) but we screen heavily before anyone gets to a live interview.

From:	"Agnes Walker" <agnes.walker@redondo.org>

Ken -will forward to HR -but am with you -the number of candidates to be

interviewed in one day s/b limited to at least try to do an adequate job in

assessing them...Agnes

From: Bertha Guzman [mailto:bguzman@redondo.org]

Sent: Monday, March 27, 2000 8:47 AM

To: Agnes Walker

Subject: RE: [CSMFO Members] Oral Boards -Quick Survey

WE USUALLY SCHEDULE 40-MINUTE INTERVIEWS FOR MANAGEMENT LEVEL EMPLOYEES, 50

MINUTES TO 1 HOUR INTERVIEWS FOR EXECUTIVE LEVEL EMPLOYEES. FOR ENTRY LEVEL

WE USUALLY DO 30-MINUTES INTERVIEWS.

-

From:	Zane Johnston <ZaneJ@ci.tracy.ca.us>

We have no policy but I think your sentiments are correct. Sometimes

the number is determined by some prior test such as a written exam.

Depending on scores, HR looks for some clean break point. It would

be nice if that is only 8 candidates, but sometimes it's 10 or 12.

Today, we were holding an oral board for an accounting tech position

with 15 candidates!!! This was necessary because so many candidates

received scores close to each other from the written exam. Hope this

helps. Good luck.

From:	"Catherine Kuffner" <CKUFFNER@ci.encinitas.ca.us>

The City of Encinitas has no policy with regard to Oral Boards, number of applicants, etc. I agree that it would be nice to limit the number of applicants that come in for interviews to eight but sometimes it is difficult to get the number down to a dozen. We have had EEOC complaints based on alleged age, sex, and race discrimination because we screened out applicants who believed they should have been brought in for interviews. An alternative is to have two days of interviews, which makes trying to remember the applicants even more difficult. Please let me know if someone comes up with a suitable alternative to what we are doing.

From:	Alicia Lara <alara@ci.santa-maria.ca.us>

We do not have an official policy. However, I am involved in the paper

screening process (here as well as a previous city) and the limit is usually

8. We look at the applicant pool make-up to be certain we interview as

close the profile of applicants as possible. We often only interview 5 or

6, and have interviewed as few as 4 (half day), as we want to be able to

call on some of these panel members again, and wasting their time on

applicants they don't need to see means I am not doing a good job with the

screening committee. Once in a while we will see more candidates (typically

police and fire), but then I try to break it up over two days. We have done

this only for positions where we have several vacancies, like dispatcher in

the police department. In that department we have to have a strong pool, as

many fall out of the process during backgrounds.

I'm not sure that you would want to adopt a policy that specifically limits

you or obligates you to a certain number, as you want to remain as flexible

as possible to meet the ever changing needs of your organization. It seems

like you're going in the right direction, 8 in one day is a controllable

number, with as you said, the emphasis being on the candidate, and not on

staying within the schedule.

Alicia Lara

From:	Jim Palm <palm@TVMWD.com>

Hi Ken. We do not have a written policy. Instead, we handle each

recruitment differently, depending on urgency, number of responses,

availability of panel members, etc. We have been pretty successful at

holding two interviews. The first is a quick, 10 minute screening type

of interview that is usually done with in-house staff. This is an

all-day affair and we cram in as many as time will allow. Staff is

usually brain-dead at the end of the day; it is very tiring. We then

schedule the top 3 -5 candidates for a second interview. The second

interview is 1/2 hour to 45 minutes long and is conducted by an outside

panel. We try to keep this to 1/2 day (easier to get a outside oral

panel for a half day versus a full day). That's it. Naturally, before

we do any interviews we go through the applications/resumes and try to

reduce the number of qualified candidates, but working against this

process is the fact that the more you interview, the greater your

chances of finding the perfect match. Good luck.

Jim Palm

Three Valleys MWD

Claremont, CA

(909) 621-5568

From:	"DeAngelis, Lisa" <hr@ci.brisbane.ca.us>

I agree with you. Ten to twelve interviews in one day is too much. I try

to do no more that eight in one day. The City of Brisbane does not have a

written policy regarding our interview panels. However, I more or less have

direct control over the structure of the interview schedule and will

normally schedule more than eight or nine in one day. This can present a

problem in that you need to find panel members who are willing to come back

for more than one day.

If you have any other questions, feel free to call me at 415-508-2115 or

send me an email at hr@ci.brisbane.ca.us.

Lisa De Angelis

Human Resources Specialist

From:	Richard Hare <rhare@CI.CAMARILLO.CA.US>

We usually try to keep it to 6 -8 applicants per day, however, this isn't a

hard and fast rule. There might be an instance when we had very good

candidates and interviewed more.

From:	Mary Gilmore <MGilmore@ci.signal-hill.ca.us>

Ken,

The City of Signal Hill does not have a policy but those of us in Personnel

try to schedule more than enough time to rate each candidate and yes, it is

based on the complexity of the interview. If it is a simple entry level

position with no experience or minimal experience required,the interviews

may be every 1/2 hour. If it is a journey level professional position, the

interviews are usually every 50 to 60 minutes which allows ample time to

interview, evaluate and prepare for the next candidate.

From:	Carolynn Petru <carolynn@rpv.com>

Rancho Palos Verdes does not have a written policy

regarding the number of people invited to an oral board.

However, I agree with your point of view. In my experience,

eight is the ideal number of candidates to interview in one

day. The exception is entry level positions, where we have

interviewed as many as fifteen people. These make for long,

exhausting days, but the interviews are generally short (only

20 minutes each usually). I have also seen interviews split

into two days. This works if it's an in-house panel. It's tough

to get people from other agencies to give up two days. I also

wouldn't recommend interviewing more than eight for journeyman

or management positions. If there is a large pool of qualified

applicants, we usually have some type of supplemental

questionnaire or skills test to narrow the field down to a

manageable number.

I hope that this is helpful. Good luck in developing your policy.

Carolynn Petru

Assistant City Manager

From:	<mpressey@ci.pasadena.ca.us>

We do not have a policy but we have solicited more panel members and had two

panels covering 15 (7-8 each) applicants on the same day. Even though both

panels are different, I was satisfied that I got the top 7 to go to the next

phase of meeting with my department staff and myself for a final decision.

I would never settle on 10 in one day. That is too much. It is not fair

for the candidate, the panel member or the City.

In the above example, we had 40 applicants which were scaled down to the 15.

I wanted interviews for all 15 and to be considerate to a panelist, only one

day of service was expected.

Matt N. Pressey

Accounting Administrator

City of Pasadena

From:	"Cindy Braem" <cbraem@city.ridgecrest.ca.us>

We don't necessarily have a written policy, however, I try to limit the

number of interviewees to under 10. A good mix is 6-8. Usually if there

has been a written exam the natural grade break gives me a good indication

of how many to interview. Generally, for Dept Head level, I limit the

number to 5.

Hope this helps.

Cindy Braem

City of Ridgecrest

From:	Ed Bushong <EdBushong@VRSD.COM>

We do not have a formal policy, but our practice has been to limit the

number of candidates to 7-8 per day. Nine is also a workable number, since

you will usually have at least 1 candidate cancel at the last minute. We

have also found that dividing up the questions each oral board member asks

allows each to focus on their area of inquiry and give time to observe and

evaluate the candidates while other panel members are asking their

questions. Some discussion time (5-10 minutes) is also allowed between

candidates while impressions are still fresh.

For a high level position, we probably would only talk to 2 or 3.

Hope this helps.

Ed Bushong

Ventura Regional Sanitation District

From:	Judith Wright <Jwright@ci.west-hollywood.ca.us>

we don't have a policy, and I agree with you completely.

From:	Michael Williams <mwilliams@rglobal.net>

At the City of Maywood we do not have such a policy, but I would agree with you that no more than 6 to 8 interviews a day is plenty. We are a small city and I sit on most of our oral boards so I speak from experience.

Hope this helps...

From:	"Keene, Leslie" <LKeene@eid.org>

We do not have a formal policy, but tend to keep it to 4 to 6 applicants per

day, allowing an hour each which often will give the interviewers a little

break between each.

Leslie Keene

Fiscal Services Manager

El Dorado Irrigation District

lkeene@eid.org

> ----------

From:	"Darrel Pyle" <dpyle@ci.porterville.ca.us>

No policy in Porterville. We do 11 or 12 in one day. If we have too many applicants to interview, and can weed them down with a written test, we can set the minimum score at a level that will allow us to interview a smaller number. Our Police Department is the only department that is able to get oral board members to sit two days in a row.

Darrel Pyle

Director of Finance

From:	"Christine Reeves" <CREEVES@shafter.com>

Shafter does not have a written policy but the practice we follow varies on the position and the number of candidates. We allow for 15 to 20 minute interview for the entry level position. More time is spent at the mid to upper management, and promotionals, 30 to 45 minutes.

Interviews are schedules back to back interviews with no breaks except one hour for lunch. The time allowed for each interview includes each panel member completing a rating form and discussion about the candidates qualifications. Personnel will recap the morning applicants' rating forms during the lunch hour so that less time spent at the end of the day with ranking.

Even when we have 20-40 applicants to interview, we still only use one panel board. The same board will meet for 2 days.

Interviewing isn't a skate day. It's tough and mentally exhausting to do the job well. That's why it's critical that when selecting panel members, you select ony those who are committing to doing what it takes to find the right person.

From:	"Ron Popp" <rpopp@ci.millbrae.ca.us>

Our City does not have such a policy. Our oral boards are geared to the

position and the number of applicants. I do think our Personnel folks try to

pick the top 4 or 5 for the interview but again that must depend on the

position and the apparent qualifications of the candidates. I agree with

you though having just helped another city by setting on their board. We

interviewed 34 applicants in one day for an Account Clerk I position.

Needless to say, I was worn out by day's end (07:30 to 5:30, 10 minutes per

interview with 2 15 min breaks and lunch). All in all it went as well as

could be expected. Test results were an equal determining factor.

Ron Popp

Financial Services Manger

City of Millbrae

From:	"Joan Ward" <jward@ci.el-cajon.ca.us>

We have no written policy re the number of oral appraisals to be conducted in one day; it depends on the level of the position. It is not unusual to conduct 12 interviews per day for entry level positions. For some positions, gen'lly Police Officers, we will run multiple oral appraisal boards simultaneously. In all cases, it's very important to take good notes during the appraisals and complete the rating forms immediately after the interviews so you can distinguish between the candidates. If you want to discuss, please feel free to call me at 619 441-1749

From:	"Jill Sylvain" <JSYLVAIN@ci.san-luis-obispo.ca.us>

Currently the City has no official policy but we historically have limited the number of candidates to 13 per day and I agree this is a lot -it allows about 25 minutes of actual interviewing time per candidate. . There is a method to our madness for many of the positions are entry level, e.g Maint. Wrker, Office Assist., and we want as many people on the eligibility list as possible because then the various departments have more candidates to select from. The second interview, conducted by the department needing to fill a position, becomes very important and often goes on for several hours with each candidate. I believe this works well for these types of positions; I have observed thousands of interviews and a good oral board will usually i.d. the good, the bad and the ugly even in this short amount of time. I should add that more and more we are adding a "practical exam" portion to the process where another group of folks (usually employees of the hiring department) get to spend time w/candidates and have very informal input into ranking the candidates.

However, our process for mid and upper management positions is different. We do have fewer candidates (6-8) per day and the interview times are longer. Many times these are assessment centers and the candidates can appear before 3 different boards in a day. We are still establishing an eligibility list and want strong "back-up" califates but we are really looking for the one perfect candidate so we can afford to go with a smaller pool.

For Police Officer and Firefighter we do a minimum of two days of orals putting as many candidates as we can through the process because in police so many candidates wash-out in the backgrounds that we need "numbers" . Not true in Fire but our list is good for 2 years so we want numbers there also.

If you have any questions, call me at 805 781-7251. Jill Sylvain HR Analyst

From:	"Carolyn Wertheim" <CWertheim@mission-viejo.com>

We have various schedules for oral boards that are evaluated on two factors,

1. The position being recruited for

2. Number of applicants.

We have scheduled 15 applicants in one day. I have also participated in other cities' oral boards with the same level (ie 15 candidates).

While it may be a long day for the oral board members, when asked, they have consistently expressed a preference for completing the board in one day rather than returning for a second day.

One city currently utilizes a 'restaurants on the run' delivery service and rather than the oral board leaving for lunch, a separate lunch room is prepared for the members The members select their preferred meal item and then the restaurant delivers is at the designated time. This helps reduce the time needed for lunch and provides a few minutes more for the interviews.

On other suggestion is to have two separate oral boards on the same day interviewing. We have used this approach when needed, and I have participated in other cities where the same technique is also used.

Another technique is to limit the number of questions. We utilize a supplemental questionaire with our applications so that we have the opportunity to find out more about the applicant's knowledge and abilities up front. We can concentrate on a second level of information at the time of the oral interview.

The final suggestion I have is with regard to preparing for the interviews. Having easily completed rating / evaluation sheets and organized materials for each oral board member that they can review prior to the interview day has been a wonderful tool for many cities. Raters receive the books in advance, so there is time to review the application materials.

Hope this helps!

Carolyn Wertheim

City of Mission Viejo

From:	"Jill Olsen" <asd@thegrid.net>

The Town of Truckee does not have a formal policy, but we recommend no more

than 6-8 applicants for interviewing. If we should have more than 6-8

applicants that meet or exceed the minimum qualifications of the position

(we have not yet experienced that), we would make an exception to the

recommended limit. It works both ways for us...if we have no more than 3-4

that meet or exceed minimum qualifications, we only interview 3-4. Good

luck!

Jill Olsen

Administrative Services Director

Town of Truckee

fax: (530) 582-7710

From:	"Linda Downing" <ldowning@ci.marina.ca.us>

To:	Ken Schechter <KSCHECHT@ci.simi-valley.ca.us>

Date:	3/24/00 10:00:40 AM

Subject:	Re: [CSMFO Members] Oral Boards -Quick Survey

The City of Marina does not have a formal policy to limit the number of individuals interviewed by an oral board. We try to keep the number managable so that interviews can be conducted in one work day.

The length of the interview depends on the classification: Clerical 30 minutes; Management an hour. An eligibility list is established for future hirings on classifications with high turnover.

Linda R. Downing

Administrative Services Manager

City of Marina

From:	"Narayan, Tarun" <tarun_narayan@city.palo-alto.ca.us>

We don't have a specific policy on how many applicants are scheduled for an

Oral Board interview. In general the average is 5 per day with a possibility

of 8 per day. The number of applicants scheduled per day depends on the

position and/or the needs of the departments. If we have more than 5 or 8

candidates we will have oral board over multiple days.

From:	Sabrina Miranda <SMiranda@ci.vacaville.ca.us>

Your questions has been forwarded to me and I will try to answer it. I

should start by letting you know that I am a Personnel Analyst here in the

City of Vacaville, and one of my major responsibilities is to plan,

coordinate and administer oral examinations. There are no set rules on exam

planning, and analysts have a lot of discretion on how they handle their

assigned exams, but I will be glad to share with you what I do --which I

think is typical.

When scheduling candidates for an oral board I take into consideration the

level of the position and the number of questions the oral board will ask,

then I estimate how long it would take to give an average answer. Time

permitting I go through a mock interview to try it out and see how it flows.

I have found that you need less time for clerical and labor/maintenance oral

board interviews, about 20 minutes. On the other hand, I've also found you

need more time for professional and management positions, anywhere from 30

minutes to 45 minutes.

Cut-off decisions also impact the number of candidates who will be invited

to the oral board. The cut-off is the place where you draw the line as to

who will be selected to participate in the oral board interview. Ideally

cut-off decisions should be made objectively; for example, by ranking

candidates based on their score from a written exam or screening criteria.

The cut-off is not always a neat and optimal process because you have to

treat everyone with the same score equally. This means that you have to

either invite everyone with that score or no one with that score. If you

make the cut-off score higher you may not have enough candidates to meet the

agency's needs. Yet if you go just one rank or score lower sometimes you

have more candidates than you want or can interview in one day. If this is

the case then you hope for a cancellation, and/or you reduce the number of

questions to be asked. As you can see this is not an exact science, and

that's why analyst have so much discretion. I hope this information is

helpful.

Sabrina

From:	"Haney, Stacey" <SHaney@roseville.ca.us>

The City of Roseville does not have a specific number of candidates

who are invited to the oral exam. We too schedule numerous (up to 21)

candidates in a day. This "overscheduling" helps us to get oral board

members. In this day and age it is difficult to get people to commit to

more than one day of oral exams, therefore we try to get as many done in one

day as possible.

Stacey Haney

City of Roseville

From:	"Sherry Stewart" <SSTEWART@ci.santee.ca.us>

We do not have a specific policy for limiting the number of participants in an oral board. However, we typically keep the number of interviewees to 10 or less.

From:	"Shairon Williams" <Williams@ch.morgan-hill.ca.gov>

Hello there!

To answer your question, the City of Morgan Hill's HR dept do not have a policy or any rule on how many applicants would allow for a more productive day of interviews.

As the HR Analyst, and a person who facilitates many Oral Boards, I find a manageable number of applicant to be around 9. However that depends on the position we are interviewing for.

If for some reason we have to "load" an Oral Board, I would generally review the questions and limit those to the most pertinent. In doing that, we are able to keep the interview to alittle less than 20 mins, giving the raters ample time to complete the scoring sheet.

I believe that raters should rate as they go along throughout the day. We give two breaks, and one and one half hours for lunch. This way -if a rater needs to catch up -there is time to do so.

Clear as mud?

Call me if you would like to talk about this some more.

Sincerely,

Shairon Williams

(408) 779-7278 ext. 440

From:	"Alexis Heinz" <AHeinz@santa-clarita.com>

Ken, if you don't mind, Barbara Boswell forwarded this inquiry down to us in HR.

We do not have a formal policy on interview panels. We have some guidelines we

have always tried to stay consistant with, but are also flexible to each set of

interviews we hold. We hope we are able to meet the needs of that particular

department, division, time frame by this.

Indeed it is not optimal to have 10-12 candidates, but we have done it many

times. In fact we would rather have 10 good ones than 8 unless the timing

prohibits. (We try to discourage any more than that though.) If there are any

internal applicants then, we have a good number of outsiders to consider for

competition with 9-10 of them. We usually start our panel orientation at 8:15

or 8:45, with the first interviews at either 9:00 or 9:30. This way HR can sit

with the panel & go over the pre-arranged questions, the rating sheets, our

expectations of them as raters, & provide a light morning refreshment before

they start.

We try to provide an hour and a half for lunch for a a nice break, and wrap up

by 4:30 or sooner. It is a long day, which is why we try to provide a nice

lunch and the a.m. refreshment. We try to schedule not more than 1/2 hour

interviews (or less) if possible. Longer if there are less candidates, shorter

if the dept. can't narrow it down to less than 11 or 12. We try to have the

dept. create only 5-8 questions, then add a opening ice-breaker & a wrap up

question. We encourage our panelists to take notes during the interviews, & to

keep on track, & to discuss throughout the day once the candidate leaves, if

they wish. That way they are not so crunched to remember everything at the end

of the day, and we can offer constructive feedback if the candidate requests it.

We don't use formulas, percentages or number rankings. We use pass/no pass as

to whether they can perform the job, and seem appropriate to the level & a

general City fit. Then the dept. rep. can choose at the end, who is strongest

v. weakest, to bring back a second time to meet their division staff or dept.

head.

Occasionally we administer a written assessment, computer exercise, or plan

identification, on the same day as interviews, separately from the orals.

Sometimes a practical "hands on" may also be administered on second round of

interviews to top candidates, or a "ride around" for some of the field

positions. Sometimes the candidates may have already participated in a formal

exam for the position.

I hope this helps. Please feel free to call or write if you want eny other

feedback! Alexis Heinz

Administrative Analyst, Human Resources, Santa Clarita. Ph. (661)255-4320

From:	"Candis Hong" <FICHONG@mx.ci.thousand-oaks.ca.us>

Although Thousand Oaks does not have an official policy, we do limit interviews to about 8 or 10 on management positions. We have had two oral boards (at the same time) in the past for our general unit positions, most recently customer service representative, and they together interviewed about 18 people. You are right, it is hard to remember everyone by the end of the day if you have more than 10.

On another note, could you e-mail me, or send me your job description, for Budget Officer? I have been trying to convince our City Manager that we need a position in Finance like you have in Simi Valley. Thanks.

Candis Hong

Finance Director/Treasurer

2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd.

Thousand Oaks, CA 91362

Phone 805-449-2241

Fax 805-449-2250

e-mail: fichong@mx.ci.thousand-oaks.ca.us