TL;DR: Interview Training Paths are a key piece of the GoodTime Interviewer Training feature as they connect your existing interview templates (that you schedule from) with your trainees (who need to shadow/reverse shadow) so that they can build and practice their interview skills. This section provides an overview of what Interviewer Training Paths are and how you set them up within GoodTime's Interviewer Training feature. Before we start, it might be helpful to define some key terms used:
Definitions:
Training Path: A Training Path outlines the 'recipe' used to train a new interviewer. It lists the Training Classes (see below) a trainee must complete, it indicates how these classes are linked to existing interview template(s). The Training Path also details the tag(s) that a trainee will receive once they have completed all classes in a Training Path and are graduated.
Path Name:
- A Training Path name is internal only - meaning trainee's will not see this.
- We recommend creating unambiguous path names: For example, "Backend Engineer - Coding" or "Sales Effectiveness - Sr Sales Representative
Classes:
- Defined by either “Shadow’ or “Reverse Shadow” and can be customized per path.
- When Adding Classes, consider the total number of interviews a trainee will need to attend before becoming a certified interviewer.
Description:
- Path descriptions are internal only - meaning trainee's will not see this.
- We recommend providing clear context so that any user can easily understand why this path has been created. This description field allows you to create an overview of the path and the goal for interviewers once they complete the corresponding classes.
Add Tags:
- The tags listed here will be added to the trainee's interviewer profiles once they've completed all their training classes and are graduated from this Training Path
- NOTE: Tags listed here will not be used to identify and add trainees to interviews but will only be used to indicate that a trainee has become a qualified interviewer once graduated.
- We recommend prior to setting up a new path that you already have:
1) a tag created for your trainees to graduate into (typically this tag represents an existing interviewer pool you want to expand)
2) the above tag in use within an interview scheduling template(s)
Building a Training Path:
With an understanding of all the definitions above, and having already setup your tags and reviewed your interview templates, building a training path is a very intuitive process. The image below provides an overview of what a correctly built training path may look like. Correctly linking Interview Templates to a Path will allow you to automate adding Trainees to interviews when scheduling with those templates - this process is where GoodTime users often make errors - more information on linking interview templates correctly is included below the image.
How to Link Interview Templates to Training Paths:
- When creating a new training path, each path will need to be linked to at least one interview template to allow you to schedule trainees to attend training classes (that is shadow or reverse shadow the linked interview events). You will not be able to create interview templates from this page - if you need to create an interview template follow this link.
- You may link multiple relevant templates. In the example below: for our 'Java Skill' training path, we have linked interview scheduling templates for both 'Engineering L4 Virtual Onsite' and 'Senior Java Engineer - Virtual Onsite'.
- Once you link templates, you'll see a drop down menu appear to list the interview events associated with each interview template. Unless your interview template has only a single event, you should click the drop down menu to select the relevant interview events you want associated with this training path. NOTE: failing to do this step can result in your trainees being incorrectly invited to shadow events that are not relevant to their training path.
In the example below: you can see that two interview templates have been linked but only the 'Java Skills' interview events have been toggled on to link with this 'Java Skills' training path.
- NOTE: The naming conventions on the template drop downs will reflect the event titles under 'Interview Panel' in your Interview Template. If you have more questions on how Interview Templates can be set up for Interviewer Training, you can find more information here.
The video below provides an overview and recommendations on how you can set up a Path within Interviewer Training:
If you already have existing trainees that are externally managed, here’s the way that you can merge them into GoodTime
- Take inventory of what types of interviews are currently being managed by your external training plan
- Assess where you need more interviewers – and if those are not currently being supported by your external training plan
- Review your tags and interview templates
- Start creating Interview Training Paths into GoodTime
- Onboard any new trainee into the GoodTime Interview Training program
- Give 'credit' to trainees who may have already completed training externally to GoodTime by adjusting their individual training class list.