This topic came at the perfect time for me. I was recently selected to be Vice President of the organization I am involved with and part of those responsibilities are holding interviews and selecting the rest of the members of the general board. Students interested in being on the board had to fill out and submit an application and then those students will be interviewed by the new President and Vice President. The challenge for me on though, is that most of these students are my friends. I go to most of the programs that this organization holds, part of the reason why I am so involved with it. Most of the students applying for board positions also attend many of the events--being on board is a way for them to be even more involved with the organization. Personally knowing certain students makes me want to work with them more--I have a friendship with them and know what they will bring to the table as a board member.
However, the problem arises when certain friends do not fill out the application as extensively as they should have. They have many ideas and we have talked about them as friends, but those ideas did not make it into their application. I know that I am only allowed to consider what is on the paper when judging the applications--but how can I read their responses and know that so much is missing?
During the interviews, am I allowed to ask them questions that will make them give me the rest of the answer that I am looking for, that is can I help them along in the interview to show them what they forgot to include in their application? What about the students that I don't know as well, where I haven't had those kinds of conversations? Is it fair to them for me to ask the same questions knowing that they've already answered them?
What it comes down to for me, is to judge everyone based on the information gleaned from the application and the interview. More importantly, it is the job of the other students on the interview panel to make the first judgement--I cannot say whether I think this person should or should not be on board because of what I know from a relationship outside of the organization. Everyone needs to be judged fairly. In the case of full disclosure, it should be known that I have a relationship with this person, but that should be known from the nature of our organization and the students applying for board positions.
However, the problem arises when certain friends do not fill out the application as extensively as they should have. They have many ideas and we have talked about them as friends, but those ideas did not make it into their application. I know that I am only allowed to consider what is on the paper when judging the applications--but how can I read their responses and know that so much is missing?
During the interviews, am I allowed to ask them questions that will make them give me the rest of the answer that I am looking for, that is can I help them along in the interview to show them what they forgot to include in their application? What about the students that I don't know as well, where I haven't had those kinds of conversations? Is it fair to them for me to ask the same questions knowing that they've already answered them?
What it comes down to for me, is to judge everyone based on the information gleaned from the application and the interview. More importantly, it is the job of the other students on the interview panel to make the first judgement--I cannot say whether I think this person should or should not be on board because of what I know from a relationship outside of the organization. Everyone needs to be judged fairly. In the case of full disclosure, it should be known that I have a relationship with this person, but that should be known from the nature of our organization and the students applying for board positions.
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