On September 11–12, 2023, with the support of the USAID Justice for All Activity Program, training on improving interviewing skills was conducted for members of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine.
The event was held with the participation of psychologist Frank van Luijk, who has over 30 years of experience in developing and improving evaluation criteria and conducting assessments of judicial and prosecutorial candidates in Europe, including his native country of the Netherlands, as well as Romania, Macedonia, Armenia, Germany, and Ukraine.
In addition, Ruslana Korzh, a consultant on leadership skills and human resource functional capacity building, continuous development, and ensuring proper performance of operational and business activities, who has over 16 years of experience in the legal field, spoke at the event.
The participants learned:
- How the interview process is organized in the Netherlands. Opportunities to improve the quality and efficiency of interviews in the HQCJ.
- How best to structure and conduct an interview in the format of a collegial body meeting.
- How to assess the truthfulness of the candidate’s answers and his/her sincerity, given the assumption that the candidate is trying to please HQCJ members with his/her answers.
- What should be done with information that raises doubts about the candidate after reviewing his/her dossier.
During the training, the members of the Commission improved their knowledge, skills, and abilities, which are necessary to conduct interviews with judges and judicial candidates as part of the qualification evaluation.