Every company has the same challenge, finding the right talent for their organization who has the ‘right’ mix of technical and soft skills. In fact I would suggest that for most companies this is the single biggest challenge they face because what works, or doesn’t in the company often relates to having the right people.
Here’s the rub. Someone is promoted into a managerial role and they now have to hire. Who teaches them how to interview? How do they know what questions to ask and how to assess talent? The answer is no one teaches them or helps them learn how to interview well. Why? Because most managers do not know how to interview effectively. I’d even say that even those in HR often don’t know how to effectively interview and if they don’t who is going to teach others?
Successful interviewing is a mix of science and art. Let me define what I mean by successful. An interview is successful if the person conducting the interview is able to determine the skills, experience and background of the candidate. AND has been able to assess the interpersonal skills as well. This only means that you know enough about the candidate to make an informed decision about their fit for the role and your company.
Most managers can interview for technical competencies. The list of questions below is to assist you in determining how the candidate fits with your culture. Before starting any interviews take the time to determine which of your current staff has the characteristics that make them stars for you. What are the common denominators about them? You will be looking as you interview, for people with the same or more of these same characteristics.
The questions below don’t have a right/wrong answer. They are to help you learn about who the person is and how they think. Take the time to consider how they respond to each question and what their responses tell you about them.
Tell me about yourself: I ask this question simply to see how they respond. For example do they ask a question such as ‘what do you want to know about me or do you want me to discuss my work experience or education or something else’ or do they simply jump in. The candidate who asks the question tells you something important about them. Regardless of whether they ask a question or not where they start clues you in to what they think.
Tell me about a time in your life you consider a failure: Do they bring up the university which didn’t accept them, something significant at work or something personal? What they consider failure may be telling.
Tell me about the person you admire most and one you admire least, and why for each. Someone living or not? Someone they know personally, or not? Someone in their professional environment or someone personal?
Tell me about a mistake you make in dealing with people. Note, I’m not asking about a mistake they made in a situation, but a person. Do they hear the question and understand the distinction? It’s what they consider a mistake and who the person was that is useful information for you to know.
What happens when you get bored? Everyone gets bored at some point. Someone who says they don’t is either lying to you or themselves. How they respond to boredom provides insight into their thinking.
Describe a thorny problem you have experienced and how you handled it. I’m looking for what they saw as thorny, do they fess up to anything as being a problem and how they actually dealt with it.
How do you handle interruptions? Interruptions plague organizations. I’m not assuming they scream and yell, and I’m interested in how they respond to the question…have they ever thought about it, has it been a concern for them, how has it impacted them etc. etc.
How do you deal with a situation where you don’t know the answer but need to make a decision? How do they respond to the discomfort of not knowing? Do they think they always know the answers? Do they ask for help, sit and ponder, don’t care if they make the correct decision…you get the point.
Give me an example of where you had way too much to do, deadlines to meet and you weren’t going to be able to get it all done. How did you handle it? What do they say about how they handled it tells you a lot about their thinking. The candidate that says this has never happened isn’t being truthful.
Tell me about a time where you had to overcome a major obstacle to meet a challenge. What do they consider the obstacle, the challenge? Was it something that happens in life every day or something big?
For hiring sales people: If you made (pick an amount that is more than they are making now or might make) how would you spend the money? Way back when I was hiring recruiters (sales people) I was interested in how they would spend $100K if they made it (yes way back). Paying off debt or buying a house tells you something different than buying a new car or another possession. No judgement on my part, just what they consider important.
These aren’t the only questions I would ask and I hope they will get you thinking. Candidates are always prepared for the standard interview questions of ‘why did you leave company X’ or ‘what are your strengths or weaknesses’ or ‘tell me about your accomplishments’. You want to ask questions that they won’t have answers to, AND are thinking questions.
Who someone is as a person is always much more important that what they have done (skills/experience/education) as the ‘who’ tells you what you can expect from them and how they will fit with your company’s culture. People can learn skills but it’s difficult to teach them how to think/be different. My brother, who is a doctor once told me that he felt his education (University of Pennsylvania Medical School), his internship and residency (at Duke) only opened doors for him. After that he had to step through and there was always another door. Skills/experience and education may open a door but the rest is up to the person.
Learning to interview to discover who the person is at their core, not what they want you to know about them is a skill that requires an investment of your time to learn and practice. Forget everything you have learned about interviewing and get to know the person, not the person’s skills or experience. Are those important? Of course and they won’t tell you what to expect of them once they are on your team.
