SEPTEMBER
2001
The
Complete Interviewer’s Guide
IF
YOUR ORGANIZATION IS LIKE MOST OTHERS, about 3.4
job candidates will be interviewed for each important position
opening. The competing candidates in all likelihood will be
seen over a number of weeks. Impressions will blur, and no
one will remember if that clever question asked of Candidate
3 was also asked of Candidates 1 and 2. In the end, members
of the interview panel will gravitate to the person they seemed
to like the best. It will be a miracle if he or she is best
qualified.
A number
of companies that consistently hire well – i.e., that
hire individuals who succeed on the job – are abandoning
the traditional interviewing process. That process, known
to almost everyone who has ever been considered for a job,
consists of having large numbers of people conduct short and
often superficial interviews, in which snap judgments are
formed (e.g., “She seemed ill at ease”).
An alternative,
espoused by Dr. Brad Smart in his popular book Topgrading
(Prentice Hall Press, 1999), is to have one or two persons
conduct a highly structured interview that will take several
hours and be repeated with each contestant. Perhaps the best
model is a two-person team consisting of the hiring manager
as lead questioner and a human resources professional as observer,
note-taker and relief questioner. If others need to place
their stamp of approval on a candidate, a series of brief
interviews can follow.
Two principal
benefits of the structured interview are that it can probe
for likely success factors on the job and can be repeated
with all candidates, allowing a fair comparison of how each
performed.
Moreover,
the candidate knows that he or she is being carefully evaluated
– yet spared the agony of answering the same ten questions
over and over again by each new member of the interview panel.
Below
is one approach to a structured interview. The reader can
judge whether it beats the “What are your greatest strengths
and weaknesses” style of questioning that was in vogue
for so long.
1.
Tell me/us a little about yourself.
Dr. Smart
does not like this question, but we do. It relaxes the candidate
and provides an early test of whether the candidate is articulate
or inarticulate, concise or verbose, insightful or obtuse.
2.
At this point in your career, what would be the perfect job
for you?
I.e.,
is there a match with the job at hand?
3.
Based on what you know so far, what is most appealing to you
about the job here? (Follow up:) What, if any, concerns do
you have?
These
questions provide valuable clues concerning selling points
to emphasize and issues to address.
In the
next set of questions, we focus in depth on what the candidate
has really done, as opposed to what the résumé
claims has been done. Clarify, and then clarify some more.
Dig, and then dig again.
4.
Let’s turn to your present job. To whom do you report,
and what does that person do?
After
describing the boss’s responsibilities, the candidate
is less likely to exaggerate his own.
5.
Tell me about your personal responsibilities.
Probe
for duties, budget, size of staff, etc.
6.
What are your three greatest achievements to date in your
current job – and why?
Alternatively,
read them out loud from the résumé. In either
case, follow up with:
7.
How exactly did you accomplish each?
It’s
one thing to assert that a new product made it to market in
12 weeks, or scrap was reduced by 67 percent, or sales increased
by 23 percent. It’s another to describe specific actions
taken. Was the candidate a causative agent or mere bystander?
(Repeat
Questions 4-7 for the candidate’s two previous jobs,
or more if desired.)
8.
How did you come to leave each of those jobs?
Do you
sense candor or evasiveness?
9.
How would your current employees describe you? (Follow up:)
And how would your boss?
In complex
organizations, successful people need to know the effect they
have on others – a level of awareness called “emotional
intelligence.” Questions 8 and 9 are both designed to
get at this.
10.
Tell me about some of the people you’ve hired in recent
years, how they’ve worked out and what you did with
any poor performers.
How does
the candidate go about hiring people, developing them and
dealing with problems? Will those approaches work in your
organization?
11.
What risks have you taken in your current job, and what were
the results?
This
will help assess whether the person takes prudent risks, takes
foolish risks or is risk-aversive. Award extra points if a
candidate is self-assured enough to mention a failure or two
along the way.
12.
All of us are a combination of strengths and weaknesses. Can
you tell me about a shortcoming that affected your work performance
and what you did to overcome it?
Most
people can express a fault or two, especially if well prepared
for an interview. Was the candidate able, however, to modify
personal behavior in a way that ameliorated the problem?
13.
Companies, too, have strengths and weaknesses. What are some
of the things your employer could do to be more successful?
This
question gives insight into the candidate’s analytical
skills and breadth of perspective. Look for responses that
address a wide range of issues – people, products, processes
and markets.
14.
When you have a “drop everything” crisis at work,
how do you enlist the support of others?
People
have a variety of management styles, ranging from dictatorial
(“Cancel all your plans”) to beseeching (“Would
it be possible for you to work a little bit late tonight?”).
What style best fits your corporate culture? How about the
answer, “Our team is so close-knit, I don’t even
have to ask”?
15.
As you look back at your career so far, what has been your
single biggest disappointment – and how did you deal
with it?
Candidates
are taught relentlessly to sell, sell, sell during an interview.
How someone learns from life’s setbacks (a missed promotion,
a customer’s cancellation of an important order, etc.)
may be a better measure of personal growth.
16.
Other than more money and benefits (which we’d all like
to have), what changes or improvements in your current work
situation would make it so attractive that you wouldn’t
want to leave?
This
question accomplishes three goals. First, it identifies those
work values (title, responsibility, recognition, etc.) that
the candidate holds dear but finds lacking in the current
job. Second, you and your search consultant gain insight into
what benefits of the new position should be emphasized with
each particular candidate. Third, if the candidate of choice
later waffles about accepting your offer, you can remind the
person – in his or her own words – of the many
reasons for changing jobs, most or all of which will still
exist.
17.
Let’s take a break, and then we can discuss everything
you want to know about the new position, the people you’ll
work with if you come on board, and what we see as the opportunities
in our company for someone like you…
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