Hire Winners: Ask the Right Questions

Home
>
Business Management
>
Hire Winners: Ask the Right Questions

Hire Winners: Ask the Right Questions

How do you as a manager, supervisor or team leader hire winners? One very successful interviewing technique is behavioral interviewing---selecting the right person for the right job using a job-related rather than a gut feel approach. A job-related approach is asking for a behavioral example of skills and traits that are required for a position.

A behavioral example is a description, by the job applicant, of a specific event that shows in detail how she did something or handled a problem or made a decision. The rationale for asking for behavioral examples is the notion that the best predictor of what individuals will do in the future is what they have done in the past.

Let's take a typical interview question and turn it into one that leads to getting a good behavioral example of a specific trait required for a position.

Q. "What is one of your strong points?"

A. "I feel that one of my strong point is that I 'm very determined and hard-working."

Q. "Can you give me an example of when you went the extra mile to get your job done?"

A. "Last October we were facing the most demanding time of the year when a flu epidemic struck the office. Out of seven people in the office, five were sick, leaving one secretary and myself to get all of the work done. What I did was commit myself to working 12-hour days, straight in a row for a week, in order to be sure that we were dealing with all of our customers' needs. My boss, who was one of the sick people, afterwards thanked me personally for going the extra mile and put a highly recommended letter into my file."

The key to behavioral questions is that you ask for specific examples of past performance. Behavioral questions typically contain phrases like:

"Tell me about a time when....."

"Give me an example of......"

"How did you.....?"

Note how the following question has been rephrased so that it will elicit a behavioral example:

Original: "Have you had experience training new supervisors?"

Revised: "Tell me about a time when you had to hire and train a new supervisor. How did you go about it? Would you do anything differently?"

By using this technique of interviewing you can also gain behavioral examples related to specific skills. For example:

Motivate Others
"Tell me about a time when you needed to motivate your staff and had to deal with morale problems."

Time Management
"Tell me about a time you had a very busy day at your last job. How did you organize your day and get your job done?"

Decisiveness
"Give me an example of a decision you had to make quickly under pressure. How did you approach it, and how did it work out?"

Problem-solving
"What was a problem that you had to deal with in your last job? Tell me how you went about solving it."

After the person has answered your initial question, you can then probe for more detail---what they did; how they felt; what they said; etc. Probes encourage the applicant to elaborate and to clarify.

For example, an applicant may indicate having good rapport with a supervisor by saying, "We got along pretty well most of the time, but then, like most people, we occasionally had disagreements."

The probe---"Can you tell me more about the disagreements" will clarify ambiguous meaning. A disagreement could mean anything from a bloody nose to a mild difference of opinion.

As you hear answers to the various questions and probes, begin rating the applicant on the basic of evidence of the skill, knowledge, trait or experience. This could be a simple 1 to 5 scale from little or no evidence to very strong evidence that the skill/knowledge/trait/experience is present. These ratings can give you a more accurate assessment of the person's suitability for the position than just a gut feeling you have about the person.

Remember in hiring winners, always have your goal in mind---getting and clarifying information to make a smart hiring decision.

Marcia Zidle, the 'people smarts' coach, works with business leaders to quickly solve their people management headaches so they can concentrate on their #1 job to grow and increase profits. She offers free help through Leadership Briefing, a weekly e-newsletter with practical tips on leadership style, employee motivation, recruitment and retention and relationship management. Subscribe by going to http://leadershiphooks.com/ and get the bonus report "61 Leadership Time Savers and Life Savers". Marcia is the author of the What Really Works Handbooks resources for managers on the front line and the Power-by-the-Hour programs fast, convenient, real life, affordable courses for leadership and staff development. She is available for media interviews, conference presentations and panel discussions on the hottest issues affecting the workplace today. Contact Marcia at 800-971-7619.

In The News:

Yahoo! News: Top Stories

Democrats criticize Obama's proposed tax cuts (AP)

AP - President-elect Barack Obama's proposed tax cuts ran into opposition Thursday from senators in his own party who said they wouldn't do much to stimulate the economy or create jobs. Senators from both parties agreed that Congress should do something to stimulate the economy. But Democratic senators emerging from a private meeting of the Senate Finance Committee criticized business and individual tax cuts in Obama's stimulus plan.

UN Security Council calls for immediate Gaza truce (AP)

AP - The U.N. Security Council called for an "immediate" and "durable" cease-fire in Gaza in a resolution Thursday night even as fighting between Israel and Hamas raged Â— with early morning airstrikes killing seven Palestinians and pushing the death toll to about 760 in the near two-week conflict.

Mini Dynasty: Tebow leads Gators past Oklahoma (AP)

AP - The game defied expectations. Tim Tebow fulfilled them. He rescued No. 1 Florida, running through and throwing over No. 2 Oklahoma for a 24-14 victory Thursday night that gave the Gators their second BCS championship in three years.

Key panel recommends impeaching Ill. governor (AP)

AP - A key panel unanimously recommended impeachment for Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Thursday, setting up a vote that could make him the first governor to face such fate in Illinois' sordid political history. Blagojevich should lose his job for abusing power, mismanaging government and committing possible criminal acts, including federal allegations he tried to sell off a U.S. Senate seat, the special committee concluded.

Job losses stack up as recession deepens (AP)

AP - Trying to survive a deepening recession, employers are cutting their work forces to the bone, leaving more Americans unemployed and with dim prospects of finding a new job any time soon.

Oversight panel wants better answers from Treasury (AP)

AP - Less than a month after its first report, a congressional panel overseeing the Treasury Department's $700 billion financial bailout is demanding more answers.

Critics' final answer: `Slumdog' wins 5 awards (AP)

AP - The critics have spoken, and "Slumdog Millionaire" is their final answer.

Cheney: CIA did nothing illegal in interrogations (AP)

AP - Vice President Dick Cheney said Thursday that he sees no reason for President George W. Bush to pre-emptively pardon anyone at the CIA involved in harsh interrogations of suspected terrorists. "I don't have any reason to believe that anybody in the agency did anything illegal," he said.

Petraeus: Afghan, Pakistan problems are really one (AP)

AP - U.S. policy to win in Afghanistan must recognize the poor nation's limitations and its neighborhood, especially its intertwined relationship with U.S. terrorism-fighting ally Pakistan, the top U.S. military commander in the region said Thursday.

Prosecutors: Madoff was ready to send out $173M (AP)

AP - Prosecutors said Thursday that investigators found 100 signed checks worth $173 million in Bernard Madoff's office desk that he was ready to send out to his closest family and friends at the time of his arrest last month in what is alleged to be largest financial fraud in history.

U.N. calls for immediate Gaza truce (Reuters)

Reuters - Israel pushed ahead with its offensive in the Gaza Strip on Friday, ignoring a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire to the 14-day-old conflict.

World waits on jobs data as recession weighs (Reuters)

Reuters - U.S. employers probably cut the most jobs in at least 34 years last month as the global economic crisis gathered pace and moves by policy makers took time to filter through to struggling companies.

Citi backs measure to help avoid foreclosures (Reuters)

Reuters - Financial giant Citigroup Inc will support a proposal in Congress to rewrite U.S. bankruptcy law to help troubled mortgage borrowers avoid foreclosure, Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said on Thursday.

Panel steps up criticism of Treasury: report (Reuters)

Reuters - A report being released on Friday alleges that the U.S. Treasury has failed to reveal its strategy for stabilizing the financial system, not answered questions asked by a government watchdog, and has done nothing to help struggling homeowners, the Wall Street Journal said.

Illinois panel recommends governor's impeachment (Reuters)

Reuters - A legislative committee on Thursday recommended the impeachment of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, citing widespread abuse of power including allegations he tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

Obama team amending financial rescue package: report (Reuters)

Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama's economic team is urgently overhauling the $700 billion financial rescue package to broaden its scope beyond Wall Street, The Washington Post reported on Friday.

Qaeda Pakistan leader believed dead: U.S. official (Reuters)

Reuters - Al Qaeda's operations chief in Pakistan and a top aide are believed to be dead, a U.S. counterterrorism official said on Thursday, in what appeared to be the latest results of a campaign targeting the militant group's leadership.

Accused swindler Madoff "warm and charming": report (Reuters)

Reuters - Some friends of accused swindler Bernard Madoff considered him a "warm and charming" man, and one of his alleged victims praised him just before his death in 2005, Fox Business Network reported on Thursday.

Gaza toll mounts as UN Security Council urges immediate truce (AFP)

AFP - Israel carried out new deadly air raids on the Gaza Strip on Friday as the UN Security Council called for an immediate ceasefire to end the two-week-old conflict in the Palestinian enclave.

Progress in resolving gas row as Russia agrees to monitors (AFP)

AFP - Hopes for a quick resumption of Russian gas supplies to Europe were rising Friday after Russia agreed on the terms for the deployment of monitors in Ukraine.

Hire Winners: Ask the Right Questions

Business Management Business Management