Finding the Right Candidate Takes a Disciplined Approach

Interviewing Correctly Increases Team Morale and Company Profits

tardinessStatistically, as mentioned in the last issue, 20% of employees in America will be chronically late for work, every day. However great the problem chronic lateness is, it is far from the only risk each of us faces at the point of hiring a new employee.

If a company or hiring manager needs incentive to increase interviewing to a higher level of excellence, taking the time to make sure the right employee is in the right job has a direct effect on bottomline performance and employee longevity. Some say that finding the right people for the job can also reduce stress and increase productivity as much as 30%!  The best companies recognize this and do something about it.

Finding the Right Person for the Job

The single most important and most challenging decision for most business owners or managers is selecting the right employee for the right job.  Unfortunately, most owners and managers tend to be inexperienced and unskilled in interviewing and selection of the right job candidate.  So, how does one go about hiring the right person?  Very carefully!  It’s like the old adage: there are two ways of hiring people:

Option 1:  Assemble a cooperative, high performance team;

Option 2:  Don’t.

If not properly prepared to face the interview, you may be preparing for option 2.

Increasing the chances of hiring the right person takes more effort.  But, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  To be prepared properly, a hiring manager needs to have a clear view of the specific job (we’re not just hiring bodies) and interview specific people for specific reasons.  A manager needs to make hiring decisions with intent and purpose and be able to justify (at least to himself or herself) the rationale for the selection decision.

Preparing to Hire

If a business owner or hiring manager does not understand the position for which he is hiring–and that is a frequent problem–then he or she has placed himself at a serious disadvantage in choosing the right person.  Before conducting an interview, a hiring manager should create and/or review a written document describing the responsibilities and expectations from the position and the behaviors that would be required or expected. A company needs to have basic descriptions for each position, including responsibilities, expectations and behavioral needs of the person holding the position.  Secondly, an interviewer should have a strategy for questioning and conversing.  The hiring manager should study and write-out questions specifically aimed at uncovering the presence of those characteristics that would be required for the best choice for the specific job.  The following paragraphs will describe such methods.

Conducting the Interview

Of course, there are the standard interview questions concerning the interviewees’ desire for a specific job, why they believe they are the one candidate right for the job, and so forth.  Also, a lot of information should have already been available to the interviewer by studying what (and how) information has been prepared in the resume.  But to conduct a highly effective and efficient interview and to accede to a greater level of skill, behavioral or situational/success story questions can uncover many more characteristics on which to base hiring decisions.  Interviewing, using this strategy is sometimes referred to as performance-based or experience-based interviewing.  Here are a few examples of situational performance or success story interview questions:

  • “Give an example of a time you felt you were able to build motivation in co-workers.”
  • “Describe a time when you persuaded team members to do something your way when you did not have the authority to order them to do so.”
  • “Discuss a time when a hard-worked project for which you were responsible did not work out as planned and what came out of the experience.”

In any given scenario the interviewee needs to recount what actions were taken during a similar episode in their career. A good interview should have pre-selected questions of this type (three or four) to bring to light any aptitude for specific desired behaviors for the position.

Careful Listening is the Key to Making the Right Selection:

The answer to such questions has the effect of exposing a lot about the characteristics, work instincts, habits and values of the interviewee. The responses will also demonstrate abilities for thinking on one’s feet, how articulate is the candidate in explaining situations to others, his or her ownership of responsibilities and actions, and conversational appropriateness. A battery of questions can be prepared specifically to fit all company needs and surrounding numerous behavior characteristics such as “working with others, “accountability”, “leadership style,” and so forth. From these questions specific, targeted interview questions can be selected.

References and Personal Rapport:

Interviewers often wonder if it is worth it to follow-up on supplied references. The answer is a firm “Yes!” Overconfident candidates have been known to supply references from former employers who have actually fired them. The best interviewers do not pass up an opportunity to gain intelligence that will help in any important decision and, not the least of which, is interviewing a potential new employee. The rapport, or chemistry, with a candidate should also not be discounted. Experienced managers do develop a feel for people and it’s important to listen to those instincts. We know that we can feel a certain chemistry in any relationship and this potential new relationship is also subject to those gut-level instincts.

Is Scientific Testing a Possibility and/or Appropriate?

Finally, there are a number of tests that are available that measure a person’s learning or working style and basic personality types.  One of the most well known is the MBTI or Myers-Briggs Type Inventory. Others include assessments such as True Colors, and the LSI or Learning Style Inventory which is often used in professional training or educational settings.  Each is designed to provide a rough sketch of how a personality fits into certain learning and working situations.  Most of these are too cumbersome for initial interviewing but some companies will use such tools in a follow-up of final candidates.  One, however, not quite as well known but very effective is quick enough to use.  The Gregoric Style Delineator, A Self-assessment Instrument for Adults, by Anthony F. Gregoric, Ph.D., is one that can be taken in just a few minutes and produces very interesting results about work and learning styles that also correlate well with personality type assessments.  Remember, in a flexible personality, learning and working styles can be stretched.

Selecting the right employee doesn’t just happen; it takes preparation, thought and work.  Taking a more disciplined approach to candidate selection by considering behavioral and experiential approaches to interviewing will pay off in numerous ways and will make for a more satisfying experience for both the candidate, the hiring manager, and the company in general.

For more information about how we can help you with your Human Resources and hiring processes, call us at 888-700-8512, request a proposal or contact us.