Plain and Simple: Bright Business Insights Summer 2019 | Page 10

BUILD A STRONG ORGANIZATION WITH AN INTERVIEW PLAN
Are You Hiring The Right People?
In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins writes, “Those who build start with a few easy, closed-ended questions to get the conversation
great organizations understand that the ultimate throttle on growth for started. Then encourage them to talk openly about themselves with
any great organization is not markets, or technology, or competition, a few open-ended questions. Their answers will give you a good
or products. It is one thing above all others: the ability to get and keep indication of their overall strengths and weaknesses.
enough of the right people.”
Past Performance Questions
Before you begin interviewing for your next job opening, ask yourself
“Tell me about a time when…”
the following questions:
What Kind of People Do We Want To Hire?
Think through this question before you actually start the recruiting
process to gain better insight into the type of person you’re looking
for to fill your open position. Once you have your ideal candidate in
mind, you’ll have a better understanding of what you need to do to go
out and find this individual.
Consider your current star employees. What specific competencies
do they demonstrate that you want to duplicate? Then, take a look
at the job description that has already been drawn up for the open
Past performance questions are important and you’ll have great
success with these questions if you are able to link the applicant’s
performance stories with your identified competencies. Try to
determine how the applicant responds under pressure and identify
how he or she has performed in the past. This information will
be instrumental in your decision-making process.
Negative-Balance Questions
“Give an example of something you are NOT so proud of.”
position and reshape it to include these competencies. Negative-balance questions can help you paint a more complete
Additionally, think about the personal characteristics that are like to pursue a candidate further.
needed to perform the job functions well. Are you looking for an
extrovert? Someone with a keen eye for detail? An experienced
picture of the applicant and can help you decide whether you’d
Question Layering
team player? There are several tools available today that can provide
“Who? What? When? Where? Why?”
you with reliable information about a candidate’s natural personal
characteristics, which will help you determine if they truly are the Question layering is another good technique to help you
right fit for your company. determine if a person is the right candidate for the job. Play the
What Questions Can We Ask The Candidate To Learn Most
About Him or Her?
role of beat reporter and work to peel the onion by asking basic
interview questions.
essential tools of the interview process and should be strategically What Interviewing Styles Should We Include In Our
Interviewing Plan?
designed to help you gather as much information as possible from Four different interviewing styles should be included in your bag of
the applicant in order to help you make an informed decision. The tricks. Feel free to use one, two or even all four over the course of
following are examples of different kinds of questions that can be your interview.
Do you take the time to prepare questions beforehand? Questions are
asked during the interview process.
Open-Ended Questions
“I’m interested in hearing about…”
Closed-ended questions such as, “Can you start Monday?” can be
appropriate during an interview. However, open-ended questions
clearly solicit more information. Have several open-ended
questions prepped and ready to go. You want your applicants to feel
comfortable, so be sure not to rush into the Q&A process. Maybe
Situational Interview Style
The situational interviewer believes that the closer you can
get to a real work situation, the better the evaluation will be.
Get applicants to perform some aspect of the job. Give them a
chance to show you what they can do.
Personality Profiler Style
The personality profiler asks for descriptors. “What would your
co-workers identify as your strengths and weakness?” or “Give
me three words to describe yourself.”