Interview Right; tips for hiring managers.

I few years ago I worked with a hiring manager to fill three full-time positions in her department. We read hundreds of resumes and identified 10 candidates for in-person interviews. We decided that it would be best to have a panel interview, myself and the hiring manager. The final interview would be with the VP.

To prepare for the interview, I scheduled a meeting with the manager to develop behavioral interview questions that I had developed. The hiring manager responded, “I don’t need interview questions, I prefer to have a conversation, get to know the candidates”. I reiterated the value of the interview questions, but was quickly turned down. During the interviews, the hiring manager talked about the position, daily duties and projects. “I need someone who can juggle multiple tasks and projects, is comfortable working long hours and is a dedicated team member. How do you feel about that?” How do you suppose the candidates responded? They said enthusiastically, “Yes! I can do all those things!”

The interview process is about identifying the work experience and skills that best matches the position requirements and delivers value to the company. Below are a few tips for managers:

1. Reflect on the required knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) for the position. If you’re replacing an incumbent, ask yourself how has the position changed? Consider customer/client volume, quality and quantity of work, ability to multi-task many tasks and projects, problem solve, meet deadlines, experience collaborating with other teams/departments or clients. What are the daily challenges in the position? What candidate skills, experience and abilities are required to meet or exceed those challenges? What skills are necessary to support the position and a growing company? What about soft skills? Soft skills are just as important as technical skills.

2. Develop behavioral interview questions that focus on critical KSAs for the position. Your developing a script for your interviews. Behavioral interview questions are based on the premise that past behavior indicates future behavior. You want to know WHAT, HOW, WHY and the OUTCOME on the customer and company.

   Behavioral interview question example: Provide an example of a time where you had to solve a customer complaint. What was the complaint? How did you resolve it? Why did you choose that resolution? What was the outcome and/or result on the customer and company?

3. Situational Interview questions. This focuses on how a candidate would handle a specific situation, a hypothetical situation.

   For example: There was a situation in our office last week where a customer yelled at one of our reps. How would you handle that situation? Any suggestions on how to prevent a customer from escalating? How does it make you feel when a customer gets angry? What is your overall approach to customer service? Provide some examples from your work experience.

4. Write an interview script. The script is critical in gathering as much about the candidate’s KSA’s to make a knowledgeable decision about their candidacy. It keeps you focused and on task. It removes bias and favoritism. It also documents candidate responses so you can compare to other candidate interviews.

Interview Right and you’re company will thrive. Interview Wrong and you could end up spending thousands of dollars to replace the incumbent which will have an impact on your company’s operations, reputation and overall health.