Comment

Comment by Bill Kaminski on September 14, 2010 at 12:41pm

I must admit my concept is somewhat out-of-the-box, but here's more of my rationale. 1. Candidate's are trying to present themselves in the most positive light possible. Most people are looking for a new job because they are unhappy with their current position (for whatever reason) and their goal is to get a job offer. 2. "The grass is always greener on the other side." People shouldn't jump from one hot frying pan to another - but, I find many candidates not to be that objective. They just want to get out. 3. Candidate's will often say what they believe the interviewer wants to hear. Again, their goal is to be that one candidate who gets the job offer. Obviously, I've given this topic lots of thought - I designed an Advanced Interviewing Course for our experienced supervisors - and we've been experimenting with this approach for more than 6 months. For the most part - the supervisors feel its working pretty well.

Comment by Michelle Reese on September 14, 2010 at 11:57am

I like that idea, Bill, but I have never tried it! ;-) I will have to give it a shot sometime! I find that using words like 'LOVE' in interview questions makes people stop and THINK before answering! That word is loaded --- and my hope is that people are being honest when they answer! I like how you are challenging people and "turning the tables" and asking them who they would hire, given the opportunity. I bet it is not a question they are expecting! Thanks for the insights!

Comment by Bill Kaminski on September 14, 2010 at 11:49am

Michelle - I like your train of thought - but, here's one problem I've experienced over the years (I'm an HR professional and I have conducted hundreds of interviews). When we ask a candidate to "Tell me about a time..." or "Describe a situation..." they often have rehearsed answers. And its difficult to get an honest, candid response from job candidates? A new questioning strategy I'm using is to ask them to describe the traits of coworkers and peers. Example: Out of the six people you work with the most frequently - who would you consider hiring and why? What traits to they demonstrate that you're most impressed with? What I've discovered using inference skills - is that they unintentionally give some insight to what they value and their own personal practices. This indirect method seems to work pretty well. I think I get a more honest assessment of "who" they are? What do you think? Bill

Comment by Michelle Reese on September 14, 2010 at 9:32am

Bill--- you raise great points here! I like to find out what fires people up about their past roles, so I like to ask people things like "tell me about a project that you worked on that you loved" (then LISTEN for what specifically they loved about it!). You can probe, too, to get the person to boil down to the specifics so that you can understand what types of things they loved doing. Also, asking "Describe a situation where you felt you were contributing your best work"--then listen to hear what they say. See if the project or the situation would mirror anything in your current vacancy they are applying for--- this should give you some insight as to whether or not they would get to work on things they loved and in situations they felt they thrived in..... just a few thoughts! ;-)

Comment by Charlotte Jordan on September 14, 2010 at 9:18am

Hi Bill: TMBC actually has a strengths-based interview that we train people on in our Strong Manager Program. It actually addresses alot of the concerns you mention. Becasue the questions are designed to learn more about a person's intrinsic strengths (vs. being behavioural based questions which are easy to "game") so you end up learning a ton more about this person. We also train people how to really listen to whats being said vs. not said (we have a ton of interviewing tips etc...) if you are interested in learning more - contact Kristi Pavel on this site and she should be able to provide you more insight about how we can make the tool available to you.

Comment by Bill Kaminski on September 12, 2010 at 7:27am

Jim - I like the interview question - thanks for sharing. If I was interviewing a candidate with supervisory experience, I might ask them, "Tell me how you have restructured some of the work load to take advantage of your employee's strenghts?" or "What do you wish your boss would do to take advantage of your strenghts?" or "Can you tell me about a co-worker who you think is in the wrong job? What changes would you make to help this person get in the right job?" Like you said - I think these are a lot better than the standard 20 questions.

Comment by Jim Rice on September 10, 2010 at 7:11pm

There was a question I recently heard in my interview that forced me to think about my strengths and if they were noticed by anyone else -
If I called your boss right now - what would he say is your greatest skill in helping the company?

This is not your normal top 50 interview questions and it made me think - does my boss know what skills I brought to the company.