Your new employee is starting Monday. You think, “I hope they work out well.” The worst thing that can happen to you is that you have to start searching again. Or even worse – they do not work out – and stay on your payroll.
The big mistake we make is to focus on their skill. Can they perform the tasks well? Let’s modify the question to what you should be thinking? Can they perform their tasks, here? We often interview for skills. Why not, skills are often easier to measure. Yet the key question is whether they have the right soft skills to fit into your company’s culture.
Most people struggle to define ‘soft’ skills. Those traits have more to do with success than anything else. Does your company focus on getting results? Is it freewheeling or do you follow specific structure? Do you give specific direction? Or do you expect others to ‘figure it out’? Answering these questions helps you hire better. This allows us to change the way we get to know candidates. Take the time to figure this out.
I want to know how a candidate thinks. I want their job history. I begin with asking about their first job. Through this level of detail, I usually find job gaps, or other critical information. If I am to make a large investment in someone, I want to know that person. Then I want to ask about successes, team contributions and other skill related issues.
You need to understand how they work in different environments. When asking about accomplishments, you often get ‘we did’ this. I then ask what ‘their individual contribution’ was to the success. The answer tells you what they really do. Likewise, if you work in a fast and fluid environment, you do not always give clear directions when handing out tasks. So, I say to the candidate “Tell me about a time that you had an assignment and felt that you did not have the information necessary to complete it. What did you do?” This gives an idea of how they accomplish tasks in my culture.
Push for depth. Peel back answers. And reject answers that begin with “Usually…” Explain that you want to understand about a specific project or event. This will allow you to assess their behavior. We do what we have always done!
I know that it takes time. And time is valuable. So are dollars. And you are about to commit a lot of your money to a new hire. Make sure it is well spent.