Seek Diversity When You Hire to Build a Stronger Team

Be sure you know what is missing on a team before you draw up the job profile that will guide your hiring decision. Maybe you need certain technical expertise. But you might also need the ability to uncover a certain personality style as part of your interviewing skills training.

Have you ever tried to work with a team of leaders? Or, maybe worse, a team of followers? You need both on a team to stay productive. So beyond what you define as the skill set needed, assess what working style would most contribute to the team’s success. You should strive for a combination of inspired leaders, thoughtful planners, detail-oriented implementers, and creative problem solvers.

Granted, interpersonal dynamics are nearly impossible to predict but there are metrics out there now that claim to give hiring managers more data as to which candidate is more likely to survive and thrive on the new job. And give the team a share of the hiring decision. After all, it is in their best interests that the new hire is compatible with the goals and values of the team.

Team cohesion translates into team productivity.

To Get the Best, Avoid Hiring by Instinct

It is only natural, when you hire, to give preference to candidates who mirror your personality, interests, and style. But this can be a big mistake for the long-term health of your organization.

Too many clones in one company stamp out the value of diversity—the ability to solve problems and innovate—that thrives on a variety of approaches and skill sets. Interviewers need to base their hiring decisions on a job profile that clearly states the ideal technical and behavioral qualifications for the position. A multi-faceted team is far more productive than a team of mirror images.

By the same token, a job seeker should not accept a position because they “like” the interviewer. Potential candidates should assess the requirements for the job, as well as the team and company culture, to be sure they are a good fit.

The goal of a hire is to bring aboard the right talent for the right job that will succeed in your unique culture. Avoid hiring (or accepting) a job by instinct; apply objective measures to the process.

Do not Get Fooled by Candidate Potential

Strange as it may seem, interviewers seem to be more impressed with what candidates could do instead of what they have done.

Based on an experiment run by Zakary Tormala and Jayson Jia of Stanford and Michael Norton of Harvard Business School research participants declared that a rookie basketball player with a given set of projected performance stats would deserve a salary of $5.25 million after five years as a professional, but a five-year pro who had actually achieved such stats would deserve just $4.26 million.

Assuming the validity of this experiment, hiring companies should ensure that their interviewing skills training programs teach interviewers to emphasize and understand past achievements based upon a specific set of pre-determined competencies without getting overly swayed by unknown (yet appealing) potential.

To keep a balanced approach:

•         Utilize open-ended questions
•         Understand how they personally performed in the past
•         Manage the flow of the interview to stick with past accomplishments
•         Evaluate and compare specific past situations
•         Probe for limitations and concerns

Successful Interviewers Can Dissect Good Stories

An effective way to highlight prior job experience and desirable personal qualities in an interview is by telling stories - similar to a good movie or play.  We don’t mean stories that are not true…but narratives that focus attention on what makes an excellent candidate for the job.

Influential candidates are excellent at thinking up stories that illustrate how they have solved problems in the past and how they would directly contribute to the successful future of the interviewer’s organization. They arm themselves with relevant anecdotes that showcase good qualities—collaboration, integrity, an ethic of hard work—whatever would be most desirable in the new setting. And when it comes to failures, they are ready with a narrative that conveys an honest admission of where they went wrong and what they learned from the experience.

Stories can have a significant impact; they are much more powerful and memorable than a simple, response.

So your job as the interviewer is to use interviewing skills training best practices to truly uncover the desired motivational, intellectual and interpersonal competencies that you require for them to succeed in your unique culture for the position.  Do not get fooled by good tales. 

Interviewing for Your Dream Job

You have finally secured an interview for your dream job. How can you make the verybest impression and give yourself the very best chance at getting an offer?

1.     Learn as much as you can about the company. Use the internet to find out about the industry, the company products/services and how it is organized. Beyond that, can you discover anything about the

§  Person interviewing you…their role, their function, their style?

§  Company culture and the team you might join?

2.     The first few moments are critical. Plan to arrive a bit early so you appear unruffled and can gather your thoughts. Establish eye contact and greet your interviewer with confidence. Pace yourself so you don’t talk too quickly or pointlessly.

3.     Fill your tool box with stories that will illustrate your capabilities. Be prepared to talk about the core competencies that are part of the job profile. Is your interviewer looking for examples of leadership behavior, teamwork, initiative? Be ready.

Do not waste your chance—prepare and practice for the interview of your life.

Interviewers Need to Sell Too

Candidates are not the only ones who need to do some selling during the job interview.

They, of course, are trying their best to impress the interviewer and sell themselves. But, if you are the interviewer working with a very desirablecandidate, you can be sure other companies are also hoping to sign them up. You need to be able to sell your organization as the best of all their other options.

In other words, curtail the time you spend questioning the applicant’s credentials and experience. Instead devote a good chunk of the conversation to why you think your company would be a good fit. Just as you would qualify a sales opportunity before devoting too much time and energy to a lost cause, find out early on if the applicant is serious about the opening you have. Are they really interested? Are they likely to accept an offer? What would it take?

Ask these questions so you know whether to cross a candidate off the list or court them even more seriously. 

Are You Hiring the Right Talent?

Having the right people in the right job at the right time is a critical ingredient to success.

But, according to Harvard Business Review, up to 50% of all executive hires end in firing or resignation. Why? Because success today depends increasingly on intangible competencies-like teamwork and cross-cultural literacy-rarely found on resumes.

Depend on the resume only for work history and to confirm that your next interview candidate has the technical competencies needed for this position. Practice the line of questioning that will uncover intangible, behavioral competencies.

To succeed, follow these steps:

1. List 8 or more key job-related behavioral competencies for success in the position and in your organizational culture. The competencies should cover critical interpersonal, intellectual, and motivational areas.
   
   
2. Review the resume and select 2-3 major topics(e.g. jobs) which you can open up with "Tell me about..." Ask for a major accomplishment in each topic area.
   
   
3. Experiment with behavioral questioning techniques to uncover true behavior patterns.

By interviewing more effectively, you will be better able to predict future-on-the-job performance and behavior, make the right hiring decisions, and avoid costly mistakes.