Three Answers You Must Have Ready as an Interviewer to Help Your Candidate to Say “Yes!”

At some point during the job interview, your potential new hire will have an opportunity to ask some good questions to learn more about the job, the corporate culture and the company.

After completing an effective interviewing skills training program, you should be prepared to have good answers to the following three questions to increase your chances of landing candidates who fit:

1. How will the company support my professional development and career growth?
   Candidates want to know how the company will offer targeted and relevant learning and development opportunities. Be prepared to discuss how much the company cares about and invests in improving and reinforcing the key skills necessary for success and advancement.
   
   
2. Would you describe the team I would join?
   Interviewees want to know not only about the individuals who would become colleagues but also about the performance and team culture of the group. They want to assess how comfortable they would be with the way their potential new team does business. Be ready with authentic answers and clear examples that outline the way people think, behave and work.
   
   
3. How will my success in this position be measured?
   Every new hire deserves to know what metrics will be used to gauge their success or failure in the job. Be ready with a clear description of the critical two to three metrics that will be used to measure their success and how they align with the overall success of the business.
   

Learn more at: http://www.lsaglobal.com/behavior-based-interviewing-training/

Growing Fast - Where to Find Your Most Likely Leaders?

Sure, the duck that is on the curb above the rest is positioned to lead. But does that mean the others do not have what it takes?

Seldom is this mentioned in interviewing skills training but it should be…it’s worthwhile to look beyond the obvious “stand-outs” when you are searching for potential leaders. For example, a good friend and I went to pick up new puppies for our family. One alpha puppy was ecstatic to see use, climbed all over us and won our hearts immediately. The other puppies were more submissive. My friend took the alpha. I reluctantly selected one of his brothers. My friend’s dog ended up being a nightmare to train and difficult to have around kids. Our dog has been a family treasure. I learned two things that day:

1. Sticking out in a crowd is not a prerequisite to success – for dogs or for leaders.
   
   
2. When selecting talent, know what attributes matter most.
   

We both fell for the “lovable alpha dog.” We were not smart or experienced enough to know that the ability to be trained and be with kids were critical. I got lucky and my friend did not. 

When hiring top talent, do not count on getting lucky. Until you really investigate (which neither of us did in selecting our first dogs), how do you know what talents rest in the group just on the level below? And don’t restrict your leader candidates by their current role in the organization. What you should care most about are leading and lagging leadership skills that would be valuable in various functions over time. For example, a customer service team leader may have just the relationship-building skills that could be developed for a sales leadership role. Or someone in operations may have the detail-orientation that could be applied well as a project leader or in finance.

The lesson? 

Leaders – especially more self-proclaimed introverted leaders like Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer and Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffet - may not always be the most visible or obvious candidates.

Where are potential leaders lurking? You don’t know until you identify and look for the leadership attributes that matter most for your business strategy and unique corporate culture.

Learn more at: http://www.lsaglobal.com/behavior-based-interviewing-training/

Should You move from “Job Fit” to “Cultural Fit?”

The interviewer rejecting the job candidate in the cartoon above might well have added, “We don’t like how you do it.”

Because indeed, we are seeing the trend in interviewing skills training from hiring simply for job fit to hiring more for cultural fit over the long-term. The “how” one behaves on the job matters more than we ever knew or appreciated. It’s the round peg in the square hole syndrome…if a candidate’s motivations, working style and attitudes are at odds with the desired or actual work environment, the match-up will not last.

The first step in interviewing with cultural fit in mind is to have a very clear picture of the performance culture the new employee would join. We define culture as how things truly get done in an organization - the way people think, behave and work. Though most savvy organizations understand that cultural fit is critical to hiring well, it is surprising how few companies have taken this basic step. Only once you clearly define your corporate culture, you ready to zero in on the job candidates that will thrive in your unique performance environment.

Are you hiring for cultural fit?

Learn more at: http://www.lsaglobal.com/behavior-based-interviewing-training/

5 Big Interviewing No-No’s for Managers

Hiring well may be the most difficult and yet most important job of managers as they build their teams. Your interviewing skills training will have taught how some interviewers rely on a hit-or-miss process as they assess who to hire. But you can do far better.

Here are five interviewing no-no’s that will help keep you on track:

1. Don’t talk too much.
   This is your opportunity to learn about the candidate, not dominate the conversation.
   
   
2. Don’t be overly swayed by your first impression.
   Stay objective throughout the interview even if, at first, the candidate did not impress by manner and dress.
   
   
3. Avoid leading questions.
   Don’t broadcast what you want to hear from the job seeker by asking questions like, “You have experience dealing with difficult customers, don’t you?” or “Give me an example when…”
   
   
4. Don’t ask personal questions.
   Stay on legal ground. No questions about family, ethnic background, age, etc.
   
   
5. Don’t neglect the tough questions out of empathy for a nervous interviewee.
   Ask the same questions of every candidate. This will give you an objective, not skewed, perspective on a candidate’s attitude and ability.
   

Learn more at: http://www.lsaglobal.com/behavior-based-interviewing-training/

Hiring Top Talent – Are Group Interviews Better?

Many companies prefer group interviews to more traditional one-on-ones because they believe there is less chances of a bad hiring decision when more than one person is doing the interviewing.

But just because you are sharing responsibility for the decision does not mean you can absolve yourself of the responsibility for careful planning beforehand. To hire “smart,” follow the best practices of interviewing skills training.

The interviewing team should first meet to assign roles and plan the agenda so the session runs smoothly:

• Agree upon the critical few cultural and behavioral competencies, attitudes and experience needed to succeed in the open position.
  
• Select one person to act as facilitator to introduce the interviewers, describe their roles, begin the conversation and make sure everyone has a chance to contribute.
  
• Decide who on the interviewing team would be best at evaluating the more technical skills needed for the job and who is best at probing for the softer skills like compatibility, cultural fit, integrity, commitment, work ethic, etc.
  

Keep in mind, too, that the job seeker may be somewhat intimidated by being interviewed by several people at a time. Do your best to put the candidate at ease so you get a more natural view of their personality and communication style.

Learn more at: http://www.lsaglobal.com/behavior-based-interviewing-training/

5 Steps to Hiring Only Top Performers

If you truly want to hire only the best and get them up to speed quickly, follow these 5 steps developed by interviewing skills professionals:

1. Compile a list of both high and low performing current employees in the target job. To be fair and accurate, avoid relying upon the subjective reporting of managers. Instead use performance data (i.e., sales results, engagement scores or customer satisfaction ratings) to distinguish poor vs. great employees.
   

2. Invite employees to participate in your efforts to hire better. Then interview both high and low performers for their view of the competencies needed to succeed at the job and for their observations on the behaviors that demonstrate skill competency.
   

3. Develop a list of behavioral indicators (both high and low) for each competency and check it out with managers for their comments and buy-in.
   

4. Create a scoring model…perhaps a “5” for those candidates who display only top performer indicators through to a “1” for those who respond with only low performer indicators.
   

5. Train your interviewers to manage the process accurately and consistently.
   

Implement the process, test the results and adjust as needed. Identifying top performers could be your most outstanding contribution to company success.

Learn more at: http://www.lsaglobal.com/behavior-based-interviewing-training/

7 Key Management Competencies to Look for When You Hire

If you are tasked with interviewing for an open management position, there are 7 key competencies you should ensure that you do not miss.

These 7 competencies were voted the most critical for management success in a study published in the Harvard Business Review that surveyed over 300,000 bosses, peers and subordinates. With these competencies your new manager is likely to succeed; without them, your new manager is likely to be ineffective.

Draw upon your interviewing skills training so that you and your team of interviewers probe for evidence that the job candidates have demonstrated competence in these key areas that fit most with your corporate culture:

1. Ability to motivate and inspire
   
2. Integrity and honesty
   
3. Ability to analyze and solve problems
   
4. Orientation toward results
   
5. Superior communication skills
   
6. Recognition and support for the value of teamwork
   
7. Ability to build strong relationships
   

The order of importance varied slightly with the level of management represented by the study subject. But it was clear that the above skills were deemed fundamental to good management at any level. An additional competency that becomes more significant as a manager reaches the top is the ability to develop a strategic perspective.

Learn more at: http://www.lsaglobal.com/behavior-based-interviewing-training/