I have interviewed and hired uncountable people, along over 13 years of experience in management, and I don’t think there is a magical question to use in the interview for finding the right person. Actually, more than the answer itself, I am interested in the way that is given. I am really interested in gesture, eyes contact, voice level and the differentiation according to what is being said, and, of course, the whole package of what I am learning from the individual I am meeting in that moment. I use to say, to do a good job, you better be a good person.
I believe, there are two main points to think about (or rethink) when you interview your next candidate:
Does the job candidate want the position only to pay the bills or he likes the activity? Forget it…is he competente or not?
I remember two workers I have hired to the assembly line in the past. One of them was a good designer, and the other one was a skilled mountain climber. But, both of them was hired to work in an automotive assembly line. The first one proved to be a good assembler and the other one, not. Let’s be honest, considering that most of us have to get a job to live and to pay the bills, I am not sure how effective is to judge someone and his job competencies according to questions related only to the person’s passion. Even if the job is not the core passion of the candidate it doesn’t mean that he can not achieve good results.
What is the trigger for finding the right person to do the job?
As I mentioned, I do not believe in a single question to make possible to find the right person for the job, I think this is much more related to the intuition and feeling. As proved by some neuroscience researches, the intuition process is much more rational that we think, and is based on a complex brain function that uses a lot of information we have to give us a final insight (that obviously can change by the time). So, talking to a candidate, about work and life, I believe I can have this trigger by the intuition. Usually, in the companies I have worked, people from other departments liked to offer a new job to the people that worked in my team. Luckily, the vast majority of people that I have hired did not do just a good job, but an excellent job.
So, next time you interview a candidate try to focus on competencies and don’t forget to hear your intuition, and you will probably will succeed.
