Managers are paid to do what they do best—engineer new products, market them, optimize internal processes and lead teams. They will remain untrained at interviewing job candidates, but it’s time to stop handicapping them by arming them with interview questions that yield mostly irrelevant information, says Andy LaCivita, founder of Milewalk (milewalk.com), an executive search firm and human capital consulting organization.
Ineffective questioning leads the job candidate to provide poor information. Often, the employer assumes it’s the candidate’s issue, when it typically is the result of poorly designed interview questions, LaCivita says. He offers his top four “doozies” and how to tighten them up:
Tell me about yourself. You’ve left the candidate to choose whatever she would like to share. Because this question is often posed at the start of an interview and the candidate has virtually no information about the position, what gets shared likely will have little relevance to what you need to know to make a sound hiring decision.
If you insist on something similar as part of your initial questioning, at least direct the candidate to the right vicinity so she can provide relevant information. For example, “Our company is seeking a director of marketing. Can you share how your experience would help you fulfill that position, which manages all major marketing functions, including…”
Where do you see yourself in five years? Yes, job interviewers want to gain insight into the candidate’s ambitions and desires for the future, but most people can’t see past tomorrow, let alone five years from now. Furthermore, today’s job market changes so quickly that new opportunities are created on a daily basis, and career paths are changed in an instant. Just because someone is not a fortuneteller doesn’t mean she won’t be a great employee.
You will get more bang for your buck by asking, “If you are working here three years from now, what do you think your most significant contribution would be?” This question will help you determine what is most important to the candidate and see whether the candidate has a realistic view of what she can accomplish.
What is your greatest weakness? I work too much. I try too hard. I don’t delegate enough. It just took the candidate less time to answer your question than it took you to ask it and you still don’t have any valuable information. Now you have to dig for follow up questions. What if the candidate provided you a list of weaknesses that was completely irrelevant to what you need the employee to do? Are you sure you want to hire the person simply because she didn’t highlight a relevant weakness?
There are a host of good questions that address how an individual overcomes issues, motivates himself, handles tough situations with coworkers and so forth. Examples: How do you educate yourself? How did you handle a situation where something went wrong? How have you handled a situation in which you and a coworker disagreed?
Describe how you’re a team player. The concept of how nicely someone plays in the sandbox is well past its sell-by date. You should be more interested in whether the candidate is a trendsetter or needle mover. Asking a question such as, “Have you experienced a situation where you were the only dissenter among a group and by the time you left the room everyone agreed with you?” If she can convince you of this, there’s a very good chance she is a creative thinker. Even if her idea or position failed, you at least know she probably has good influencing skills.
