Time to Interview a Job Candidate?

>> Don't go from your gut you're not looking for a new best friend you're looking for a reliable, talented, efficient employee.

>> Hiring managers are constantly on the hunt with one goal in mind, making sure they find the best applicant for the job at hand.

A Harvard University study showed that 80% of employee turnover is due to hiring mistakes, so it's important that companies train their

managers on how to hire the best and brightest. What are the techniques that smart companies use to identify tomorrow's most promising

talent?

>> There are no tricks, no secrets, there's no gimmick to finding the best person for the job. What's really important is that you

think about using questions and using statements that focus on the experience somebody has had in the past. That technique is called

behavioral interviewing and I think one of the tenants, one of the phrases that's really common and you've heard is that the best

indicator of future performance is past performance. So if I've succeeded in my current job then I'm likely to succeed in similar

circumstances in the future. Some of the pitfalls that managers fall into sometimes when they're interviewing include using the

hypothetical, what would you do instead of what did you do or what have you done. Using closed-ended questions instead of open-ended

questions, do you enjoy working at your current company instead of what do you enjoy about working at your current company. And then

also failing to realize that silence is a really good tool when you're interviewing someone, pose a question, pose a statement and then

pause, use silence give the person time to actually think about what he or she wants to say. If you're trying to find out about

somebody's leadership skills you would pose some statements or some questions around how they've led a team, tell me about a time

when the leadership of your company gave you a new vision and asked you to lead your team towards that vision, what did you do to rally

support around the new vision, the new goals? How did you take people who perhaps had opposing views or weren't ready to come on board,

how did you influence them so they would be on board to the new vision, the new goals of this project or of the company? Some typical

behavioral interviewing questions that you could use, especially if you're looking to address something like how resourceful somebody

is or how they solve problems would be, tell me about a time when you brought your team together to create a common approach to solving

a problem? Tell me about a time when you faced an obstacle and you had to work around that obstacle and achieve significant business

results, those questions lead me to answers that indicate how resourceful you are, how you solve problems. Besides asking questions

or posing statements that speak to people's strengths or talents it's also really useful to think about the ways in which they've

faced obstacles and get some information about that, tell me about the obstacles you've faced in completing your job requirements,

what were they, how did you work around them, what really frustrates you about your current position, what sometimes makes you feel

like throwing in the towel, all those questions give me information on how you work around problems and resolve issues and how, therefore,

afterwards you're successful in your role. Finally, don't prepare for an interview 30 minutes before it occurs plan for it a couple

of hours ahead of time or the day before, sit down, write behavioral interviewing questions that get you answers on whether this person

has succeeded in the past. Don't go from your gut your gut isn't going to give you any information on whether this person is going to

be able to succeed in this job in the future. You're not looking for a new best friend you're looking for a reliable, talented,

efficient employee.

>> Welcome to BNET video, come back to learn more from managers, decision makers and workplace professionals.