In Your Corner Coaching & Consulting Services

One of the easiest things a manager can do is hire the wrong person.

A good way of avoiding that unfortunate outcome is to hone your interviewing skills. The past several years have seen an upsurge in popularity of “behaviorally-based interviewing” which asks the candidate to describes actions he or she has actually taken rather than asking for their speculations about what they would do in a certain situation.

Inc. magazine suggests 10 questions that might provide helpful information in identifying talents (or the lack of talents) that won’t show up on the resume.

1. Have you ever had several projects with the same deadline? How did you tackle that?
   Why: To measure a candidate’s conscientiousness, coping skills, and organization.
2. Could you tell us about a time you failed at a task?
   Why: To see how a candidate responds to adversity.
3. How have you handled the last few angry customers you’ve come across?
   Why: To gauge a candidate’s customer- and client- service skills.
4. Tell us about a project for which you fiscal responsibility. How did you stay on budget?
   Why: To get a sense of how a candidate will handle company finances.
5. Tell us about a recent split-second decision you made on the job. How did you approach it?
   Why: To gain insight into a candidate’s decisiveness and decision-making style.
6. What is the last thing about which you and your boss disagreed? How did you settle it?
   Why: To see whether a candidate is manageable and how well he or she communicates.
7. What is the most significant presentation you’ve given to clients?
   Why: To measure a candidate’s presentation and public-speaking skills.
8. What was your most frustrating experience on your last job? The most satisfying?
   Why: To gauge a candidate’s motivation and general temperament.
9. How do you handle a task when you’re asked to make changes at the last minute?
   Why: To see whether a candidate is flexible and can adapt quickly.
10. Tell us about a time you took a risk and failed. How did it feel?
    Why: To measure a candidate’s resilience and attitude toward risk.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 30th, 2007 at 8:39 pm and is filed under Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.