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EVERY MANAGER KNOWS THE IMPORTANCE of having self-motivating, productive employees. Most managers have experienced the problem of dealing with someone who failed to live up to their performance expectations. You mostly likely know employees with attitude and behavior problems that are destructive to everyone's performance and often impacts customer relations. Poor performers hurt productivity, morale, quality and service. Seldom however, do employers link performance problems back to their interviewing and selection process. Few organizations, especially small businesses, have an effective interviewing process which clearly defines procedures for tracking and assessing applicants and expectations of the hiring manager. Many interviews turn out to be a conversation to get comfortable with the candidate and to see if “they will fit in” and then hope for the best. Often the interviewer talks as much as 60-70% of the time giving information but learning very little. Later, you may realize the individual hired lacks the depth of technical and inter-personal skills required for their position. Remember, the goal of the interview is to know as much as possible about whom you hire, before hiring them! If you think you would benefit by reassessing your interviewing and hiring practices examine these factors:

The findings can be quite telling. If you spotted problems it might be to your advantage to change your interviewing approach and formalize your hiring evaluation process. A systematic and objective based tracking and assessment process will assist in selecting the right candidate for employment. Developing a Hiring Evaluation Tracking System could be very valuable, if you are interviewing several individuals for a position or you are in a constant hiring mode. You can custom design this interviewing form to your requirements. The categories of Can Do, Will Do and Fit are important and should be preserved as the basis for questioning the candidate. The goal of the selection process is to get a complete and accurate composite profile of the candidate so you can choose wisely. The key to hiring wisely is to train managers in the questioning process. The Can Do, Will Do and Fit structure creates a frame work for asking questions. An effective interviewing skill is the ability to ask the right questions, open-ended questions designed to get the candidate to talk, so you listen and learn. Within the Can Do, Will Do and Fit structure use the SPIN concept adapted from SPIN Selling, by Neil Rackham.

SPIN is an acronym for Situation, Problems or Possibilities, Implications and Needs. The Situation questions are asked to gain knowledge of the facts, history and experience of the candidate. The interviewer continues with the Situation questions until all of the key areas of the Hiring Evaluation Form are addressed and you are comfortable with the responses. Pay close attention to the answers to your questions and listen to how the candidate frames their response. Many times their responses will require more probing to clarify the specifics.

Ask Problem clarifying or Possibility questions to expand on their initial comments. If you sense an issue with past employment, explore it by asking Problem questions. Clarify the issue and what they would do differently if the circumstance happened again. Ask Problem clarifying questions for each Situation question that seems unclear or incomplete. Examples of Problem clarifying questions — “You said you supervised around 6 employees, that seems vague, how many employees did you manage in the last 6 months?”, “You said you thought you could have handled more responsibilities, why didn’t your employer promote you?” Assess their responses and if you’re not satisfied continue to ask questions that require them to think. Allow them time to respond and learn to be comfortable with silence, it can be a powerful interviewing tool. Do they demonstrate a solid communications approach to understanding your question before proceeding to give an answer? Are their answers relevant, thorough and complete? Do they seem preoccupied or unable to focus on your questions? Are they demonstrating good listening skills?

Possibility questions should be asked to determine likely behavior in future situations. Ask if involved in a dispute “how would you handle it?" or “if asked to do something beyond your capabilities—what would you do?” Possibility questions tests the candidates ability to respond with unpracticed answers. Remember the candidate will most likely say what they think you want to hear to get hired—that’s their mission. The benefit of asking Possibility questions is to learn how the candidate reacts—almost automatically.

The importance of asking Situation questions first and if you need more information, asking Problem or Possibility questions is to build the foundation for Implication and Need questions. These questions focus on the candidate’s maturity, experiences and self-knowledge. “What were the implications for not meeting deadlines at your former company?”, “… for disagreeing with your supervisor?”, “… for doing a good job?”, “… for making a serious mistake?” Need questions are also helpful to learn more about the applicant. “What areas do you need further to develop?”, “What questions do you need me to answer for you?”, “What management qualities do you need from your supervisor to be productive?”

You learn about the applicant by asking questions. The sequence to questioning is important to building a complete composite for the position which you are hiring.

Having a structured interview process with focused questions provides the opportunity to get to know the applicant in a short period of time. Having a Hiring Evaluation Form provides a simple summary for tracking candidates and objectively assessing their overall fit within your organization. The benefits of hiring wisely are obvious. The process of interviewing is hard work and should be taken seriously. Your company’s success is dependent upon the quality of the individuals hired.

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