by Dave Clough
Age: Be careful using the words "over qualified" with older candidates.
Arrest record (this is different from convictions - in most states, it is permissible to ask if the candidate has ever been convicted of a crime).
Race or ethnicity
Citizenship (though it is permissible to ask "Will you be able to provide proof of eligibility to work in the U.S. if hired?")
Ancestry, birthplace or native language (though it is permissible to ask about their ability to speak English or a foreign language if required for the job)
Religion, customs or holidays
Height and weight: if it does not affect their ability to perform the job, don’t ask.
Relatives: Only those relatives employed by the organization are permitted.
Living arrangements (including rent or own): Asking for their address for future contact is acceptable.
Credit history or financial situation: In some cases, credit history may be considered job-related, but be cautious.
Education or training, if not required for the job.
Sex or gender. Avoid any language or behavior that the candidate may find inappropriate.
Pregnancy or medical history: Attendance history is mostly ok. Don't refer to disability or illness.
Family or marital status or child-care: (OK to ask if the candidate can work the required hours).
Membership in a non-professional organization if not related to the job.
Physical or mental disabilities: Can ask whether the candidate can perform the essential job duties.
☐ As a rule of thumb, don't ask non-job-related questions. Check your local laws to be sure. See PerfectHireBlueprint.com/Resources for more about legal issues in hiring.
PHB Tip: Have two interviewers in the room with the candidate at the same time. This allows one to ask a question and write the answer, while the next interviewer asks his next question. It saves time, and is more accurate. If done in a welcoming way, it can put the candidate at ease more than a one-on-one.
☐ Before leaving, the candidate should take a TriMetrix Assessment if hiring manager deems the candidate may be qualified.
I recommend the candidate take the Assessment before leaving the company on the day of the interview. Not only does it move the process along faster, but she is guaranteed to complete it if she is on site still.
Alternatively, if the candidate did not budget enough time to do the Assessment well, allow them to take it later. This is better than rushing the Assessment, which typically takes 30-45 minutes.
☐ A post-interview roundtable meeting is held with all interviewers to debrief to the manager.
☐ The manager is responsible for the hire, so it is the manager’s call how the decision to hire is made:
Can be solely by the manager, if authority is obtained.
Can be a majority of the interviewers if the manager prefers.
Can be the call of the manager and his supervisor(s) if unsure.
Effective Interview Questions
What was the most interesting interview question you’ve ever been asked? Why did you find it interesting? Was it effective at identifying you as a good candidate? What do you think was the purpose of the question?
Here are Glassdoor’s Top 10 Oddball Interview Questions for 2015, and the companies that asked them:
"What would you do if you were the one survivor in a plane crash?" - Airbnb
"What's your favorite 90s jam?" – Squarespace
"If you woke up and had 2,000 unread emails and could only answer 300 of them, how would you choose which ones to answer?" – Dropbox
Who would win in a fight between Spiderman and Batman?" – Stanford University
"If you had a machine that produced $100 for life, what would you be willing to pay for it today?" – Aksia
"What did you have for breakfast?" – Banana Republic
"Describe the color yellow to somebody who's blind." – Spirit Airlines
"If you were asked to unload a 747 full of jelly beans, what would you do?" – Bose
"How many people flew out of Chicago last year?" – Redbox
"What's your favorite Disney Princess?" – Cold Stone Creamery
Hopefully there was a reason these questions were asked. Some could be icebreakers or give an indication of company culture. Others determine how people think or approach a problem. Every question should have a purpose.
Other great interview questions:
Tell me a time when something didn’t go right.
Don’t talk - just listen. (if anything, say, “Tell me more”)
Bad responses:
If blames others or is bitter – not good for your culture
If not including himself – not accountable
Good responses:
Regret/guilt for not performing better
Lesson learned
Takes ownership
What accomplishment from your last job brought you the most pride?
Ask why they chose that situation
Bad responses:
What the group accomplished
You are looking for what the person can do. If the answer is a result done with a team, dig deeper to ask what he actually did
Appears to be a typical run-of-the-mill issue
Struggles to find one
A-players know when they’ve done well
Good responses:
Had a very difficult issue, and resolved it with determination and resiliency.
Manager asked her specifically because she was uniquely qualified. She exceeded expectations.
Was asked to step up and lead. Desired outcome was achieved (even if with difficulty).
Why did you leave your last company? What factors entered into that decision?
Remind them that you want them to set up a reference check for you with that company.
This tactic not only gets a more truthful answer, but also increases the odds of a good reference check.
Bad responses:
Blaming others: Bad manager, wasn’t treated fairly, didn’t respect me (these issues don’t go away by changing jobs).
Was fired.
Was laid off (if the entire group was not let go).
Indicates not an A-player.
Good responses:
I wanted to do X for my own career growth, but there wasn’t an opportunity to do that at that company. I got it at my next job.
I liked the company, but the new career opportunity was just too good pass up.
Needed to relocate for family reasons.
I moved to take a dream job.
Most people have a company in mind. Many would relocate to work at Google, Tesla, Disney or Apple among others.
What is accomplished by asking questions such as these? Does it give insight into the prospective employee? Does it put a company in the right light in the candidate’s eyes?
One the oddest interview questions I’ve heard is, “What’s the first thing you know?” It was used multiple times in the early 90s by a Regional Manager in Dallas. This question stumped many people. It can be the start of a “stress interview” or it can be an icebreaker, depending on how long the interviewer allows the candidate to struggle.
A great interview question might be, “What did you do to prepare for this interview today?” This uncovers how the candidate prepares for something important (or if she thinks the opportunity is important).
This should be asked by only one interviewer. ALL questions should be asked by only one interviewer. This is not only more efficient, but also more effective. Savvy candidates will learn from the first time a question is asked. The second time, she may answer it the way she thinks the company wants it answered, and this will make her look like a better candidate.
The other reason for consistent questioning is that it is easier for the team to compare candidates. For more information on great interview questions, go to PerfectHireBlueprint.com/Resources.
(By the way, there is on
ly one correct answer for “What’s the first thing you know?”, and I can almost guarantee that no Millennial would get it. Baby boomers are more likely to get it, and even then, it's likely a small number. The answer is…"Ol' Jed’s a millionaire." If you still don’t get it, play the Beverly Hillbillies theme song in your head. When the interviewer gave the answer, the candidate typically relaxed a bit.)
* * *
ALL questions should be asked by only one interviewer. This is not only more efficient, but also more effective.
* * *
After the interview, each interviewer should fill out a Candidate Interview Evaluation Form. These results will be compared to the Assessment for further team calibration. Visit PerfectHireBlueprint.com/Resources to download the form.
Company Culture
The culture of your company plays a large part in hiring A-players. Just because someone is an A-player elsewhere does not mean that he will be an A-player at your company doing basically the same job. The company values shape the culture, even if the values are not explicitly stated.
For example, one company could have a pacesetting, aggressive growth culture, and another could have a more laid-back culture of fun and happiness. A hard driving A-player may not fit in at the latter company.
It is important to uncover what motivates the candidate during the interview. Your unique culture could be motivating or demotivating. If there is no culture match, a great candidate can become a nightmare employee.
* * *
Look for good role models – yours might be a good parent or good friend. Hire people who might even be a better person than you are.
* * *
Right now you’re probably worried that you don’t have a stated culture, or that you can’t articulate it. DON’T WORRY, we’ve got you covered. The Job Profile/Benchmark uncovers the values/motivators of the company, as contributed by those who contributed the Job Assessments.
Additionally, it will report what motivators (aka Driving Forces) are important for someone doing the job in question. Sometimes a job can require different values.
A Sales position is a good example of how a company and a job could ideally have different values. In most cases, salespeople need to be motivated by money – almost “coin operated” if you will. A successful salesperson typically sells the product or service to a type of customer that will maximize his pay.
This may not be as predictable as you would think. Will the salesperson look for one big sale at a big prospect (the home run) or go after lots of smaller sales (single hits)?
Many times the territory dictates the tactics. This is typically true no matter the values of the company. The company may have a culture that is as famous as Google (“Googliness” is demonstrated in the movie The Internship), but the salespeople could be as aggressive as a Wall Street boiler room (portrayed in the movie The Wolf of Wall Street).
It is important that the person you hire fits the values and motivators of the role she hopes to fill. A mismatch will likely become painful while the person is employed, and will lead to another candidate search within a year.
Hiring for FIT – Value match
When companies are looking to hire employees who “fit” their company, many times they look for commonality. What they are actually looking for (or should be looking for) is common values, but in most cases the interviewer is not aware of that. Yes, they look for experience, skills, and the like, but common values are the most important thing for long term employment, according to many sources.
Values are WHY people behave the way they do.
In his book Navigating the Growth Curve, James Fischer states, “Creating a homogeneous group is more important in a Stage 1 company (1 to 10 employees) than putting together a highly competent group.” Early on, the company needs to have a similar “why” in order to get to the next, more stable stage.
One of the best books that I’ve read on employee retention is Love ’em or Lose ‘em by Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans. The authors say, “By ‘right fit’ we mean…The right person’s core values are consistent with the values of the organization.”
The problem I’ve seen most often is that most small and medium sized businesses have not stated the company’s core values. Like personal values, company values tell people WHY the company does what it does. They may say that everyone knows what they are, or that we will know if a candidate’s values are a match, but I have not found that to consistently improve hiring success. Candidates, particularly Millennials, want to know why the company does what it does.
First, create your company values if you don’t currently have them clearly stated. You can try to do it yourself or hire a company like mine, mPower Advisors, to help you. One of the better books on mission, vision and values in my opinion is Full Steam Ahead! by Ken Blanchard and Jesse Lyn Stoner. The book states in part that values:
“…answer the questions ‘What do I want to live by?’ and ‘How’?
need to be few in number and rank ordered in importance.
need to be clearly described so you know exactly the behaviors that demonstrate that the value is being lived.
need to be consistently acted on, or they are only ‘good intentions.’”
While anyone can do an internet search for typical company values, each business will have its own values that are unique to the organization. Just because Southwest Airlines and Zappos are known for having great values and culture does not mean that your company should adopt their values.
For a list of values that companies may choose as important, visit PerfectHireBlueprint.com/Resources.
When a company goes through this exercise, it is important to get broad buy-in from the employees.
Then, assuming that you do have company values, the second difficulty is determining if the prospective employee has the same values as your company.
It is true that knowledge of an individual's values helps to tell us WHY they do things. Knowing a candidate’s experiences, education and training will help to know WHAT they can do. Behavioral Assessments help to tell us HOW a person behaves and performs in the work environment.
The values or personal motivators do not change significantly without a life changing event. Yes, I’ve seen people become more financially driven in time (for instance, where income is limited), but once the balance is restored, the focus on money goes back to where it was before, a short term blip. But if someone has personally had a serious health concern, some of the things he thought were important become less so as the thought of longevity seems less likely.
One way to determine what a person values is to look to researchers. Eduard Spranger, a German researcher, authored Types of Men, which was translated into English in 1928. The information in this book still holds true today.
The six basic interests or values (a way of valuing life) are Theoretical, Utilitarian/Economic, Aesthetic, Social/Altruistic, Individualistic/Political and Traditional/Regulatory. The six are defined as:
Traditional/Regulatory - Rewards those who value traditions inherent in social structure, rules, regulations and principles.
Aesthetic - Rewards those who value balance in their lives, creative self-expression, beauty and nature.
Individualistic/Political - Rewards those who value personal recognition, freedom, and control over their own destiny and others.
Theoretical - Rewards those who value knowledge for knowledge's sake, continuing education and intellectual growth.
Social/Altruistic - Rewards those who value opportunities to be of service to others and contribute to the progress and well-being of society.
Utilitarian/Economic - Rewards those who value practical accomplishments, results and rewards for their investments of time, resources and energy.
The descriptions are for one who is high in that value and they tell “why you do what you do.” They are sometimes called the hidden motivators because they are not always readily observed. And the top 2 values/motivators drive beh
avior more than the bottom 4. What has been researched further in recent years is that the HIGHER 2 of the 6 may not be the TOP 2 of the 6.
Recent research has determined that the top 2 are the two that are the FARTHEST from the norm, or average. So someone with a very LOW rating in a motivator/value might be driven more by that low rating any other high rating. This revelation has changed the landscape very recently.
