How to get the right team - the secrets of the killer interview
Friday 12 June, 2009
The stories about picking the wrong team member abound and at Newbury Business Group this morning the local recruitment guru and founder of Square Mile Connections, Mia Drennan, shared her wealth of expertise and explained just ‘How to conduct a ‘killer’ interview.
The group met at The Square in Newbury today, which made sense with the Twitter Workshop taking place afterwards and being made up of many Newbury Business Group members, which did mean a gourmet breakfast from this Michelin Recommended restaurant.
There was a lively round of one minute presentations and the usual deft linking of themes around the room – today’s bizarrely centred on a Mazda car after one member recounted how his parents had been test driving the vehicle when they checked out the back seat for space (that is not a euphemism!). They then found the child locks meant they could not get out!
We escaped upstairs for the presentation, which began with Mia talking about the consequences of hiring the wrong employee and such a decision can cost an employer up to £10k per employee, which met with sage nods around the room.
“You are looking at lost reputation and credibility, lost customers, reduced income, lower staff morale and reduced productivity. There is also the chance that you will end up at an employment tribunal,” she warned.
The common problem is that many interviewers have simply never been trained and place an over reliance on instincts – that ‘I’ll know it when I see it approach’ People also often hire people like them, or people they like. There is often little preparation, Mia warned.
A consistent approach to the pre-Interview approach is essential. Preparing a job Description and person specification should be the first step, before initial screening and then the initial person check. She explained how this is not just referees, but plenty is done online looking at social media websites. This will give you a CV Shortlist to invite to interview selection.
When it comes to the interview, Mia rhetorically questioned whether interviewing was a skill or an art? Obviously it is a skill!
“There are two main types of questions,” she explained. “Biographical or competency and the preferred and proven method is competency based , with an 80/20 split and you do need to remember that past behaviour is an accurate predictor of future job success.
“It is worth remembering that the interview objective is to evaluate candidates against a set of skills, traits, qualities and behaviours that contribute to effective performance in a job.”
She said as an interviewer you had to make time to prepare. It was vital to structure the interview and to stick to the agenda. It was also important to relax the candidate and encourage the candidate to talk about the things that you want them to talk about – and listen to what they say, taking note and gathering evidence through effective competency based questioning.
Fittingly for the selection process of the future ‘stars’ of your organisation, Mia offered a handy mnemonic for competency based questions
STARS:
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Situation
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Task
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Actions
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Result
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Summarise
Then came a wonderfully long list of questions that surely serves as a savvy pick and mix should you find yourself interviewing anytime soon. Of course if you are up for a job and they've seen these...
- What do you know about YOUR COMPANY?
- Tell me about yourself
- Why did you leave your last role? Why do you want to leave?
- Do you consider yourself successful ?
- What does your mother/brother/boss say about your?
- What is your unique selling point?
- What has been your biggest achievements in your career to date?
- What has been your biggest disappointment in your career to date?
- Who is your biggest supporter at work?
- Who do you admire?
- What’s the single most important thing to you at work?
- What’s the most embarrassing thing you have ever done at work?
- What three words would you have engraved on your tombstone?
- Why should we hire you?
- How can you improve the bottom line?
- What makes you angry?
- What motivates you?
- What hours do you work?
- How do you ensure you meet deadlines?
- What training have you done in the last 12 months?
- How do you think you could improve this company/industry/product, etc?
- Have you been rewarded at work? If so how?
- Have you ever been fired?
- What do you look for in a boss?
- What style of leader are you?
- Why do you want his job?
- How many days sick absence have you had in the past 24 months?
Notice there is not one question about ‘If you were an animal, what animal would you be and why?’
Need help with your recruitment? Not least with tapping into the rich and competitively talent pool that is available in the wake of the recession.
Square Mile Connections has a wealth of experience in recruiting staff at all levels. It offers clients a tailored service depending on their needs and requirements from initial sourcing to interviewing and hire.
This morning’s presentation certainly prove that before you spend any money on recruitment talk to Square Mile Connections and explore how its expertise and unique approach to recruitment and selection and finding the right people.