WORKPLACE: Is That Your Final Answer

After a difficult and painful winter for many businesses, spring is finally upon us. For PCOs, springtime usually signals a welcome demand for services and the need for more staff. Hopefully, by now, you are finding it easier to attract potential candidates; however, while the lines at the door may be longer, the quality of the candidates is not necessarily any better. The need for loyal, hardworking and talented people has never been greater. To meet today’s customer demands, profit margins, and productivity goals, you must surround yourself with the right people.

This year, as you gear up for the season, why not take the time to better prepare for your interviewing and hiring? There’s too much at risk to take chances. With every hire, you put your company, your customers, your reputation, your vehicles and, perhaps, your life savings on the line. Just one effective interview question, in-depth form or extra ounce of effort in the hiring process can make a difference.

Before you begin interviewing this season, evaluate your hiring process and make sure it’s up to speed with legal and effective forms. Remember, your job is to become an “investigator” during the interview and the tools you use should make this task easier! Nondiscriminatory and job-related questions that elicit more than just a “yes” or “no” response will help.

To get you started, here’s a list of our favorite and most popular interview questions for non-management candidates. Try a few! You might be surprised by the results.
•  What three adjectives best describe you? Tell me about each.
•  What types of people do you find it difficult to get along with? Why?
•  Which of your traits and characteristics do you find most frustrating?
•  Tell me about the best/worst boss you ever had.
•  For the worst boss, what did you do to improve the situation?
•  How were you able to stay so long at your previous job? (or, why such a short time?)
•  How long do you plan on working here?
•  What is most important to you in a work environment?
•  Did you have responsibilities at home as a child? Tell me about them.
•  When did you start working? Did you volunteer while in school or work summer jobs?
•  Tell me how your responsibilities have increased in your previous three positions.
•  What is your biggest professional accomplishment?
•  What is least appealing to you about this job? Why?
•  Why do you want to work here?
•  How many hours a week are you accustomed to working?
•  Are there any days or hours you cannot work?
•  Tell me about your grades in school.
•  Tell me about a time when you had a major conflict with another employee or manager. What was the cause? What did you do to resolve the problem?
•  Explain your understanding of this job’s responsibilities.
•  What can you do for us that someone else can’t do?
•  Give me an example of a time that you compromised one of your most basic principles and it backfired on you.
•  What beliefs do you hold deeply as a result of your early life experiences?
•   What plans do you have for self-improvement and personal development?
• What kinds of things do you learn quickly? What kinds of things do you find it difficult to learn?
•   How do you feel about change? Tell me about large-scale changes that you have faced and how you handled each.
•  How do you plan your day?
•  Tell me about a complex problem you have had to solve. Who did you turn to and how did you solve it?
•  Tell me about your pay history. (Discuss starting pay, raises, commissions, bonuses, expectations, needs, etc.)
•  What have you done that you are proud of?
•  What are your short- and long-term professional goals?
•  What is your philosophy of customer service? Where did you learn it?
•  Tell me about your worst customer service dilemma and how you overcame it.

CONCLUSION. Wow! With all these questions, it will be hard to violate the 80/20 rule of interviewing! (Listen 80 percent of the time; talk 20 percent of the time.) Keep in mind; however, that there is no substitute for questions that relate to the candidate’s specific experiences, profile, skills and knowledge.

To enhance your chances of a successful hire, start by determining precisely who and what you are looking for (develop a profile); then study the background of the candidate before the interview and prepare targeted questions. Add a comprehensive, legally sound and effective process, plus ample time, and you have the formula to identify a winner!

The author is president of Seawright & Associates Inc., a management consulting firm in Winter Park, Fla. She provides human resource management and compliance advice to employers across the country. She can be reached at 407/645-2433 or jseawright@pctonline.com.