How to Make Exceptional Hires From Your Interviews

Struggling to make exceptional hires from your interviews? In this video Liz Kingston share practical examples on how you can easily unearth a candidates problem solving capabilities, soft skills as well as their primary motivators.

Transcript

If you're not making exceptional hires from your interviews, it may be because your traditional interview process is not designed to elicit great information. This is because most interviews rely on a standard set of questions that don't really dig into some of the crucial components of what success is in the workplace of today. These crucial components are things like problem solving capabilities, soft skills like adaption and innovation, and of course your candidate's primary motivators.

As a hiring manager, you know by now that the most typical interview questions have already been anticipated and practised for, for your interviewee. So if you're looking to improve your hiring outcomes, consider using some of the interview questions recommended by Dr. John Sullivan.

I want to start with an example of a question that will help you identify your candidate's ability to solve real world problems that occur in your workplace. These questions allow your candidate to show off their skills in problem solving in a context that's very relevant to you. The example might sound something like this;

'John, because we need to understand your capability for solving the problems you'll face in this job, I would love to hear about the approach you would take in solving a problem that's definitely going to hit your desk during your time with us.'
Now, here you'll go on to describe the problem in a fair amount of detail to John. And then you're going ask him to walk you through the steps that he would take to solve this problem. I promise you, you'll get some fantastic insights.

Next up is a question that can help you investigate your candidate's soft skills in innovation and adaption. These questions are important because often our best hires are the candidates that are rapid and continuous learners who are highly adaptable.

So the example of this question could sound a little bit like, 'Tanya, learning and innovation is essential in our organisation. I'd like you to select a subject matter area that relates to this job where you believe you'll need to be on the continuous leading edge of knowledge. Then I want you to talk me through how you would go about maintaining your knowledge in this area.'

Again, listen deeply and consider following up with a question that probes into their past behaviours, like 'could you talk me through an example of when you've done something similar in a previous role? Let's look at a final question that can really help you get to know your candidate's primary motivators.' This question gets your candidate to list and rank their job motivators in the order of importance to them.

The question can sound something like, 'Jane, please list for me the top five factors that you have found best motivate you in your job.' Now, here you're going to get some great insights into the hot buttons and motivators that exist within your potential candidate. Each candidate's motivators will be very different. And you can then evaluate how your role accommodates those unique motivators, and you'll come to understand your candidate so much more.

With the introduction of sites like Glassdoor, candidates can access loads of information about your typical interview questions. So consider innovating and asking some of the less typical interview questions, because they really help you gain a deeper understanding of your candidate, and they will help you make better hiring decisions.

Good luck with your hiring.