WHAT
TO ASK BEFORE YOU HIRE by Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE
Few
things can waste more valuable time and resources or cause more morale
problems than mismatching the person and the job. As a busy executive,
you want to get the most out of your people while protecting your
investment
in their training.
Good
employees turn up, not by magic, but through good hiring practices, and
smart hiring starts with smart interviewing. After you've asked the
usual
"resume" questions -- job history, education, salary expectations, etc.
-- probe your prospect with questions that will illuminate their hopes,
goals, inclinations, and reservations.
1.
"Tell me about yourself. All the exciting and interesting things."
People
offer revealing replies to that question. So many people, even some top
executives, say, "Oh, there's nothing exciting about me." You learn a
lot
about people's self-esteem when they answer that question.
2.
"If you could wave a magic wand and create a perfect environment to
work
in, what would it be like?"
Suppose
the potential employee answers, "I don't like to have someone breathing
down my neck. I like to be left on my own, to make up my mind how to do
things." You know immediately that this is the wrong person for a job
that's
heavily supervised. (Choose someone who says, "I enjoy a lot of
feedback"
instead.)
Consider
both the demands of the job and the working environment. If a quiet,
personable
individual replies, "I love working with people, but I'd like to have
my
own space," be sure that's possible. Work areas quickly become private
domains, and rightly so or people wouldn't take pride in them. But if
the
job requires sharing a table with the coffee machine, your employee may
not last or do the job well.
3.
"Describe the best boss you ever had. What made him or her so special?
Describe the worst boss."
If
the description of the worst boss sounds anything like you, you know
that
person won't be happy working with you.
4.
"What's your hobby?"
There
are many questions the law does not allow an employer to ask -- whether
a person is married for instance. But you may want to know something
about
a person's private life to determine if the hours or job demands are
going
to stressful. For instance, if you need an employee who is bright and
alert
at an early hour and his hobby will keep him up late on week nights,
you
both may have a problem. Or if her hobby requires occasional time off
to
participate, the time to discuss the appropriateness of this is
now.
Some
Questions to Ask Yourself
Before
you sit down with a potential employee, ask yourself:
5.
"What am I offering this person besides money?"
What
opportunities for growth, excitement, achievement, and fulfillment go
along
with the paycheck? Enthusiasm, motivation, and persistence are rarely
proportional
to salary. Often they are in inverse ratio. (Why else would anyone
choose
to be an artist, performer, teacher, or writer?) Self-motivated
employees
are great, but it never hurts to spotlight some incentives.
But
once you've got the right people in the right jobs, your own job still
isn't over. Ask yourself:
6.
"How do I keep my people highly motivated, productive, and eager to
come
to work in the morning?"
Your
answers can be critical to a happy, productive, low-turnover
organization.
Here are some suggestions.
Start
by making the job fun whenever possible to keep employees from getting
stale. Share the big picture with them, so they realize their
contribution
is part of an important whole. Solicit their feedback and act on it to
prove to them that they are really making a difference. Then watch your
people respond with hard work, loyalty, and enthusiasm. |
