Ted Bruccoleri
Glenn Krauser
Karla Leavelle
Volume 2, Issue 5, May 2014
ONE SOURCE Serving all your human capital needs

As promised in the last issue of The Human Capital Advisor where we discussed behavioral-based interviewing, in this issue we'll provide some examples of how to discern critical behavioral patterns during candidate interviews.

The What

Interviewing should be focused on the key traits and behaviors you seek.  You are looking for fit with the job responsibilities, organizational culture, supervisor - and the candidate's needs.

Start off by identifying the "what," i.e., the ability to work under stress, to be detail oriented, to multitask, to be tough minded, to work with limited direction, etc.

Know if you are looking for a "creator" or a "maintainer."  While attractive, creators get bored easily and hiring a very creative person to solve a short-term need could create longer-term headaches.  Look past the near-term horizon and understand how the individual is suited for the position as it unfolds in the future.

For this exercise, we have selected four traits commonly found in successful people:
  • Empathy
  • Initiative
  • Motivation/commitment
  • Organization
The How

How do you find out if the candidate has these traits?  "The best way is to frame questions that demand specific examples of the behavior you are seeking, remembering that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior," says HCA Project Director Karen Wiseman.

Here are some questions: 
  • Empathy - How do you know what other people are thinking?  Tell me about a time when you 'read' an internal/external customer without being told by them what they were thinking.
  • Initiative - Tell me about a time when you went beyond the scope of a project or initiative and what the result was.
  • Motivation/commitment -  Give me two examples of how you balance your work responsibilities and your personal life or family responsibilities.
  • Organization - Describe a recent hectic day and tell me what tools and techniques you employed to stay on top of your tasks and deadlines.
"...remembering that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior."

Karen Wiseman
HCA Project Director
It's really not that difficult to craft the questions.  More important is to nail down the traits you are seeking.

Executive Level Hires

For key senior positions the same set of rules usually apply, but you are dealing often with more sophisticated and nuanced skills and traits.  Desirable skills may include business acumen, certainly, along with a strategic vision, sound judgment and that difficult-to-define quality of leadership.  HCA Senior Business Advisor Tara Rethore says "Smart CEOs also are likely searching for someone with the courage of his convictions, not a 'yes man.'"

How do you find out about that courage?  This is especially important if the supervisor is a tough and controlling leader.  You might ask for an example of where the candidate disagreed with a boss and how he tried to win his case.  Whether he did turn the boss around is really irrelevant; what's important is how he went about it.  Ask the candidate to give details about his effort in the face of opposition.

A frequent situation for many of our clients surrounds recruiting people from big companies to work for smaller, entrepreneurial ones.  Many seasoned executives think an entrepreneurial environment is glamorous and exciting.  But it's not an easy transition for many to make as they underestimate the challenges.  You'll need to probe deeply about how the candidate can cope with a different culture and limited resources.  You might ask about an assignment where the candidate had resource and time constraints, no support staff and not much of a road map.  How did she handle it and whqt were the results?
 
"Smart CEOs also likely are searching for someone with the courage of his convictions, not a 'yes man.'"

Tara Rethore 
HCA Sr. Business Advisor
Always look for someone who has the capacity to do the highest order thinking and execution, along with the willingness to do the most routine and common tasks.  Again, ask for examples:  "Tell me about a situation where resources were limited and you found yourself doing work you thought was below your 'grade level' but was necessary to get the job done."

The added beauty of asking for examples is that people tend to be most truthful when you ask for a story.  It's hard to fabricate a story on the spot, so you can be pretty sure that whatever example they offer is valid.  Of course, whether it's germane will be for you to decide.  You may need to probe for detail to ascertain whether they truly are willing to do lower level work when necessary.

Tips and Reminders

Closely related to this is a word of caution:  Don't over hire.  If a person is far too over qualified for the job it's unlikely she will even remember how to get down in the weeds.  And she could quickly become bored or frustrated.  This will lead to high staff turnover as she quickly becomes a candidate again - for a job with another company.

Another general behavioral-based question that can be revealing is simply this:  "Tell me what your current company would say is your legacy - your enduring and meaningful accomplishments."

Listen carefully to every answer as each will frequently reveal paths you can explore to ensure the person you hire is the right fit.

Some handy general questions to have in your tool kit:
  • Describe your favorite boss and why
  • Tell me about an organization that did not bring out the best in you.  Describe its culture.
  • When we check your references, what will they tell us about the reason you are leaving or left your job?
  • What does leadership mean to you?  Give me some examples of your thought leadership and supervisory leadership.
We hope our four-part series on interviewing provided a greater appreciation of the complexity and challenges of performing an effective interview and how behavior-based interviewing can help ensure that you get the hire right.

  
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Meet An Associate

Karen Wiseman
Karen is a Project Manager in HCA's Talent Acquisition Group.  She manages retained searches for a range of executive functions and a variety of industries.  She brings a unique complement of financial and human resources expertise.  Karen has an in-depth understanding of business operations from her audit and financial reporting experience in public accounting and private industry.  With this solid financial foundation, she joined Arthur Andersen's practice management team to direct their extensive recruiting program for the audit and tax practices.  Karen was appointed to participate on a national leadership team to create a visionary strategy for talent acquisition, as well as coordinate a best practices recruiting showcase at the firm's national training center.  In addition, she was responsible for the development and implementation of human resources initiatives for Andersen's mid-atlantic region.  Karen holds a BSBA in accounting from Georgetown University.

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Meet An Associate
Tara Rethore

Tara is a Senior Business Advisor with HCA.  She works with organizations and leaders to develop realistic business strategies and to break them down into the key actions that promote success.  Tara knows how organizations work and identifies and deploys the strengths of individuals and teams to accomplish clear objectives.  Both as an executive leader and consultant, Tara has successfully executed strategies and created more effective organizations in both for-profit and
mission-driven contexts.  Additionally she provides leadership coaching and mentoring services to executives and managers for a wide range of clients to help them achieve performance excellence.  Tara has held executive leadership roles (in both line and staff functions) with Lafarge North America and Arthur D. Little where she consulted in strategy and led its staff education programs.  A frequent speaker at industry and professional conferences, Tara is a trusted content provider to publications on a variety of topics.  She earned an MBA from the University of Chicago and an AB cum laude from Mount Holyoke College. 
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