From bad set-ups, stand-ups, to making conversation with a stranger, hiring is the business form of dating.
There are times when resumes are slim pickings. Can I get an amen?
This one time I'm interviewing a candidate. I advise that since some clients live in more remote areas, for the job she would need to be mobile and have access to a vehicle to drive. The candidate seemed nice enough, decently qualified based on her experience, and she stated that she in fact can drive and has access to her own vehicle. Perfect. So, we hire this candidate and send her all the details for her first job. The morning of the job, I receive a call. On the other side of that phone call is the new employee asking for me to pick her up for the job. She proceeded to state that she can drive if she chooses, but she's opted not to. So, we pivot and I ask: will you take the bus? It's a hard no from her end.
This was probably the funniest situation I've had with an employee and might have been avoidable with some more in-depth questions.
It's time to ditch your Grandma’s old school interview questions. And it’s time to start asking some more human questions.
If you’re like us, then you probably stress about choosing the right candidate when going through the hiring process. Honestly, it can be pretty daunting and just downright defeating at times – kinda like dating. So, how do we make sure to choose the best fit for our team? How do we vet these people and decide that they’re a great worker and person all in one within just 15 minutes? Whip out your magic ball 🔮 cause it feels like that’s all we got. To aid you on this seemingly fruitless journey we’ve figured out a “hack” of sorts that’s helped us grow our team into one that you’ll only get to see on those stock photo images [seriously, they’re pretty awesome 🤩]. Here are the top 5 missed interview questions for hiring and curating the very best team for your business. 👇👇 👇 1. What are your core values? Core values can give you a quick snapshot at who the candidate is! Not only will it guide you to making a clear decision on the candidate, but it’ll also give you the insight to know if they’ve ever given thought to these, and if they’ve lived their life guided by their own ethos. Some examples would be:
Loyalty
Respect
Honesty
Radical love
Kindness
Open mindedness
Showing gratitude
2. What drives you? (i.e. what makes you get up in the morning – kids, growth, adventure, etc.) We’re all a different kind of cuckoo clock ⏰ - meaning that we all tick differently (and maybe a little cuckoo at times…). With this question we really want to delve into what drives them as a human. Within the answer we receive, we can then find out if this person is someone that we can understand and inspire to grow, thus increasing team productivity. Some examples would be:
What makes you get up in the morning?
What is the driving force in your season of life right now?
Do you enjoy being challenged and is growth something that pushes you to your next level?
3. What was the biggest lesson or takeaway that you found within your last job? This one is BIG. How someone talks about a previous job, employer or team can really speak volumes to the type of person they are, and how they would potentially carry themselves within your team. Could the candidate pull any learning experiences from their prior position? Do they have the introspect or ability to be open to growth from this prior experience? Within the response to this answer, we really hope for the candidate to have a positive outlook on the experience and have the ability to express how and what they learned. 4. How do you hope to grow this year? The answer to this will give you an idea of where they plan to move within their lives this year. Would it be within the position on your team, or do they hope to go back to school and simply work for a short period of time? Of course, there’s no shame in that, BUT as a hiring manager, this is some information that we’ll want to know when planning. Secondly, we can really get an idea if this candidate has thought about this concept for their year – which is very important. As humans we need to grow to thrive and for our team to thrive, we need to have growing humans. Ya feel? All in all, we would rather have someone who wants to move the needle forward then someone staying stagnant. 5. When do you feel at your best? (i.e. at home with the family, at work crushing it, in the gym, etc.) As a hiring manager, and then this candidate’s potential manager, you want to know this person.
If hired, how could you motivate them? How can you learn to connect with them? How will they vibe with your existing team? So -- Why do these types of questions matter? All these things matter when you’re inviting someone new to the crew! We're hiring humans, not robots. And most importantly the environment we build at work can either tank or top rank a company – we sure hope you’re the latter! As always, we LOVE hearing from YOU and appreciate all the feedback!
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So much freaking love,
Jenna ❤️
Team StaffNet
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