There are three phases in hiring people. Phase one is to understand and describe the job sufficiently; make sure to describe minimum background and experience requirements. After screening resumes, conduct a face-to-face interview — preferably in person, not on Zoom. Then, assess whether the person has the needed and desired skills and motivation, and stylistically will be compatible with your organization’s culture.
The key to great interviews is to ask the applicant three questions, seeking examples of their actual behavior. An excellent technique is called “critical incident interviewing,” which has been around and validated against future performance for decades.
Ask a simple question: Tell me about a time recently in your current job that you felt effective. Ask them for details about what they said or did along the story. Focus on their behavior, not generalizations. Ask who did or said what to whom. A good critical incident should take about 15 minutes to tell with sufficient detail.
Then ask a second question as a variation: Tell me about a time recently in your current job that you felt ineffective. Again, ask for details and their actual behavior. If they say, “I have never felt ineffective — everything is a learning experience,” show them the door quickly.
Lastly, ask them what they would bring to the job. Research since the late 1950’s has shown that self-assessment of one’s abilities and behavior is notoriously delusional. So, this last question is more about self-confidence versus arrogance and their motivation than their description of their behavior.
Take copious notes to record their responses as literally as you can. This is key to the next phase of assessment or evaluation.
The third phase is determining if the person is a good fit and a good prospect for your job and your organization. The trap here is to react to how much you “like” the person. This is why more physically attractive people, those taller and those who look more like the interviewer, are often evaluated as a better candidate. Cloning precludes diversity of thought, which precludes innovation and doing the job better than the last occupant. I don’t mean that you should not search inside for your emotional reaction to the person. Getting a “vibe” or sense about them is often a way to use your far greater unconscious processing ability. But beware of ego defense mechanisms — that is, just because they remind you of your sister-in-law whom you detest does not mean they would be a poor candidate.
Review their behavior in the two critical incidents. Look for patterns. If they are the competencies you need or desire for your job, then they are a strength of the candidate. If they are “kiss of death” behavior that cause trouble, they are weaknesses. Everything else becomes irrelevant.
To assess a job applicant, you want some minimal relevant experience, but don’t overplay this. Their competencies are far more predictive of effective performance than past experience. The competencies for your job will include a combination of technical or market-related knowledge and skills, emotional intelligence, social intelligence and cognitive intelligence.
Six months, one year and two years after each hire, conduct a review of your screening, interview and assessment to improve. If you develop these techniques, it may help in other arenas of life, like communicating with your teenage children. ●
Richard E. Boyatzis is Distinguished University Professor; Professor, Organizational Behavior, Psychology, and Cognitive Science;
Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management
