Be specific. You can learn a lot more out by asking extremely specific questions. In other words, from a client services level, I would be asking about specific accounts they handled and specific situations they were in with clients and how they handled them. When they give me the answers, I would ask more specific questions. ‘Well, if that happened, then did this happen?’ They can walk you through the whole process in their own words. The more defined you can get in your questioning and how they handled specific situations, the more you can find out.
When you ask general questions, you get general answers. When we interview here, they see five or six different people. So I get a lot of input, too. People ask the questions that are required from the desk they sit at, and then we get a consensus and move forward.
It’s important that they have been part of the interview and approval process. If it’s like, ‘Here’s Joe; train Joe,’ that’s tough. They have been a part of it. They feel like, ‘I’ve made this decision along with everyone else here; I’m going to make this work.’
Don’t be mean. I’ve had people talk to me, professional interviewers, and tell me that my system is all wrong. And for all I know, it could be. They say ask uncomfortable questions and keep them on edge. I don’t know how to do that.
All I know how to do is give them a comfortable surrounding because that’s what I do for a living. That’s how I interview. You don’t get the answers you would get if they were uncomfortable or on the spot, which I think is what some interviewers say.
But I think I still get there, I just go a different way.
Provide a mentor. We have two or three stars in every single department and I park them with a star. They are going to be part of the team. Let’s say I put someone with an account manager. There’s account managers and production coordinators and folks that work within a team to support a client. So it’s to the advantage of the account manager to get those folks up to speed as quickly as possible.
They need additional resources for their team. So the training that they do is very self-serving. It’s the right thing to do for them. If they don’t get it based on that, that would be a real problem. I would question their future employment here. I think that’s pretty basic stuff. It’s not like you’re training someone to take your place. You’re training someone to be part of your resources and client services.
How to reach: Genesis Direct, (813) 855-4274 or www.genesisdirect.com