Jane and Bob have been interviewing to add more members to their team. They've already looked at the characteristics of the best and brightest and how to determine if a candidate has those characteristics (and if they even need the best and the brightest). They've also spent some time evaluating the organization's current needs and what kind of employee fits in best with those needs.

Jane and Bob are ready to interview! They take a deep breath and jump in. What they sometimes forget is that interviewing doesn't have to be difficult. They just need to simplify and improve their interviewing techniques.

Interviewing made simple

First, Jane and Bob can't just interview for the technical skills they need. Interpersonal skills are the key to successful hires. An employee with no interpersonal skills won't be an asset to the company. Instead, he will be a drain to the rest of the team, and other problems will arise, beyond his abilities to perform the tasks at hand.

In the interview...

Jane and Bob don't use a standard list of interview questions. Otherwise, they'll be spending all their time looking at the questions and writing down the answers instead of truly listening to the candidate.

They also don't ask yes/no questions; they ask open-ended questions that require elaboration on the part of the candidate. This way, they get a feel for what's really going on in the candidate's head.

Jane and Bob also ask situational questions to determine how the candidate would handle certain situations. The best questions to develop are those that are applicable to the company environment. They pick real-life scenarios that have actually happened in their department, as these are the best ways to find out how someone would handle that same scenario.

Some great examples:

"Tell me about a time you had a conflict with a team member. What was the situation, and how did you handle it?? "You take over managing a team, and you have two poor performers. They've been passed from manager to manager, and now it's your turn. What do you do?? "Tell me about a time you had to meet an unrealistic deadline. How did you handle it?? "You have a co-worker who is not holding up his end of the project and is causing delays, frustration, and irritation among other team members. What do you do??

More great interview questions...

Jane and Bob love questions that have the applicant think about why she is special, what she has accomplished, and why they should hire her.

"If you only had ten minutes to tell me why I should hire you, and there were six other people outside my door, what would you want me to know about you?? "Tell me about your key accomplishments.? (Jane and Bob don't distinguish between personal and professional in this question. This question is there to elicit what the candidate thinks are her key accomplishments.) "If I called your manager and coworkers, what would they tell me about you??

Final thoughts from Jane and Bob

One of the most difficult challenges for leaders is to hire effectively. Often they make the assumption that skills + previous experience = a win. One of the biggest lies decision-makers tell themselves is that hiring based on skills minimizes the risk of failure. Relying on skills is a fall-back position for leaders who don't have the confidence to hire effectively.