I think my way is better.

How do you like this gem?

“Tell me about a time you had a difficult customer and what you did to turn the conversation?”

Like that is a good interview question.  Hah!

Scripted interview questions like that are HR psychobabble. The interviewer decides what is a good answer.

Stilted and useless. I think my way is better.

First, the interview should focus on three legs of the stool:

work ethic

attitude

intelligence

All three are great, but two reign supreme.  A great work ethic and attitude will be a great hire.  Very few exceptions.

Then, you look for basic communication skills and can they do those basics- whether data entry skills, handling money, or command of Excel.  Can they get there technically?

How do you find the work ethic and attitude?  To some degree, you create it in the hiring process.

I tell each candidate “We have just the one fall-on-the-sword element for any new member of the team.  Have to be PPFE.  Positive, productive, fresh and enthusiastic.

I review what each of three terms means in the context of our office (a blog to come on PPFE)

Everything we do is run through that sieve of PPFE.

I want to hire someone who is so good that I get motivated.  So polished that I have to muscle up to represent.  So professional that I must do better to deserve to be their colleague much less boss.

I am not hiring an admin today, or a sales manager, or a server.  No.  I am hiring a future employee of the month.  That is what we are trying to add to our team.

Days 1-60 or 90 are learning.  The birth phase.  But the goal is that 6 or 9 months down the road, this candidate is now gently and positively pushing colleagues to be even better.

Good enough will not be good enough.

And I close on the candidate.

“Is that you?  Will you be that colleague who strives not just to do the job based on the job description, but to exhibit such a great attitude and work ethic that others are motivated to be better?

I am looking for a candidate coming out of the chair.  Someone with a burn for being part of a team.

By the time a position is offered, you want the candidate jacked about the offer, and the team feeling they are loading the gun with this new addition to the unit.