Interviewing and selecting team members can be challenging for Generation Y. Making a mistake and hiring the wrong candidate can cause serious problems for both you, your team and your organization. The wrong selection can take many weeks of your time and your Human Resources colleagues to put right. I have found the three C’s, Competence, Chemistry and Character to be useful. Then I apply the STAR model to reveal key behaviors that I require for the role.
• Competence – Do they have the correct technical skills for the job. Most of this information comes from the CV however, it is the interviewer’s job to find out how much of the CV is actual reality and how much has been exaggerated to impress the interviewer. You don’t want to hire a phony!
• Chemistry – When you meet the candidate, do you like them? Will they fit into your existing team? Do they know their strengths and are they passionate about their skills and knowledge and your business? Do they have goals for their personal life and career? Someone who has no goals is a drifter and you do not want to hire drifters.
• Character – This is the hardest part of the interview. The candidate has thoughts, emotions, and perceptions, these are hidden from the world and only revealed through their behavior. Past behavior is an excellent predictor of future behavior and this is where we search for our STAR performers by asking behavioral questions.
Behavioral questions are difficult to answer, especially for candidates who are not prepared. First, I establish the desired behaviors/competencies I need for a particular role, next I write behavioral questions that best reveal the desired behavior that I expect. When I have my questions, I then ask the candidate to answer using the STAR model.
Let me give you an example of a behavioral question, ‘In our company we are sometimes asked to work late to finish a task. Explain a situation where you had to work late to finish a task to meet a deadline’. The candidate should answer based on the commonly adopted STAR model.
S – Situation, the candidate describes a situation from their experience that best illustrates the behavior. In this case, they may have worked late because a project was behind schedule.
T – Task, they explain the task they were conducting at the time. They are specific about their part in the task. They don’t mention their group, team or committee. It is all about what they did.
A – Actions, they expand on the example and give details of the task and the actions they took.
R – Results, what where the Results of their actions and how was the behavior demonstrated.
The STAR model not only challenges the candidate to think of concrete examples from their experience but also demonstrates to the candidate the expected behaviors required for the job. If the candidate is successful then they cannot really complain if asked to work late one evening to finish a task because it was a key scenario discussed during the interview.
I have found this interviewing technique very effective in searching for my STAR performers.
After you have lead your team, sometimes painfully, through the Storming, Norming and Performing stages of team building you will be reluctant to start adding a new and untested person. This can change the dynamics of the team and will either help them or will cause disruption within the team. If you are unsure if a candidate is a suitable addition it is better to leave the position empty!

Stuart

Making Steps and Leaving Footprints…

(The thoughts and ideas expressed in this blog are my own and do not represent the views of my employer) Example Questions for you to use