August
2008
Candidates may not "tell it like it
is."
Interviews are
about more than just asking really good questions and then listening
and assessing answers. Those answers may be only half-answers,
giving you only part of the entire picture behind the candidate's
response. Sometimes candidates will share only limited information,
knowing that the whole answer may cost them the job offer. Or their
intent may be simply more innocent: They don't realize that they're
not giving you the whole truth, because they're operating on the
assumption that you know more than you do. Or they simply don't know
that the critical details are in the answers they give. Regardless
of their motivations, the job is yours to get the truth, the whole
truth. Therefore, asking probing follow-up questions is
critical.
What are some ways for you to assess whether
you have the whole story or not? One way is to listen for
what's missing. There may be times that the candidate tells
you the background and the action taken, without telling you about
the result. Or the candidate may share details of the action
taken and the results, but fails to set up the situation or
background.
When the background is not clear, probe a
little more by saying:
When the behavior is not clear,
ask:
- What did you do?
- What specific actions did you take?
- Describe your reaction.
- How did you do that?
When the result is not clear, ask:
- What happened?
- What was the result?
- What was the response to your action?
- How would you rate the action that you
took?
Ask for other
details
There may be times when a
candidate leaves unanswered questions about some of the details. In
these cases you may want to ask a very focused and even closed
question to get the specific information you need.
For example the candidate has just given you some
general information about his educational background and you still
need more details. You might ask one of these closed follow-up
questions:
- Did you do well in that class?
- Did you take classes in specific subject matter
needed on the job?
- What other on-the-job training did you receive at
your last job?
- In what field did you excel?
- Have you used your education on your past
job?
You might also ask for more open responses when you
have general questions to be answered:
- Tell me more about some of the supervisory
development you received.
- How did you go on to apply that knowledge?
- What was it about that instruction that got in
the way of performing your job duties?
- Can you elaborate on your education?
- Please tell me about another example when that
happened.
- What else do I need to know to help me in making
this decision?
Red flags in a
candidate's answers
You can get
valuable information by the answers that the candidate doesn't
provide - namely red flags. For example, when a candidate says, "I
always double check all my work to make sure it's accurate," you
know that this is not a specific example because he or she said, "I
always." Therefore, "always" becomes one of the red flag words
to help identify these issues.
Other red flag words in
responses include:
- "I never" (does not indicate a specific example)
- "I occasionally" (does not indicate a specific
example)
- "I often" (does not indicate a specific example)
- "We did . . ."(this indicates behavior of a team,
not an individual)
- "I try to . . ." (this isn't what the individual
actually did, it's what this person
attempted)
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