Every year when January hits, I get inundated with emails from people who are hiring. They are overwhelmed with applications, and they MUST start interviewing candidates. In a bit of a panic, they email me this question:
“What questions to you ask potential employees, Beth?”
As if somehow a magical list of questions will solve all of the hiring issues that you have ever had.
In order to come up with questions that work for you, you have to know what you are looking for in a candidate. “But Beth, I just want a good person to come work for me!”
No, you want a good “employee”, not a good person. There is a difference. A good person may not be the best fit for the job. A good employee is a great fit for the job AND a good person.
Now we are getting somewhere.
Here is the first step to a fabulous interview process: sit down with your team in front of a white board and ask yourself this question: if I could have the absolute BEST person for this job, who would they be? After you write your list of the Ideal person, type it up, add your company logo, and print the list on actual paper. Then, take that list and hang it up in your office, in your house, in your bathroom, and place one in your car.
The single most important part of the interview process is the mindset of the Hiring Manager, and the mindset must be clear: in order to get the employee you want for the job, you have to be able to picture how that person will be in the role and describe that person’s demeanor.
This mindset is the vision for your hiring process, and without that vision, you are wasting your time with your hiring process.
POWER THOUGHT: When hiring, don’t start with questions. Start with the vision.