Subject: August Hire Score Newsletter

Welcome to the August edition of the Hire Score Newsletter. I need to start this month's edition with a little housekeeping. We are running into a number of problems with spam software blocking the newsletter. Don't get me wrong, I hate spam as much as you do but some of the programs are making it very difficult for legitimate messages to get through.

My request is that you make the necessary entry so this e-mail is accepted by your spam software. Thanks!

Now, down to business. I need to start this month's letter with a small rant. Recently, I received a newsletter from a very respected publication with a lead article titled, "6 Interview Questions You Must Ask" It is worth going through these to point out the misinformation that is running rampant in the popular press and to use this as an opportunity to show you how to fix a bad question. Here we go.

Question #1: Where would you like your career to be in 2-3 years? Admittedly this is better than where do you want to be 5 years but it still doesn't pass my good question test. The key to the fix is to decide what piece of information you are looking for. If you want to know what research they did before the interview, ask "How did you prepare for this interview?" If you want to know if the person sets goals ask, "What goals did you set for yourself at your previous job? How did you manage your progress to those goals?" The key is to determine the SPECIFIC INFORMATION you need and develop an effective question to get it.

Question #2: Describe in detail the types of bosses you like/don't like to work for. How about, "What was the most important thing your current manager has done to help you get better?" Or, "What was the last time you disagreed with how your boss handled a situation? What did you do?" These are questions that go after specific behaviors and give you data that will help you predict success.

Question #3: What about the activities in your current position do you enjoy most/least? You are asking for opinions which are not factual and open the door for the candidate to feed you a line. A better approach is to ask, "What was the most difficult thing you had to learn to be fully proficient at your current job? How did you come up to speed on that skill?" Or, "What was the last thing you did to make your job easier or more efficient?" Now you are going to get specific action (behaviors) that the person is likely to repeat on your job as opposed to opinions.

Question #4: All new jobs come with difficulties, if you encounter any in this position what do you think they may be? There are so many things wrong with this question I am not sure where to start. You are asking for opinion (what do you think). You have put the person on the spot creating tension (I wonder they want to hear?). You have opened the door for them to tell you what they think you want to hear. You have lost control of the interview. I could go on. If you are interested in the person's ability to solve problems, try this, "What was the biggest problem you encountered when you took over as manager of the ABC department? How did you handle it?"

Question #5: Do you agree or disagree and why, with the statement, "Everybody cheats on their taxes." What the hell is this all about. The author says this is a way to tell if a person pushes the envelope on the job. Yeah right! How about, "Describe the last time you went above and beyond to get a job done. What was the situation and how did you handle it?" Or, "When was the last time you went against company policy? What was your decision process to choose that course of action?" I like questions that get specific data about behavior and actions the person took which are the best predictor of future behavior.

Question #6: If the company gave you $5000 to spend anyway you wanted during your first year of employment, what would you spend it on? Are you starting to see why I used these questions as an object lesson? I can't imagine what they are after with this question. If you are interested in creativity, how about, "What was the last suggestion you made that was accepted?" If you are interested in self-development, how about, "What have you done in the past 6 months to improve your skills?" If you are interested in fiscal responsibility, how about, "What specifically did you do to your department budget to stretch the resources?"

Please don't fall into the trap of thinking a question is good because it sounds cute. Here is the process you need to go through to test a question.

1. What piece of information are you trying to get?
2. Is there only one answer (close-ended)?
3. Is it specific to the person's background?
4. Is it easy to answer?
5. Will the answer get you information that helps predict success on the job?


As always, I am sure some of you will disagree and I look forward to your comments. Please send comments, suggestions and disagreements to staff@selectingwinners.com.

Also, if you want to see an entire list of questions you should avoid presented in a humorous way, please pick up a copy of my book, "Smartass Answers To Stupid Interview Questions" at my website at: http://www.selectingwinners.com/smarta_new.html By the way, it makes a great gift.

Another quick story to illustrate a point. I attended a trade show in Los Angeles this month with one of my strategic partners. As I spent time in the booth talking to business owners about hiring problems it amazed me how many of them just accepted the problems as part of the business. No attempt to get help to fix the problems. We are talking about high turnover rates, hiring mistakes, employee theft, lack of training funds to fix problems, etc. > You cannot simply accept this situation. You must make an attempt to get the information and tools that will have a huge impact on your business. I asked one person what the current turnover rate was at his business. He said 150%. This is only slightly higher than the average for this industry. I then asked him what effect it would have on his bottom line if he could reduce that to 125%. (A fairly modest improvement and very doable) He started to gush about savings in recruiting costs, training costs, continuity with his customers, etc. > Don't you think these benefits are worth working for? This situation represents a 17% improvement in turnover rate. I can promise you that implementing the Selecting Winners system will have a significant impact on your turnover with a quantifiable savings. Please give me a call at 206-230-9400 x201 so we can discuss how you can start saving money and eliminating management headaches (Oh yea, I forgot to mention that the number one cause of management headaches is dealing with problem employees which is caused by hiring the wrong people in the first place!)

Quick Announcement

As most of you know, I have been a distributor for a series of pre-employment assessment tests for many years. The publisher has just released a new instrument that effectively measures customer service skills. I was absolutely stunned when I saw how well this test works. Imagine being able to predict how a person will interact with your customers before you hire them. I plan on dedicating an entire column to this new product soon but please contact me now for more information. Send email to staff@selectingwinners.com or call me at 206-230-9400 x201.

That's it for this month but as always, send your questions and comments to staff@selectingwinners.com.

Have a great month recruiting!

Barry Shamis