The Discovery and Interview Process

One important aspect in fine tuning is to "flush out the fisherman"-i.e., those candidates who are just curious or just open to exploring other opportunities. There are plenty of candidates who are willing to go along for the ride just to see what an alternative offer might look like; or to parlay an offer from our client in to a counter-offer from their current employer.

Some people just have the attitude "Nothing ventured nothing gained", with little or no regard to what inconvenience, heartache or heartburn their fishing expedition might cause for us, our client and for that matter, other candidates who are sincerely interested in the position for the right reasons. Unfortunately, such candidates are increasingly common.

Be aware. Be VERY aware and AFRAID of the first impression! Most of the time we make bad hiring decisions because we decide too soon: we're too emotional, we don't know what we're looking for or we don't know what questions to ask. Remember that traditional techniques used by most managers are seriously flawed and produce results just marginally better than a flip of the coin. Even the most exhaustive processes come down to a decision based on gut feeling, instinct and intuition more often than not.

Many A Players are overlooked because they do not meet some superficial standard, or because they don't perform brilliantly during the interview. Most managers just don't realize that some of the most stellar performers are not great interviewers. Conversely, there are many "professional interviewees," who are substandard performers. Many of these candidates who perform so remarkably in interviews do so because they have so much experience! Trust me when I tell you that your candidate's superior interviewing skills will not add one iota of value to your company once he or she is hired.

Another problem is that most managers assume that effective recruiting is a selling proposition. Many "A Players" are driven away by managers who oversell the position, therefore cheapening it. Successful recruiting is more of a buying situation, rather than a selling situation. Candidates should be required to earn the right to a valuable job; and then to sell you.

In order to further qualify potential candidates against our client's expectations and values, we will ask those candidates who have agreed to go through the process to spend an average of eight to ten hours in filling out very detailed, essay-type questionnaires. This discovery process will ultimately reveal, in large part, which candidates are best suited for our client's situation.

Our 4C assessment focuses on candidate self-evaluation: contribution, culture, character and commitment. It also gives us a very good sense of the candidate's writing, thinking, and reasoning styles. Additionally, we gain some insight into how well they follow instructions and can articulate answers to complex questions; and it gives us a good sense of how cooperative or arrogant they might be on the job. Based on our experience, a candidate who is uncooperative and unresponsive to our requests during the screening process will more than likely perform in the same manner once they are working for the client's company. Indeed, the candidate's personality is often just as important as their background, experience, credentials and skill sets.

This process is unique and it is something we have determined we cannot do without, as it has saved us from following through with candidates who more than likely would have ultimately failed. The 4C assessment is essentially a self-appraisal for the candidate, as it forces them to answer questions about themselves that may have never occurred to them-just as our needs analysis performs a similar function for our clients. Many of our candidates have told us they learned more about themselves while going through this process than they had at any other point in their career. The questionnaire typically helps a candidate to understand, at a much deeper level, what would be required of them in order to be successful in our client's position; and in some cases, they come to realize that the job is not a good match for their talents or needs. In such instances, the candidate may, with good reason, self-select out of a process that they would have otherwise continued.

This discovery process typically eliminates the marginally qualified as well as the casually interested; and we are usually left with a dozen or so candidates with whom we are really impressed, and who have provided answers with which we are comfortable.  In some cases our clients have wanted to be involved in the screening process and have read the semi-finalists' responses. In those cases we've agreed on finalists with whom we want to move forward.

It is worth mentioning here that 98% of candidates who endure this process accept employment offers extended by our clients. A recent study of 44 Fortune 500 companies that did at least thirty retained searches per year revealed that 29% of offers extended through search firms in the study were rejected. It shouldn't surprise anyone that roughly 45% of those placed as a result of this lack of process will wash out within eighteen months.

We then typically conduct face-to-face interviews with our semi-finalist pool of select candidates during which we assess such qualities as personal presence and the ability to persuade - qualities which are crucial in a candidate for any senior level position.

If you are not using a search firm, you will dramatically improve your odds if you will require all prospective candidates to go through a series of exercises.

EXAMPLE 

  1. SELF-APPRAISAL
    1. Describe the best job you've ever had and specifically what made it so.
    2. Give me a thorough self-appraisal, beginning with what you consider your strengths & assets.
    3. Please describe your weaknesses and areas for improvement along with what kinds of things you've done to compensate for your shortcomings.
    4. Give me a comprehensive wish list of ALL attributes you would like to have in your next role.
    5. Give me a comprehensive list of ALL attributes you want to avoid in your next role.
  2. LEADERSHIP/ATTRIBUTES
    1. Tell me specifically about your successes in leading consistently in a way that inspires others to follow and trust you.
    2. How would your subordinates describe your energy and bias for action and your ability to ensure quality execution?
    3. Tell me about how you stay intimately involved in your organization's strategy, people systems and operations.
    4. How would you describe your propensity to hold people in your organization accountable for their performance, behavior and promises.
    5. Please describe how you help a complex organization deal with ambiguity and multiple priorities.  
    6. What would your stakeholders feel are your strengths and shortcomings in terms of delegating critical and important tasks to others?
    7. What would your stakeholders feel are your strengths and shortcomings in terms of sharing information, resources and credit?
    8. Describe a situation in which you had to admit and demonstrate that you were a real person, not afraid to show vulnerability, admit mistakes and ask for help.
    9. How would your past stakeholders describe your approach  to communicating your company's vision, purpose and values?
    10. Talk to me about how your communication of your organization's values is manifested in your rank-in-file employees .
    11. Describe a situation in which you had to utilize inductive reasoning to gather a broad range of data from your environment, draw conclusions, explain and add calm and clarity to the situation, separating emotion from logic.
    12. Describe a situation in which you had to tell a stakeholder the truth even when it wasn't what he or she wanted to hear.
    13. Describe a situation in which you demonstrated that you were in the fight for the long haul, not just for the short run or good times.
    14. Describe a situation in which your sense of humor, lightheartedness and/or willingness to laugh at yourself defused a tense situation.
    15. Describe a situation in which you helped a stakeholder put their issues in context by use of anecdotes, metaphors and war stories.
    16. Describe your approach to instilling passion and energizing your workforce.
    17. Describe how you lead by example in encouraging your management team to treat others with dignity and respect.
  3. MANAGEMENT
    1. How would you describe your relationship management experience, philosophy and style?
    2. Please describe your experience in strategic planning and implementation, including successful and unsuccessful approaches.  
    3. What would your subordinates feel are your strengths and shortcomings in terms of consensus building and conflict management?
    4. How would past superiors describe your approaches to profitable project management and follow through?
    5. Describe the process you utilized to track and achieve benchmark metrics against known best practices?
    6. Describe a situation in which you had to effectively track, monitor and document complex processes.
    7. Describe a complex situation in which you had to analyze the situation and solve a problem quickly.
    8. Please describe a situation in which you had to prepare and deliver an impactful presentation to a group of executive decision makers.
    9. Do you consider yourself a better Mr. Inside or Mr. Outside, and why?
    10. Are you more likely to find yourself asking for forgiveness or permission?
    11. What is your perspective on sales & marketing's involvement with the client support process?  What arrangement do you feel works best?
  4. INTERPERSONAL COMPETENCIES
    1. Describe situations in which your commitment to integrity caused you discomfort.
    2. Give examples of your going beyond what was normally expected to enhance your company's reputation or image.
    3. Describe a situation in which your stamina was tested.
    4. How did you grow so passionate about your profession?
    5. Discuss your methods of diagnosing and exceeding client/customer needs.
    6. Are you familiar with the term "active listening"?  How would you definite it? 
    7. How do you motivate co-workers outside your team?
    8. How would you rate yourself in terms of compassion, transparency and vulnerability?  Why?
  5. FIT/ALIGNMENT/TRANSITION
    1. Capsulate your knowledge of your industry and what makes it tick.
    2. Other than what you have learned from us and read in our literature, what do you know about the opportunity you've been presented?
    3. Why do you believe this is the right fit for you at this point in your career?
    4. What would it take for you to make a career change?  Why move now?
    5. What actions would you take in the first weeks?
    6. How many meaningful contacts might you have within your chosen field of focus?
    7. Having spoken with me, and having read the position description, what challenges do you see?
    8. What would your exit strategy be to leave your current employment? 
    9. When could you be available to begin?