One of the most important roles and responsibilities a leader has is to build a strong leadership team. As important as recruiting is to the success of an organization it is frequently one of the poorest leader skills. Statistics indicate that the success rate for quality hires is about 48%. Not great.
In previous blog posts, we have communicated one of the reasons for such results is the leader bases his/her selections on priorities that don’t produces the best results. As a quick review, energy is the number one predictor of a successful hire followed by culture and core values. Knowledge, skills and abilities are the lowest indicator, which may be surprising, until we consider that energy, culture and core values come with the applicant and probably aren’t easily changed.
However, in the remainder of this post, we’d like to focus on the issue of the applicant’s KSAs.
We have found over the years interview questions regarding KSAs fail to get results because the interviewer often asks, “What would you do” questions rather than “What have you” questions. “What would you do” questions get stock answers and when finished the interviewer doesn’t know if the candidate can actually do the job.
The best results come from, “What have you done kind of questions.” We’ve prepared some:
- What are your specific responsibilities?
- Exactly how does your supervisor evaluate your work?
- How do you evaluate your work?
- What aspects of your work have been the most challenging?
- Exactly how does your performance make a difference to your organization?
- What are you learning about your profession that makes you a more valuable employee?
- What’s a work situation in which you had to try a new solution in order to solve a work related problem?
Make sure you insert some questions like:
- More detail please?
- Would you please be more specific?
Happy interviewing!
For more assistance be sure to contact Doris Scribner (573) 819-0706 or Bob Scribner (573) 819-2436 and schedule a coffee meeting on us.