“We always hire people for their technical skills, but we fire them for who they are.” Russell and I were having a conversation about how to create hiring questions.
“Tell me more. What do you mean you fire them for who they are?” I asked.
“Well, they may have the right experience, know how to handle the technical part of the job, but their attitude is a little out of whack. In the beginning, it doesn’t show up, but after a couple of months, little things appear. After six months, this strange behavior actually begins to flourish and it’s downhill from there.”
“What do mean, strange behavior?” I was getting curious.
“Sometimes, it’s just people skills. They are a little gruff at first, then a couple of people get on their bad side. Pretty soon, they become downright rude. They publicly dress people down in meetings. No one can disagree with them without a huge public confrontation.”
“Do you interview to discover this type of behavior?”
“No, usually the person is pretty well coached by a headhunter on how to handle the interview, so we don’t find out until later.” Russell stopped, his brow furrowed. “You mean you can interview for a bad attitude?”
“Yes, you can. Bring me your job description for that open position. Tomorrow, we will talk about interviewing for both the technical side of things and the soft “people side of things.” -TF
Hello Tom,
I would like to get more information on how to interview for the “people side” of things. I always think I am asking the right questions to see if they would be great not only with the technical part of their job but also that they can take direction, get along with their peers and most important of all, handle students with care. If you could share some techniques for finding out ahead of time if they would be a good fit or not would be great! I am currently hiring many new Instructors for full time positions and I want to make sure I have the right fit for our campus. Thanks Tom.
Sincerely,
Sherry Olsen
I love this. I love what you wrote and how you wrote it because it is not theory it is down to earth practical. It hits the nail head on. This is really the kind of stuff we want to hear and learn about. The way you say it too is very involving and close to the heart and mind. I believe it is right that story telling is THE way information can be transferred around to humans. I’m waiting to read the next post on how to actually interview for attitude.
Sherry,
Thank you so much for responding to today’s post, though I am not sure what you are doing up at 2:00a when most are sleeping.
This is such an important issue that we will spend the next few days exploring how to interview for different kinds of job requirements, attitude being one.