From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

I am preparing for an interview for a Stratum III position, 12-18 months Time Span. I understand the Time Span interview process from your workshop. It will help identify the Time Span capability of the candidate. But, how do we know the candidate was successful in the previous job?

Response:

Indeed. This past Wednesday, I talked about the Four Elements of Success. Not only do you have to interview for Time Span, you also have to interview for the three other elements.

I recommend a behavioral interview approach, always focused on past behavior. Here is a list of starter questions.

In (Area #1) what goals were established?
What were the tasks and activities that supported those goals?
What resources did you have available to support those goals?
How did you develop those resources to support those goals?
How often did you review progress toward those goals?
What were the results during the past 12 months toward the achievement of those goals?

In the interview, depending on the Stratum of the position, I recommend approximately 60 prepared questions during a 90 minute interview. For each prepared question, I usually ask two drill down questions for a total of 180 questions.

That typically gives me a pretty good idea of success. -TF