From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:
Here we are again. I thought this was the best candidate, but, now only three weeks into the job, I might have made a mistake. It turns out, I misinterpreted things that were discussed in the interview.

Response:
Why do interviewers constantly misinterpret candidate responses? Simple reason. Interviewers misinterpret because they are asking questions that require interpretation. Any question that requires the response to be interpreted is a poor question. Worse yet, now the interviewer has to do something with that interpretation.

“Tell me, how important was planning in your last company?”

Terrible question. Any response to this question requires the interviewer to make an interpretation, an assumption or a leap of faith. Do we depend on the person to be telling the truth, or do we take it with a grain of salt? None of this is helpful.

Here is a better set of questions.

• Tell me about a time when it was important for you to create a plan for a project you were working on?
• What was the project?
• What was the purpose of the project?
• How long was the project?
• Tell me about the plan?

____
We are currently taking registrations for our next online program, Hiring Talent. You can find out more information about the program, here.