From the Ask Tom mailbag –

Question:
I attended your presentation a couple of times. At the last event, you mentioned that you would share a list of interview questions which would help us to evaluate candidates for soft skills rather than just technical knowledge.

Response:
Interview questions about any soft skill uses the same model as any attitude or characteristic.

1. Identify the behavior connected to the soft skill.
2. Identify a circumstance where we might see that behavior.
3. Develop questions about the behavior.

Behaviors related to listening –

• In a coaching situation, where corrective action is required.
• In a coaching situation related to misbehavior.
• In a coaching situation, where a new skill is being learned.

Behavior – Listening in a coaching situation, where corrective action is required.

• Tell me about a situation with a team member, where corrective action was required.
• What was the project?
• Who was on the project team?
• What was your role on the project team?
• What did you observe that required corrective action?
• Where did you have the conversation with the team member?
• How long did the conversation last?
• How did you approach the team member?
• Step me through the conversation?
• How did the team member respond in the conversation?
• What was the result of the conversation?
• What steps did you take to follow-up on the conversation?

Behaviors related to individual initiative –

• Appropriately beginning a project without being told.
• Continuing a project without being reminded.
• Finishing a project (all the last steps) without being reminded.

Behavior – Appropriately beginning a project without being told.

• Tell me about a project that needed to get started before your manager knew about it?
• What was the project?
• Who was on the project team?
• What was your role on the project team?
• How did you know what needed to be done without your manager telling you?
• What were the first steps in the project?
• How did you know those steps would be okay to complete without specific direction from your manager?
• Did your manager ever review the initial work on the project?
• What was the result of starting the project before your manager knew about it?

Behavior – Continuing a project without being reminded.

• Tell me about a project you worked on, where the flow of the work was interrupted by other work, perhaps a long project that had stages to it?
• How were the stages of the project planned?
• How long was the project?
• How did you know you were at a stopping point in the project and it was okay to complete other work?
• How did you know it was time to pick the project up where you left off?
• What flexibility did you have to decide where to stop and where to pick up with all of your other work?
• How was your work scheduled?
• Did you have your own schedule that you created?
• How did you remind yourself that you still had uncompleted work on a project that you stopped?

Behavior – Finishing the work (all the steps) on a project, without being reminded.

• Tell me about a time when you worked on a project that never seemed to end, that when you thought the work was done, there were still more steps to complete?
• At the end of the project, what kind of items popped up, still undone?
• At the end of the project, how did you find out about those undone items?
• At the end of the project, how did you keep track of those undone items?
• Did you personally have to complete those undone items, or were there other people working on those items with you?
• How did you track what you got done and what others got done?
• At the end of the project, when ALL the items were finally completed, how did you know there were NO uncompleted items left?

You can interview for any attitude, characteristic or soft skill, as long as you can connect it to behaviors.