Jeremy was trying to figure out what went wrong in the interview process. This was beginning to look like a bad hire. “We finally got it out of him. After fifteen minutes of probing in the interview, we discovered his experience that we needed to fill the job requirement. But this guy has been on the job for three weeks, now, and he doesn’t seem to have a clue.”

“In the interview process,” I replied, “if the behavior is frequent, examples should come from the candidate easily. If you have to really probe and dig, it is likely the behavior is not frequent; in fact, the pattern of behavior may be only occasional, even rare. If this is a critical behavior for the position, you may have the wrong guy.

“So, if you are the interviewer, ask for an example. If it comes easily, ask for another example. If it comes easily, ask for another example. These examples will likely establish a pattern of behavior. In the interview we are looking for repeated patterns of behavior.” -TF

This question “Where do you see yourself in five years?” seems to be drawing a lot of fire this week. Susan posted a comment:

Rather than assume that Joann lost control of the interview, look at the approach she was taking. It seems she took the nondirective approach to the interview which allows the candidate to have control. The question asked is justifiable, however, the reliability and validity of the answer is minimal.

Quick recap. I sat in on an interview where the interviewer lost control simply by asking the 5 year question. Susan is suggesting that the question might be appropriate if the interviewer is choosing a nondirective approach to the interview.

The sole purpose of the interview is to capture data (facts) so the interviewer can make a hiring decision. Anything that detracts from that purpose should be seriously questioned and likely discarded from the interview process.

Right now, you are reading this so you can make better hiring decisions. I will guarantee you that, right now, candidates are reading articles to defeat you. Candidates are being coached by headhunters to take control of the interview, so they can tell you only those things that are to their advantage.

Allowing the candidate to take control of the interview is a dramatic waste of your time and pulls you away from your purpose of gathering facts so you can make a better hiring decision. Candidates are being trained to specifically derail you from this process. -TF

“But what about a question looking to the future? Could this reveal their goals and help us understand how to motivate them?” asks Bob in response to yesterdays post. For the past two days, we have been looking at the question –Where do you see yourself in 5 years?-

In our Hiring Talent Workshop, we spend a great deal of time looking at ineffective questions and the 5 year question is at the top of the list. So what about Bob’s interest in learning how to motivate a prospective candidate who is about to become a new hire?

Is motivation a critical issue? Absolutely! So, Bob brings up an important subject.

The problem with the 5 year question is that it calls for speculation. Any question about the future invites the candidate to make stuff up or outright lie. Now, I know that no candidates you interview ever inflate the truth, but I have run across a few that have.

But if motivation is critical, and it is, then I am keenly interested. And if past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior, that will be my focus. And if all motivation springs from interest and passion, here is what my questions sound like.

Tell me about a time when your manager struck gold with you, and tapped into a particular interest that got you revved up on a project. What was the project? What was your interest? What were you passionate about? How did your manager know about your passion for this project? What was the result of the project?

If goals are of interest in the hiring interview, here are my questions.

Tell me about a time when goal-setting played a critical role in the success of a project. What was the project? How were the goals set? Were these personal goals or goals for the team? How often did you review the goals with your manager? What was the result of the project?

These are critical issues, interest, passion and goals. Future questions simply invite candidates to make stuff up. Focus on the past. Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior . -TF

Joann’s agitation turned into confusion, predictably. “But, every interview I have ever been in, that question was asked.” We had been talking about my reasons for not asking the question -Where do you see yourself in 5 years-.

“Joann, what is the purpose of the interview process?”

“It’s to find out if this is the right person for the job,” she replied.

“Good answer. The purpose of the interview is for you to predict the future behavior of the candidate when they come to work for you. Tell me, what is the best predictor of future behavior?”

Joann thought for a long minute. “Well, we sometimes use a personality assessment.”

“Those are okay, but the best predictor of future behavior, statistically, is past behavior. If you want to know how someone is going to behave when they come to work for you, all you have to do is find out how they have behaved in similar situations in the past. The purpose of the interview is to collect facts about the person’s past behavior.

“The problem with your question about 5 years from now, is that it calls for speculation on the part of the candidate, has nothing to do with facts and is not verifiable. But here is the biggest problem. If you ask that question, you will get a response that you can do nothing with. All it can do is confuse you as an interviewer. In the midst of your fact based data collection, you get this speculative response that has nothing to do past behavior and it actually confuses the interviewer.” -TF

I quietly sat through the interview as an observer. During the debrief after, I fielded the following question, “Well, what did you think?”

I did have a number of thoughts. “At what point did you think you lost control of the interview?”

Joann looked puzzled, “Lost control?” I was silent. “What do you mean, lost control?”

“I was just curious if you noticed. At what point did the candidate begin to ramble and make stuff up?”

“Do you think he was making things up?” Joann asked.

“Oh, without a doubt I said. About two minutes into the interview, you asked him a question, and that is when it started. In fact, the manufactured stories continued through most of the interview.” I could see that Joann was beginning to fume, thinking the candidate had put one over on her. But I continued. “And all this fabrication was at your invitation. Do you remember the question you asked?”

“No.” Joann was definitely agitated.

“You asked him where he thought he would be, professionally, in five years. Anytime you ask a question about the future, you invite the candidate to speculate, fabricate and invent stories that you have no way to verify. It provides you with no useful information.”

I sat quietly. I knew this would take some time to sink in. -TF

“What is the purpose of this interview,” I asked. Morgan struggled for a moment, but some clarity managed to pierce the fog.

“The purpose of the interview is to help me make the right hiring decision.”

“Good,” I continued. “In a sense, you are in the role of the fortune teller. It is your job as a Manager to predict the future. How will this candidate behave when they come to work in your company? So, Morgan, the best predictor of future behavior is what?”

“Past behavior,” blurted Morgan.

“Exactly, the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. All you have to do in the interview is find out about their past job behaviors. If they have a pattern of a behavior in the past, there is a high likelihood they will repeat that behavior when they come to work for you.

“First, determine what behaviors will be necessary for the position you are hiring. Then find out, if that is what they have done before. Once they report for work, you will NOT be able to change their behavior; it already has to be a part of them, their patterns. You are not in the behavior modification business. You are in the behavior selection business.” -TF

Jean was upset. After two weeks of interviewing, the committee had finally made an offer to a candidate for an open position. “I called her up and she laughed, said she took another position last week. So, we went to our second candidate, same thing. Our third candidate was missing two essential qualifications, but the committee didn’t want to start the process over. I just made the offer, but I am skeptical. I just hope it works out.”

“Well, hope is a strategy,” I replied. “Why did it take so long to make a decision on your first two candidates? You interviewed them almost two weeks ago.”

“Well, whenever the committee got together, we would argue about what was important for the position. Our meetings were more confusing than helpful.”

“The job description, wasn’t that helpful?”

“It’s funny, we didn’t actually write one until over this past weekend. It was only when we did, that the committee was able to agree on the qualifications and make a decision. It was just too late.”

Jean stared at the table, shook his head and smiled. “That’s where we should have started.” -TF

Russell remained silent, then spoke. “So, I have been ignoring the most important skills during the interview?”

“Perhaps.” I said.

“But it almost seems silly. Am I supposed to ask if they can count?”

“Russell, you said that a critical break-down is in material counts for each day’s production. It is more than just counting. Try these questions.

“Tell me how you handled the materials staging for each day’s production. How many finished units did you produce in a typical day? What were the raw materials that went into each of the finished units? Where did you warehouse the materials? How did you move materials from the warehouse to the staging area? How long did that take in advance of production? When did you check on material availability for each day’s production? How did you handle a stock out?

“Russell, in response to these questions, what are you listening for?”

He smiled, “I’m listening for organizing behavior, working into the future, anticipating problems. It is more than just counting.” -TF

Russell was hanging with me. Turnover at the supervisor level was killing his floor crew. I spoke with some of the team members. They were capable at the production level, but none was up to the role of supervisor. We really did have to go outside. Russell had burned through two supervisors in the past nine months.

“Tell me what you are looking for in this supervisor role.” I asked.

“That’s the problem,” replied Russell. “It’s so hard to find someone with the proper experience. The best guys turn out to be great equipment operators, but they cannot handle the scheduling, cycle counts or material flow.”

“Do you interview them for that?”

Russell looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“Russell, here is what I see. You interview for technical skills, which are important. But the role of the supervisor is a completely different role than that of the technician. Your breakdowns are where the skills of the supervisor are needed most, scheduling, cycle counts and material flow. That’s a critical area to interview for.”

“You want me to interview to see how a guy fills out a schedule?”

“Absolutely. Here is how it sounds. Tell me about your scheduling process. How many people on the crew? One shift or two? Full time or part time? How far into the future? Did you have team leaders? Newbies on the crew? How did you mix them on each shift? Did the production schedule ever change? How did production schedule changes impact the work schedule? How did you handle sick outs?

“Russell, it’s more than filling out a paper schedule, it is how the candidate thinks, then behaves.” -TF