Interviewing Know How - Part 1

When you are creating an interview process for your company, think of it as the process that will help you find the most qualified, skilled person with the characteristics that fit your company's personality and yours. Most people ask Yes-or-No questions during the interview process, and questions about the future; but very few employers take the time to get to know the candidate in a way that would help them predict what they might actually do in a given situation. To be able to do this the best questions to use in your process are open-ended questions.

Open-ended questions are deliberately broad in nature, have no correct answer and are designed to keep the candidate talking to tell you the how and the when "they did it". Behavioral research suggests that the most effective people are those who understand themselves, their strengths and weaknesses. To be able to predict a person's future behavior you have to study and analyze their past behavior. The interview process that I've designed is built with different steps and question types. Each step is part of a bigger picture and the results would not be the same if you eliminate steps or change the process. Some examples of how we select the type of questions are:

• Question type - questions that help you build rapport, opening questions to break the ice and management style situational.
• Purpose - questions that are designed to build trust, open-ended situational questions designed to analyze attitude, aptitude and skills.
• Probing - follow-up questions to previous answers, to get deeper into the past behavior of the candidate.

For example, rather than asking an applicant, "Can you work under pressure?" or "Do you enjoy a fast paced environment?" (who in their right mind would say no?), you will get a more detailed response and a better idea of how they actually handle pressure if you asked; "Tell me about a time when you had to work under pressure?" and you follow up with, "How did that make you feel?" "How did you handle it?" Open ended questions often begin with "How do you..." "Tell me about..." or "What did you do...."

A primary objective of the interview process is to get the applicant to talk at length about themselves and their experience, thereby equipping the interviewer with information to analyze. Begin your interview by having the candidate give you a summary of their previous work experience. Then move on to the questions specific to the position and/or the work environment. Make sure you take notes on applicant's goals, motivation and personal characteristics.

Listening requires concentration and self-discipline, this is one of the reasons why I use and recommend scripted interview forms divided into steps. As you create your interview scripts do remember that planning in advance what you are going to ask will allow you to dedicate the greater part of your time to listening and evaluating the candidate's responses.

Some additional details to remember when you are interviewing candidates:

• Treat your candidates the same way you want them to treat your guests!
• Do not "lead the witness" - do not ask a question like "What color is Napoleon's white horse?"
• Let the candidate convince you that they are the best candidate for that position.
• The candidate should be the one talking 80-90% of the time during the interview.
• Be patient. Do not rush your candidate for an answer. Ask one question at a time, and always pause at the end until the applicant responds. How long they take in formulating their answer is a good indication of their "quick thinking ability."
• Interview notes always help you with the decision process. They will help you remember which candidate was your best candidate. Notes should reflect total objectivity.
• Take notes on the candidate's positive and negative comments. Candidates might be distracted if they see you taking notes only when they are discussing the reasons for leaving a previous job and/or the gaps in employment history.
• Never take any notes regarding the physical attributes of the candidate.

As you think of the questions you want to ask, the answers you are searching for and the type of employees you want to have, do keep in mind that there are legal guidelines that you are required to follow during the Recruitment and Selection process. An excellent source of FREE information is the Employment Laws Assistance for Workers and Small Businesses division of the US Department of Labor, go to www.dol.gov/elaws. Additionally "The National Employer", Volume 1 written by Littler Mendelson is an excellent source of the most important employment laws.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this article. We will cover the Overview of a Recruitment Process in addition to examples of specific questions that will help you determine motivation level, response to stress, ability to be managed, ability to be a team player and questions specific to the positions in the Spa Industry.

Written by Zahira J Coll, all rights reserved, the content of this article, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author.