Interviewing Know How - Part 2

As you move forward creating your Recruitment process and the questions you will use during the interviews think about the different types of questions we covered in Part 1 of this article. I recommend the use of a combination of question types; close ended, open-ended and probing combined with different steps to help us really study the candidate during different situations and scenarios. In addition we recommend analyzing the leadership style of the person holding the position the new employee will report to. When you chose your questions make sure you include some that would be relevant to how that candidate would respond to the management style of the supervisor.  For example if you have a candidate that enjoys the freedom of working with little supervision and not too much structure but the supervisor and/or manager is a “micro-manager” that is constantly checking on the progress of the task at hand, giving constant direction and/or too concerned with the little details of the moment….this is not a good match; they will not work well together.

Matching the attitudes (way of doing things) and the aptitudes (intelligence, natural or acquired ability) of your team members is a crucial aspect of the success of your recruitment process.

In addition, analyzing your compensation system and how it affects who will be attracted to your work environment is equally important. For example a commission base pay system will be attractive to Entrepreneurial personalities, solo performers, people that are looking for the freedom to do things as they want. While a straight pay system would be attractive to employee minded individuals, someone looking for benefits, longevity, and consistency in pay.  These are just a few basic psychological differences of the characteristics that the possible candidates will have depending on how you design and structure your work environment.

A Recruitment process is divided in four main categories; Preparation, Recruiting, Interviewing and Decisions. Within these categories the following steps should be included; a Staffing Matrix, Research License and/or permits requirements, analyze the Environmental Conditions and Physical Demands for each position, decide on duties, tasks and activities per position. Research industry and/or geographical wages, write the Job Descriptions*, design your interview questions, scripts, questionnaires, design you AD campaign, postings, flyers, etc. Screen and review resumes and applications carefully.

Determine how you will complete the process; Job Fair? One on Ones? Telephone pre-screening? Write and prepare your interview scripts, create your candidate evaluation form, create the proper environment, analyze, select and complete references. These are just a few of the steps you will have to complete.

Creating your interviewing scripts ahead of time and selecting the questions you want to ask, deciding why you want to ask them and what you are looking for in the answers is as important as everything else I’ve mentioned before. The following questions are some examples of things you should ask.  They are designed to get the applicant talking and provide you with information to analyze.  Keep your questions simple – stringing two or three questions together may confuse the applicant.  Remember to use the probing technique by turning the first answer to your question into two more questions related to the subject you want to know most about.

Ask your questions in themes and tie the changing themes together to provide continuity.  Please realize this is not all you need to know or all the questions there are. I am providing these questions to give you an idea of what the questions might sound like and to help you design an interview. 

Questions that indicate motivation level:

• How did you become interested in learning to be a Massage Therapist/Esthetician, etc?
• What motivates you to perform to the best of your ability?
• Give me an example of some goals you’ve had and how you’ve reached them?

Questions that indicate ability to be managed:

• How would you describe the ideal manager?
• How do you feel about change?
• How do you know you are doing a good job?

Questions that indicate responses to stress:

• Can you do multiple tasks without making mistakes?
• What events or conditions at work would make you feel stressed?

Discipline specific:

• Tell me about a time when a client did not like the color or cut you created. What did you do?
• How do you practice good time management skills at work?
• How do you retail the spa products to the clients?

Don’t forget that questions by themselves are useless, you need to really analyze and prepare the answers you are looking for based on what behavior, skill, aptitude, attitude and talent you need to find in that particular position.

To learn more about my interviewing methodology and/or recruitment and Human Resources practices in general, come to one of my seminars or lectures. For seminar information, dates and times please visit http://www.resourcesanddevelopment.com/Education.htm

Stay tuned!

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.