The Interview Guide

“If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants.” –David Ogilvy
We spend a lot of time doing business cases on software, furniture, etc. – to get the approvals, but when it comes to people, we often select our most important asset, our people, in a hurried and less thoughtful manner.
How accurate do you believe your current interviewing skills are? In a one on one unstructured interview, the average is 19% accuracy of selecting the right person in the right role. In an unstructured team interview, the average is 35% accuracy of selecting the right person in the right role. In a Behavioral Event Interview, the average is 72% accuracy of selecting the right person in the right role. How does one achieve a 72% accuracy?

Let’s begin by looking at problems with interviewing techniques.
1. Interviewers often judge factors, such as intelligence based on appearance.
2. Most interviews result in selections based upon a concept of “likeability” rather than more important criteria, such as a candidate’s potential success on the job.
3. Many interviewers allow first impressions – a person’s speech, dress, and mannerisms – to play an important factor in their assessment of the candidate’s ability to do the job.

Additionally, interviewers ask the wrong questions such as the following:
• Fact Finding: Uncovers information less predictive about future performance; little is learned about the candidate’s motives, values, or behavior. Example: “How many people did you manage?” “What is your grade point?” “Tell me about your background.”
• Theoretical: What someone thinks about what they do can often bear little relation to their actual behaviors. Example:
○ “Why did you . . . ?”
○ “What is your general approach to . . . ?”
• Fortune teller: Questions projected into the future and gives the candidate opportunity to say what he/she thinks you want to hear. Example:
○ “What would you do if….?”
• Feelings: Provides little information about what a candidate can actually do, or has done; in fact, the candidate’s feelings about a situation or task may be irrelevant to their ability to do it. Example:
○ “Tell me about yourself….so in that situation, you felt…?
Getting the information you need means asking the right questions such as the following:
• Open-Ended: “How has your education prepared you for this position?”
• Probing: “What exactly did you do in this situation?”

The components of an interview include inquiring about knowledge, credentials, general experience, opinions, and behaviors demonstrated through situational story telling.
Knowledge and credentials support questions that demonstrate what degrees, honors, and certifications a person has, as well as what kinds of things they can do. For example, “Do you have Microsoft certification?”
General experience tells the interviewer what responsibilities the person has and demonstrates his or her temperament. Questions you could ask include “What does a typical day entail?” or “What do you do when a customer gets angry?”
Opinions begin to “peel the onion” back on a candidate’s motives. You could ask, “Why did you apply for this job?” The interviewee’s answer will demonstrate whether he or she would handle things independently, seek assistance, be customer-focused and so forth.
The most important part of the interview is the behavioral event-critical incidents. The purpose is to ask interviewees two or three “successes” and two or three “failures” of the most important situations that they have experienced in their current role. Ask questions such as, “What was the situation and the events leading up to it?”, “What was your role?”, “How did you feel?”, “What did you want to do about the situation and what did you eventually do?” and “What was the final outcome?” Through storytelling of behaviors, the interviewee will reveal much about their true self.
The average interview should contain between 5-7 open-ended questions with probes to gain more information from those question. Interviewing is a skill that is learned and developed. It is critical that to understand that we must use a technique to “uncover” the right people for selection and promotion and not use our personal frame of reference or feelings. Often times with in-person or over the phone interviews, the recruiter or hiring manager can get carried away by their own curiosity; leading to dragging interviews out past the intended length. Having a pre-set list of questions enables you to ask all candidates the same questions and lessens interviewer bias.
Instructions
Create a list of interviewing questions for the Business Manager position described below. Be sure to discuss what type of interviewing questions you have used and why.
Job Description: Business Manager
The Business Management job includes a broad array of specific process control and management functions. Individuals in this job generally focus on one or more of the functional specialties: clerical, scheduling, coordination and executive support to groups and individuals. The Business Manager may develop and implement organizational policies and procedures to manage activities such as staff recruitment, training, travel, and expense processing. The role includes communication and event management activities ranging from planning and executing local organization specific events such as town halls to developing and supporting broad cross-organizational communication programs.
Other accountabilities include partnering with the business to develop budgets and workforce plans, managing expenses, analyzing variances, forecasting trajectories, recommending adjustments and helping implement changes that move the organization towards agreed objectives.
Business Managers develop a broad understanding of the business lines they support and possess the highly developed analytical, communication and interpersonal skills required to influence and engage colleagues across the organization.
Your General Assignment should be in APA format, a minimum of 750 words and include sources to support your viewpoints.