How2Interview
January 24, 2019 4:20 PM Subscribe
I just found out this morning the person we're hiring soon to do my old job will directly report to me (whee!) and I'm responsible for interviewing three people on Monday. I've never interviewed anyone before. Help me not suck.
The role is one of those good old office admin catchall things. It's the kind of thing almost anyone can do at a base level, but will only be done well by a particular sort of person. We're in a transitional space as a company right now and it needs to be done WELL. I don't have the bandwidth for lots of handholding.
Obviously as the person who has been in the role I'm hiring for I'm in the best position to judge if they're qualified to do those tasks. I'm not too concerned about the technical, can-this-person-meet-our-needs aspect of the interview, but I'm definitely open to advice on how to ask those questions non-boringly.
What I'm really interested to hear is advice on interviewing styles, and questions that will help me gauge a person's personality and capacity for what can't translate on paper.
I thought about it at lunch, and I'm considering asking a question like: "You're organizing a picnic this Saturday at the park. Walk me through your planning steps."
My hope is that a question like this will let me see how proactive the person is about anticipating needs and if they're comfortable taking the initiative or if they need lots of guidance and reassurance. Is this question totally lame? Is there a better way to ask this?
What I definitely don't want to do is be that asshole who asks stupid gotcha questions that make candidates uncomfortable or put them on their guard. I also don't want to ask boring crap questions that they'd regurgitate a planned answer for.
Thanks!
The role is one of those good old office admin catchall things. It's the kind of thing almost anyone can do at a base level, but will only be done well by a particular sort of person. We're in a transitional space as a company right now and it needs to be done WELL. I don't have the bandwidth for lots of handholding.
Obviously as the person who has been in the role I'm hiring for I'm in the best position to judge if they're qualified to do those tasks. I'm not too concerned about the technical, can-this-person-meet-our-needs aspect of the interview, but I'm definitely open to advice on how to ask those questions non-boringly.
What I'm really interested to hear is advice on interviewing styles, and questions that will help me gauge a person's personality and capacity for what can't translate on paper.
I thought about it at lunch, and I'm considering asking a question like: "You're organizing a picnic this Saturday at the park. Walk me through your planning steps."
My hope is that a question like this will let me see how proactive the person is about anticipating needs and if they're comfortable taking the initiative or if they need lots of guidance and reassurance. Is this question totally lame? Is there a better way to ask this?
What I definitely don't want to do is be that asshole who asks stupid gotcha questions that make candidates uncomfortable or put them on their guard. I also don't want to ask boring crap questions that they'd regurgitate a planned answer for.
Thanks!
This post was deleted for the following reason: server hiccup double, looks like! -- cortex
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