"Hiring Up"

Anyone who knows me and/or has seen my wife knows that I definitely married up. She is smart, funny, athletic, and very attractive. I often ask myself (as I’m sure others do as well) how this happened? Did I ask the right questions up front? Did I “sell her” on the opportunity, on this long-term investment she was making? Did she see some untapped potential or was it that time she saw me on the stage in those leather pants? But if I married up, and she is so amazing, does that mean she married down, or settled?

As an employer, how often in the business of hiring do we “marry up” and how often do we settle? Do we ask the right questions up front or do we find ourselves selling the candidate on the opportunity, and not digging as deeply as we should?

Over the years I have learned that there are no magic questions. No set of questions that will ensure I get the right person every time. What is most important is listening to the candidate – what are they really saying? Not thinking ahead to what my next question will be, but really listening to the responses given and digging deeper – peeling back the layers of complexity, and then following up with another relevant question. This is not always easy to do, and takes practice. Here are some questions to help you listen better. ?

What did you do?
Where and when was this?
Why did you do it that way?
Who else was involved in doing it with you?
How did your roles differ?
How did you learn to do it?
What difference did you make?
If you had to do it over, what would you do differently or the same?
If you were training a new person to do it, what would you tell them?
Who could I call that saw you do it? What would they say about how you did it?

Not everyone can “marry up” like I did. But if we ask the right questions and listen to what the candidates are saying, we all can “hire up”.