Hiring: Why we ask the tough questions and face the tough answers.

A talent leader is constantly under the gun to get results.  

At times, we are seen as an expense to corporations instead of an investment into improving human capital performance. Operating in the dogma of expense, talent leaders seek to justify their impact quickly. “Quickly” leads to ignoring trivial candidate answers. “Quickly” can cause a talent leader to not ask the tough questions and to avoid the tough answers.

Instead, talent leaders must ask the tough questions and face the tough answers. It is better to get the bad news upfront then on the backend. Upfront bad news is great news because it allows talent leaders to make adjustments, better recommendations, and solve problems faster.

In a field of thousand uncontrollable variables, one variable under control by the talent leader is their ability to ask the right questions. Each tough question and tough answer limit the variables at play. When we limit the variables at play, we can limit our path to success. By asking the right questions, we can increase our probabilities of a successful hire for both our masters (client and candidate).

There is a science to sourcing and attracting, however there is equally as big of a science to interviewing, matching, onboarding, retaining and delivering optimal human capital performance. And you thought recruiting would be easy right? So What Questions are we talking about?  

***For the sake of this article, I will provide a few questions to consider on the candidate side versus the equally tough questions needed to be asked on the hiring manager/client side***

Here are a few tough questions to consider in the initial interview:

·       Why are you ready to make a job change?

·       How long would it take you to get to the office in bad traffic?

·       Do you have any criminal history or anything that would come up in a background check?

·       Are you looking for an increase in pay at your current employer?

·       If your current employer matched any increase in offer we obtained you, would you stay with your current employer?

·       You list these certifications, are they active? You list a degree, what year did you graduate?

·       Why did you leave your last three companies? Why would you not leave your next employer?

Here are a few tough questions to consider in the interview debrief:

·       Was it an honest cultural match? Could you see yourself working with the hiring manager?

·       Do the job duties of the role align with where you want your day-to-day responsibilities to be?

·       Why would this role make sense from a career perspective?

·       Do you have any other job offers? Where would this company honestly rank compared to your other opportunities?

·       How quickly does this hiring manager need to make an offer if they want to acquire you to the company?

·       From a scale from 1-10, 10 being your dream job, where would this opportunity rank?

·       Does this job match what you were initially looking for when we discussed your reasons for exploring a job change? Let’s revisit your reasons for wanting to switch jobs and why this job could make sense.

·       Let’s revisit your salary expectations. But let’s be exact on Base, Bonus, equity and all additional benefits, perks and forms of compensation to create a holistic picture.

·       If I got you an offer today at your target compensation with this company, would you accept? Would you cancel your other interviews and not entertain a counter offer? Why or Why not?

These are just a few tough questions a talent leader could ask to face the tough answers. It is the tough answers which allow Talent Leaders to know where they really stand at any given time.

By facing the tough answers, we than can control our probabilities either through volume or making necessary recommendations or adjustments. By facing the tough answers, talent leaders can effectively serve two masters (Client & Candidate) and make the necessary adjustments so that everyone wins in the end. There is no perfect science, but the tough questions and the tough answers can limit our paths to success.

Frederick Fox is a growing, boutique executive search firm focused on placing financial executives and technology professionals. We are different due to our subject matter expertise and our new-school technologies. Our internal recruiting workflow is supercharged by Old-School Efforts, New-School Technologies ?. Contact one of our Partners for help with your next hiring need. www.frederickfox.com