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How to Get the Most Out of Interviews
"What specifically do I ask to find out someone's style?" was the opening remarks in an message a client recently e-mailed me.
"I can identify that Susan (not her real name) is stubborn," she continued. "She likes to do things her way, is easily distracted, can't multi-task, does not like authority, and hates to look bad. She would rather lie or blame than admit she is wrong or made a mistake. So how would you identify those things in an interview?"
With only a smidgen of sarcasm and a pinch of jest, I asked, "When did you find all this out about Susan -- before you hired her or after a few weeks on the job?"
"I'm not sure,” she continued. "I guess I suspected a problem during the interview but I just thought she was nervous. Susan had the experience and good references. But did I ever make a mistake."
My client is not alone. Finding enough front desk and chair-side assistants just to fill all the positions available is tough enough these days. But finding the right people is even tougher. So the natural tendency is to ignore what you suspect is true and hire anyway. Unfortunately, my client has already described what happens next. So what can you do to find out someone's style before you hire?
It's not what people say, it's how they say it. The purpose of the interview is to evaluate how well a job candidate can do the job, not how well they can interview. "How did you do" is commonly asked of candidates leaving an interview. But what does "how they did" have to do with "how will they do?"
Doctors and office managers always ask me, "What can I ask to avoid hiring a Susan?" Words (and scripts), however, make up only 7% of communication. Yes -- 7%! The best candidates, on the other hand, tend to catch these well-crafted questions like magicians catch bullets with their teeth. Doctors marvel at this interviewing skill and assume the right words equals the right answer. This is like referring all your periodontal patients to a periodontist who has a 6-handicap and belongs to your favorite country club, but who advocates dentures as a solution to periodontal disease -- and does it convincinbly.
The ultimate challenge doctors confront is learning how to ask the right (and legal) questions that will engage the job candidate into describing situations that will predict how well he or she might perform and fit in with you and the rest of the staff. Since the "right" answer reveals only 7% of communication, it is no wonder that interviews, according to multiple studies, are less than 15% predictive of successful job performance.
How do you uncover the other 93%? Body language makes up nearly 55% of communication, while the tone, pitch and pace of the speech contributes 38%. Observing the candidate and listening to how the candidate responds holds the magic.
For example, you are interviewing a candidate for your front desk. This employee will be responsible for scheduling appointments, financial arrangements, and receiving payments. Your practice is fast paced and full fee-for-service. Your patients demand a lot in return for the above "usual and customary" fee schedule you charge. You need an individual who is assertive but not pushy, enthusiastic and outgoing but doesn't talk everyone's ear off. She must keep up with a moderate to urgent pace and does not require a lot of structure to succeed.
How do you get this information in an interview? What do you look for? What do you ask?
Behavioral interviewing is incredibly effective. Behavioral interviewers focus far more on how a person responds to his or her questions (and silence) than listening for specific answers. Not everyone is naturally observant or an effective listener. In fact, many job candidates are more skilled at being interviewed than are the managers who are doing the interviewing.
Behavioral interviewing requires training. Most doctors, like most business managers and owners of businesses, don't have the time or desire to become experts at interviewing employees. A convenient, predictable and valid complement to the interview are behavioral assessments. Many times referred to as "personality" tests, behavioral assessments provide incredibly predictable and reliable information about a person. Each assessment takes only 10 to 15 minutes to complete and the results are delivered to your e-mail box as soon as the candidate hits "submit."
Behavioral assessments can verify that the behaviors observed during the interview are the same behaviors you might see on the job. Assessments like Managing for Success™ might also help a doctor identify what adjustments in behaviors an employee might need to make on the job and how much stress this might cause the employee.
Were you ever turned off by someone who fidgeted too much or seemed too stiff, talked too slow or too fast, cut you off in the middle of a sentence, or took so long to answer you were tempted to check for a pulse? Another benefit of using behavioral assessments is that the assessments remove any bias -- intended or unintended -- of the interviewer. Your response or reaction to any or all of these actions, however, might bias an otherwise objective evaluation. In reality, maybe the job actually required a nervous Nellie who talked fast and had a high sense of urgency. But just because these behaviors might irritate you, it doesn't mean this person might not be the perfect fit for the job.
One thing a behavioral assessment won't do is tell you to hire or not hire a candidate. The decision to hire an employee should include a blend of information and facts in addition to their behaviors, such as specific skills required, education, references and past experiences if and when appropriate. What behavioral assessments do, however, is eliminate the most common hiring mistake -- hiring by experience and firing for attitude!
Behaviors alone do not guarantee success. Behaviors merely indicate how a person prefers to do a job. Attitudes, or the why people do the things they do, drive behaviors and motivations; the intensity and stability behind the person drive attitudes. Subsequent columns will explore how doctors are successfully matching and managing people with the right attitudes and motivations to the right job, and selecting and retaining the right people for their practice through the use of effective interviewing and assessments.
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