Quick and Dirty Interviews

Mike and Mark, I really enjoyed Mike

Mike and Mark,

I really enjoyed Mike taking a leading role in this podcast. It's great to hear his areas of expertise as well as Mark's. I've been waiting to hear Mike take the lead on a podcast and I thought he pulled it off wonderfully. I look forward to hearing Mike in the future.

One thing I would suggest for future podcasts is not to switch mid-cast. To me, it interrupted the coherence of the cast. I know Mark might have the mic envy but I think incorporating Mark's thoughts into Mike's points could have been done in a more subtle way.

Thanks for another great podcast guys!

Great, Great, Great podcast. My only

Great, Great, Great podcast. My only question is how is the "Quick & Dirty" different from "regular" interviews? Are the questions different? Goals? Any insight wouldbe helpful.

You have GOT to be kidding me!

You have GOT to be kidding me!

Imagine thinking about the job you're filling, and answering a series of questions about the job on a 1-5 scale. this takes 30 minutes. Then, based on your answers, you get a completely custom, behavioral interview, with 10-12 interview questions that not onluy tell you how what to ask but also how to evaluate the answers. And, it comes with room to take notes.

THAT is a good interview.

Mark

Of course, Mark is talking about a

Of course, Mark is talking about a product we're working on ... :-)

And, folks, thanks for the kind remarks on the podcast!

Mike

Hi Mike & Mark, Thanks for a great

Hi Mike & Mark,

Thanks for a great podcast! I have found it to have a direct and immediate benefit to me - I am a software development manager in a startup with no real experience in interviewing, but I am in the position of having to perform interviews. I knew that I really needed some objective way of comparing interviewees, but without a starting point on which to base my ideas, I was struggling.

You have provided me with that starting point, and today I have given two interviews using your "Quick & Dirty" questions as a starting point. I feel that the interviews were much more successful because of these, and have resulted in good (IMHO) written assessments based on behaviours.

I've noted Mark's suggestions from the reply above, and I'll take those into account too for future interviews.

The one question I have from the podcast was Mike's mention of the "cultural" part of the appraisal - I'm not entirely sure that I understood exactly what behaviour is captured by this. I have interpreted this as the interviewee's awareness of the business in which they work and the industry that they are involved with. Am I on the right track?

Thanks again for a really useful podcast

Andrew

Andrew, Glad you're getting value

Andrew,

Glad you're getting value out of work ... thanks for the kind remarks.

I'd have to go back and listen to the podcast to recall exactly what I was thinking at the time, but I believe I was referring to being sensitive to *your* corporate culture and ensuring there is a good fit. For example, early in my corporate career I went from an environment where boldness/directness was not at all appreciated to a company/environment where lack of a strong backbone would almost certainly guarantee corporate death. I recall a particular meeting (perhaps 2 weeks after joining the company) where I was frankly getting hammered (bowled over, rudely interrupted, talked over, etc.) by the other 3 senior managers in the meeting. Afterwards, I went to my director and whined like a baby about the "unfair" treatment. His response? "Toughen up, boy and stop whining". (Actually, he said something a little more colorful than "toughen up", but I'll leave that for your imagination.) It was at that point that I made the shift culturally from my previous employer ... and none too soon! :-)

Hope that clarifies my comments a bit.

Mike

This could not have come at a better

This could not have come at a better time. I am interviewing to fill four positions. Our policy requires that each potential candidate pass an initial background screening before they are interviewed by me. My predecessor merely did a walking interview where he gave them a walking interview (tour) and then provided the “thumbs-up” if he was impressed during this conversation. You can imagine the recruiter's shock when I declined to conduct the interviews until I received the candidate's resume.

Anyway, I had two candidates and two very different answers to the question about their recent book and what was learned. Candidate - A young lady who had recently read "A Series of Unfortunate Events" but could tell me nothing but a sketchy outline. After much difficulty, she threw out the statement that she learned to stay positive through difficult times. Candidate 2 - a young man who recently read "A Band of Brothers" and was able to give me the author and detailed story. He then went into extensive details about the qualities and characteristics he admired in the soldiers, like camaraderie, teamwork, and perseverance. Just when I thought he was finished, he went on to discuss the qualities of one of the leaders.

Question: How much credibility do you give someone who read a book which was also made into a movie? I personally gave him credit for knowing Stephen Ambrose wrote the book.

I learned one very interesting thing from this excellent question that I never considered. It seems that people get different things from a book in relation to their current life experiences. Have you found that the answers to this question give you insight into areas of the candidate's life that they might not intentionally divulge?

Did I mention your perfect timing? Thanks.

This was my first visit to your site

This was my first visit to your site and first podcast (ever). I am not sure what I expected your site to be, but I am extremely favourably impressed. Congratulations!

The podcast is enoyable to listen to, very easy to follow, and there is just enough banter to allow time to jot down points and absorb the information. I frequently get impatient with presentations, so pacing is always a big issue with me. I like the pacing on this podcast.

Looking forward to more! I will be telling my fellow lawyers about your site. This quick interview advice would help many of them.

Polly Sink

Extremely useful podcast as I had three

Extremely useful podcast as I had three interviews this past week all came up on very short notice. Holy smokes - the calibre of my interviewing skills just went up 100%. Far better. I've always heard about these so-called behavioural based questions before but had never created any until I heard this podcast. One of the guys I interviewed had listed some achievements on his resume. I said 'tell me about....' on one of his achievements and he had no idea what I was talking about. I think he must have cut and pasted from someone else's resume. WHen I told him the question came directly from HIS resume he went white as a ghost. I never would have caught him in the lie if I hadn't followed this podcast. THANKS GUYS!!!!!

Thanks Mike and Mark. You made me

Thanks Mike and Mark.

You made me look good today. I had a short-notice interview dropped on me and I was only given 15 minutes with the person. I was able to pull from my prepared questions and I got a fair bit of detail considering how brief our time was. In the end, I was able to give structured and specific information to the manager doing the hiring.

The result from this colleague was:
wow,
fantastic evaluation.
thank you
very helpful

Thank you for helping me become more effective.
Mike

Mike. I think you could add that half

Mike. I think you could add that half step. One area I always want to know is what position the person is being targeted at. It is one thing to consider if they are a great candidate. It is another to determine if they are a cultural fit with the team but it is also important to consider if they are right for the role that is being recruited for.

The positioning of this podcast is one where you are not recruiting for your own team but are instead helping our a peer's recruitment process. In that context I believe the target position is a relevant criteria. This also gives you the opportunity in the feedback to your peers to give your assessment whether the individual might be better applied in a different role.

Great cast. Thanks. The question,

Great cast. Thanks. The question, "Tell me about the last book you've read,?" is a great one, but I wouldn't be too quick to discount the candidate that says he/she last book read was fiction. You both are always talking about the importance of understanding human nature and quite frankly good fiction is a significantly better medium to do that than many business books I've read.

I think if someone answered with a light, beach reading sort of title, I would do as you suggested and ask them, "What else?" But if they said they were reading a 20th or 21st century classic, for instance, I could probe that and discover much that would be helpful and indicative of their future effectiveness.

Believe it or not, people with liberal arts educations can and do manage people.

Keep up the good work guys, since a friend told me about your site I've been listening to your casts at least two a day.

Greg

Greg- Thanks for the complibut.

Greg-

Thanks for the complibut. ;-)

We didn't say we would be quick to discount someone for stating a fiction book. We do have ample data, however, that those who either don't have an answer or choose fiction first tend to be less likely to be fully engaged by the kinds of work with which we have been associated.

And let's not characterize us engineers as somehow less likely to read fiction as those with liberal arts degrees. I've recently finished Saturday, A History of the English Speaking Peoples, The Pacific, Winter's Tale, Eragon, Eldest, The Progress Paradox (okay, non-fiction, but not business), The Interpretation of Murder, Atonement, The Fall of the Berlin Wall, and The Rising Tide.

And, in the beach category, a true classic, The Lonely Silver Rain. So good it was transcendent, even the fifth time.

Just because we use a finely honed interviewing question doesn't mean we judge people by their reading lists.

Mark

I don't think I was stereotyping

I don't think I was stereotyping anyone, but whatever. I have a beach trip for June and I'm going to pack the Lonely Silver Rain.

I can see now that the heart of the question isn't so much about how smart the candidate might be or if they read, though these things can be inferred, but rather, do they drive their own professional development and if so, some qualitative measure on that ability.

In my line of work having strong, persuasive writing skills is vital. In the past I've often used the reading question attempting to learn about the person’s appreciation of good writing. Though there is a correlation between a person’s appreciation of good writing and their ability to write well, it's proved not to be a consistent one.

I've asked people bring in writing samples, but you never know how much an editor may have improved it, so even that has been a wildly inconsistent indicator.

I've been thinking about concluding my interviews by giving the person a pencil and a blue book and asking them to write a four paragraph answer to an essay question.

How have you determined writing skills from an interview?

Again, thank you both for this consistent and sustained effort.

Greg

Greg- Don't read the Lonely Silver

Greg-

Don't read the Lonely Silver Rain first. It's the 21st in a series - the famous Travis McGee series - and the scene from which the title is drawn is so important to NOT know reading the other books that it might discourage you from the others. The books - all of which have a color in the title - are the finest series I've ever read, save Harry Potter.

Start with The Deep Blue Goodbye.

Mark

PS: Travis McGee was the precursor to Thomas Magnum.

And, I have never screened for writing

And, I have never screened for writing ability beyond the resume. It's assumed, and I've never had to fire someone for its lack. Alas good writing is just garnish in most careers.

Imagine being able to write, about a man waiting alone, standing under an awning in a downpour on a city street:

"The rain came harder now. It bounced high off the asphalt - an eight inch curtain fringe of lonely silver rain."

As good as it gets.

Mark

Well, if it's garnish, the plates I've

Well, if it's garnish, the plates I've seen coming from the kitchen are lacking. I've been seeing a huge range of skill, even among senior managers where I work. Good, well structured, compelling, writing has been difficult to find. I've worked at schools where most of the teachers could write, but few of them could write well.

I'll try my blue book and let you know how it goes.

Greg

Do u consider , audio books ,

Do u consider , audio books , educational videos and podcasts as an answer for Question 2 regarding what book have u read - tell me about it.

Great work too

Mike and Mark – Once again

Mike and Mark –

Once again you have delivered a brilliant pod cast that I’m using to help train myself and my management team. Thank you.

During the cast you talk about having templates and question sheets prepared ahead of time. While listening I took notes and created my own sheets. However, upon returning to the site to read the comments I was surprised that these documents were not already posted in “true Manager Tools style”.

As a suggestion, I think it would help newer listeners if these were provided, to get a true sense of your thoughts and ideas while absorbing the verbal content regarding the interview and question format.

I look forward to future pod casts here at Manager Tools.

Thanks again

-Rob

Mike / Mark: I had been meaning to

Mike / Mark:

I had been meaning to ask how the process/questions should be changed when interviewing internal staff for promotion. I discovered, by necessity, no changes are needed.

I would have thought the “business news” question would have been a “no-brainer”. Instead, I got wildly different responses which helped my evaluation.

I also discovered that the operational tempo can vary among the business units. So the cultural (do they fit in) portion of the evaluation applies equally to existing staff.

Great cast!

Thank you.
Dave

Dave- Our pleasure! The Q&D has

Dave-

Our pleasure! The Q&D has been one of my favorite Manager Tools for years.

Mark

Any chance you guys can post the

Any chance you guys can post the questions from the podcat? Thank you, Harlan

Below are the questions I compiled

Below are the questions I compiled after listening to the cast. I hope they help.
Regards.

1. What business news have you been following lately?
2. What is the latest book you’ve read and what did you like or learn from it?
3. Tell me about one of your weaknesses and how you overcome it?
4. Tell me about a work related experience in which you had to apologize.
5. Tell me about when you “insert bullet from resume”.
6. Tell me about when you “insert bullet from resume”. (Look for his role and responsibilities, on-call rotation)
7. Tell me about when you “insert bullet from resume”. How did you do it and what were the results?
8. Tell me about when you “insert bullet from resume”. How did you do it and what were the results?

The premium content is the show notes

The premium content is the show notes from "How to Prepare for an Interview".

I need the Quick and Dirty, and I need it Quick!

Dirty is a just a bonus.

I could use the Quick and Dirty

I could use the Quick and Dirty Interview slides. Are you planning on providing them?

Mark and Mike, I will have to agree

Mark and Mike,

I will have to agree with Mike on the fact the having an resume to review prior to an interview is of utmost importance. I have had applications which I reviewed and sent HR the message DO NOT HIRE. I would the comment on why: Not enough experience, no resume attached unable to determine qualifications, etc...

This was a great pod-cast. I only wish I would have listened earlier.

As always,

Thank you for your continued commitment to help us be better at what we do.

Todd

I loved this cast and it took me a bit

I loved this cast and it took me a bit of time to find it again. Ideal one for shownotes or slides.

Just listened to the preparing for an

Just listened to the preparing for an interview and quick and dirty interview casts. Great stuff - we need to do more of this in our organization.

My question is what do we do when the market is so hot that 1 professional service applicant can choose between 10 jobs? How do we balance the interviewing with the selling of what we offer? Would you modify the interview process at all?

Looking forward to your thoughts,

Kris

Agreeing with donnachie. I was

Agreeing with donnachie. I was preparing for a Q&D interview last night and had hoped to read through the shownotes/slides - These would be a good one to have.