Page 102 - Boost Your Hiring

88 Boost Your Hiring IQ

ANSWERS
The Strongest Answer
(B) This candidate answers the question by telling of a time when
her customer service skills helped in a difficult situation.
When she stated on her résumé or told you that she had good
customer service skills, she made a claim. When you as the in-
terviewer asked her to prove it by giving you an example of a
time when she demonstrated those skills, she provided you
with past behavior as an indicator of future success. This is a
good example of answering the question asked.

The Mediocre Answer
(C) While this answer provides examples of skills this person has,
it does not answer the question nor does it point to a specific
example of putting those skills into action. By asking probing
questions, you can help this person to articulate a specific time
when she worked with the customers or salespeople. If you
probe and ask for an example of a time when she received one
of the many compliments and she cannot come up with a spe-
cific example, then her claim falls flat.

The Weakest Answer
(A) This person doesn’t come close to answering the question.
There are a lot of theory and opinions in this answer, but it is
not backed with any facts. Having education or a certificate is a
good thing, but it will be only as good as the skills acquired to
apply the knowledge. This answer may identify a person who
is knowledgeable but who hasn’t really put the techniques
learned to the test of a real-life situation. To find out if this
person has the right experience, try asking,“Give me an exam-
ple of a call from a customer thanking you for your service.
What exactly did you do for that customer?”

RATE YOURSELF
If you chose answer (B), give yourself 5 points.

If you chose answer (C), give yourself 3 points.
If you chose answer (A), give yourself 0 points. ______