Page 60 - Boost Your Hiring

46 Boost Your Hiring IQ

ANSWERS
The Strongest Question
(A) This is the strongest question because candidates will speak
through the words of others. This is called third-party en-
dorsement.
For some candidates this question will be very challenging to
answer because they haven’t thought about how others see
them. For other candidates it will be easier to “brag” or talk
openly about themselves by saying what they think their
coworkers would say about them.Either way,you will get infor-
mation about the candidates and how they relate to others
which can be clues as to how these candidates think on their feet.

The Mediocre Question
(C) With this question, you will learn some traits that the candi-
date considers important, particularly when he or she is relat-
ing to others. But you may get a laundry list, such as “They
would say that I am hard-working, responsible, and very thor-
ough.” If this happens, you will have to ask for specifics. You
will want to probe further and ask questions, such as, “Is there
a specific reason they would say you were hard-working?”

The Weakest Question
(B) This is the weakest question because it is prompting the candi-
dates to answer the way you want them to.You are almost say-
ing, “Give me a no answer, and we can move forward.”
It would be unlikely that candidates would disagree with
you and say, “As a matter of fact, I have problems with my
coworkers on a continual basis.” And, if they did, you would
probably pull back and realize that this was definitely a red
flag. This answer would be admitting to having problems in
the past. If you use that as an indicator of future behavior, you
will need to listen carefully for patterns of this type of conduct.

RATE YOURSELF
If you chose question (A), give yourself 5 points.
If you chose question (C), give yourself 3 points.
If you chose question (B), give yourself 0 points. _____