Page 80 - Boost Your Hiring

66 Boost Your Hiring IQ

ANSWERS
The Strongest Answer
(A) This answer provides a solid example of using written commu-
nication on a project. It’s also a good answer because if you lis-
ten carefully, you can spot other qualities and skills beyond
written communication. She did research about past successes
and failures, as well as conducting an informal survey; both
tasks involve verbal communication skills. She also thought
outside the box and came up with a new idea to involve others,
which demonstrates collaboration and team spirit.

The Mediocre Answer
(B) This answer is mediocre because although it alludes to a proj-
ect, it really doesn’t share any specific details about the project.
The answer starts out with very general comments about per-
formance appraisals but no real information as to what the
candidate was writing or what the commendation was.
The answer also alludes to a project involving content for the
company’s Web site, but it doesn’t provide information on how
much content was written or how original the writing was. At
face value this is an answer without much bite. Depending on
what percentage of the job will require written communication
skills, you should probe further to find out the details.To get the
facts, say, “I’d like to hear more information about the remarks
on your performance appraisal. Could you give me an example
of the comments or projects that you were working on?”

The Weakest Answer
(C) This answer is weak not because the person doesn’t have the
experience, but because of the lack of specific examples. You
will have to probe to find more out about the award for the
writing skills when working with a team. How much of a con-
tribution did this person make to the team effort?
The red flag in this answer is the fact that this person wants to
“learn and develop.” Hiring someone in order to teach and mo-
tivate him or her is probably not what you had in mind when
you went looking for a person with writing skills.

RATE YOURSELF
If you chose answer (A), give yourself 5 points.
If you chose answer (B), give yourself 3 points.

If you chose answer (C), give yourself 0 points. _____