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Best Interviewing Questions

“I have just been hired as a supervisor in a call center and am responsible for hiring. What are the best questions to ask when interviewing to know if the applicant is qualified?”

A great deal depends upon whether these people will be taking orders (incoming and therefore the emphasis is on the applicant’s customer service skills) or attempting to sell a product (out-calling or cold calls that require a high level of selling skills). Each requires, not only a different skill set, but also a different mindset.

Then try behavioral interviewing instead of the gut feel approach

This is gut feel: “Mary seems right for the job…so let’s hire her.” However, when she came on board, she didn’t perform and had to be let go. Mary may look good on paper or even interviewed well but she did not have the specific skills and traits that were needed for the job. Therefore, the hiring process started all over again.

Now take a look at behavioral interviewing. It focuses two very important elements of the interviewing process:

  1. Identifying the required skills and traits that are needed to be effective for the particular position.
  2. Asking the right questions to obtain a behavioral example of a specific skill or a specific trait you are looking for.

Behavioral example questions typically start out with the following phrases to encourage the person to talk about their experiences in a non-threatening manner.

  • “Tell me about a time when….”
  • “Give me an example of….”
  • “How did you….?”

An order-taker needs to “be nice” to the customer, have good listening skills and be able to react quickly and accurately to a complaint or request, Here are potential questions.

  • Tell me about your most difficult call and how you handled it?
  • How have you dealt with a customer who was very nasty? What was the result?
  • After a difficult call, what do you do to prevent that call from influencing the way you handle the next caller

The sales person needs not only to develop a rapport with the caller but also influence his or her behavior… to say yes…to buy. Here are potential questions to get at their sales ability:

  • What was your most difficult sale or most challenging customer and how you handled it?
  • What steps do you take to prepare for a sales call?
  • Tell me about a time you dealt with a “thinking-about-it” customer.

Smart Moves Tip:

Behavioral interviewing is a technique that focuses on an applicant’s skills and traits, not on a manager’s gut impressions. The rationale for asking for behavioral examples is the notion that the best predictor of what individuals will do in the future is what they have done in the past. Therefore, you ask an applicant to describe a specific event that shows in detail how she did something or handled a problem or dealt with a specific situation. Also see Smart Hiring: Seven Best Practices and Are You Selecting the Right Leaders?

What’s been your experience with behavioral interviewing either as the interviewer or the interviewee? In other words, “Tell me about a time….

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What’s Your Specific Challenge?

Simply EMAIL your questions to me (or enter them as in the Comment Section below) and I will provide answers that will build your leadership and management SMARTS [/message] [su_spacer]

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Marcia Zidle
Marcia Zidlehttp://www.smartmovescoach.com
Marcia Zidle, The Smart Moves Coach, is a national known board certified coach and keynote leadership speaker who guides organizations that are planning, or in the midst of, ambitious growth and change. As a career strategist, she works with professionals, managers and executives who want to build • shape • brand • change • vitalize their careers. She’s been selected by LinkedIn’s ProFinder as one of the best coaches for 2016!Her clients range from private owned businesses to mid-market companies to professional service firms to NGO’s. With 25 years of management, business consulting and international experience, she brings an expertise in executive and team leadership; employee engagement and innovation; personal and organization change; career building and development; emotional and social intelligence. Your Future Starts Now With Marcia!

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4 CONVERSATIONS

  1. During interviews, I ask someone how they worked with a very difficult person in the past. I then give them a profile of a person I worked with in the past and ask how would they work with him/her. Each time they provide me an answer, I give them more details about the person and examples of what they’re proposing wouldn’t work with them.

    I found this very good at singling out those that talk a good game.

    • People always assume things go well in the work event. So they tend to interview on experiences where things have gone well. Even when asking about worst case — it is the best possible worst case. I found interviewing the way I do, you strip away that best case mentality and uncover the rawness of what a person does when there is a problem with no easy or straightforward fix. You gain a lot of insight on their skills as a problem solver, manager, and leader.

    • People always assume things go well in the work environment. So they tend to interview on experiences where things have gone well. Even when asking about worst case — it is the best possible worst case. I found interviewing the way I do, you strip away that best case mentality and uncover the rawness of what a person does when there is a problem with no easy or straightforward fix. You gain a lot of insight on their skills as a problem solver, manager, and leader.

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