How to Conduct Better Interviews (to hire better people)

There is no substitute for a thorough, insightful interview to give you lots of information with which to make an intelligent hiring decision. Following are some ways to improve your interviewing skills.

The better an interviewer your are, the more information you'll get with which to base your hiring decisions. Smart managers know that one of the most important decisions they make is deciding who (and who not to) invite to become part of their team. Asking the right questions and then listening carefully to an applicant's responses is a critical skill for every manager to have.

A Stressful Situation

The interview process can be stressful. Tense, uptight candidates are generally guarded, cautious and tightlipped. When candidates are more relaxed and comfortable, talking is easier and you get more information with which to base your hiring decision. You want to do everything you can to make each candidate feel welcome, relaxed and even confident.

A few suggestions on how to greet and get an applicant in a more relaxed and comfortable state of mind:

• Greet and refer to the candidate by name. Be enthusiastic and extend a firm handshake. Look them directly in the eyes and say their name. Nothing sounds sweeter and is more comforting than the sound of a person's own name. Just make sure you correctly pronounce it.
• Offer the candidate a beverage. This may sound trite, but it's a gesture of goodwill, they will appreciate the offer, and it's an important tactical move. The candidate is getting ready to do a lot of talking and his/her mouth may become dry.
• Tell the candidate how important their visit is. Not how important "they" are but their visit. It will boost their confidence and help them to open up. It's also a true statement - their visit IS very important, to you and your business.

Interview Questions

Your primary objective in the interview process is to acquire lots of information. The more information you get, the more you have on which to base your hiring decision. Remember, you don't get information when you are talking, only when the candidate is talking. Use the 80/20 rule: The candidate should be doing at least 80 percent of the talking, with you only talking, at most, 20 percent of the time.

It's also critical to ask good questions and to listen carefully to the responses. Notice pauses, indecision, voice inflections and body movement. All of these will indicate signs regarding the candidate's stress level, honesty, genuine knowledge or whether they are just faking it.

Great Interview Questions to Ask Every Candidate

• "Tell me about your very first job." Not their last job - as they will already have a well-rehearsed response for you - but their first job. Find out how old they were, what they did, how much money they made, then ask three things they learned on that very first job. Studies have shown what people learn and the values they acquire on their very first job are traits and values they exhibit to some degree, on the job, for the rest of their lives.
  
  For example, my first job was mowing lawns in the neighborhood at age 13. What if I told you the three things I learned were to look for rocks, make sure I had enough gas and never mow wet grass? Not much there in the way of values and work habits. But what if I said I learned how important it was to always do a good job, to show up when I said I would and to always make sure the person paying me was satisfied before I left? That's a much better response which indicates desirable traits to have in any position.
• "What's the best job you ever had? Why was it your best job?" Will you and your company be able to provide the same conditions that will make a job with you their best? If not, they may not be happy working in your company.
  • Follow-up: "How many people did you teach to do that job?" The best people are promoted to teach and train.
  • Follow-up: "If you were going to teach me that job, how would you do it?" Do they show an in-depth knowledge of the job? How good are his/her communication skills? What kind of trainer were they?

• "Describe the best manager you ever had." Do you have the same management style and characteristics? If not, this employee may not be a good fit for your restaurant.
• "What's the toughest job you ever had and how long did you last?" Was it really that tough, compared with the job they'd have with you? Did they find it a challenge or promptly leave to find something easier?
• "What's the most important job in any restaurant?" Taking care of the customer, of course.
• "What's the funniest thing that's ever happened to you?" Do they have a sense of humor? In foodservice, we need to work with people that have a sense of humor.

You will, of course, want to develop more of your own interview questions, particularly ones that deal with the technical aspects of each position.

Conclusion

Employee selection is one of the most important responsibilities an owner and manager has. Today you need good employees more than they need you. Your employees affect your sales, profits, career growth and rewards. In a way, your employees determine your future even more than your own performance does. Improve your skills at selecting winners, and you improve your chances for a more successful business and a much better working environment.

(The author would like to thank Mel Kleiman of Humetrics, Inc., and Bill Marvin, The Restaurant Doctor, for their valuable contributions in this series of articles on "Attracting & Selecting Quality Workers.")