In the search for a great staff, you must recognize that mastering the interview process is one of the most valuable talents that you can possess and one of the most important skills that you should continually teach your leadership staff. Too often, however, interviewing skills may not be as finely tuned and interviewers resort to choosing a candidate merely by “feel.” Here are four important interviewing tips to help you make a sound decision when choosing quality personnel.
Expect to generate a final ruling
Enter into every interview with the expectation to have a definitive “yes” or “no” regarding their candidacy. You should be 100 percent certain that they will be a compliment to your club, your culture and your membership or you must fully understand your conclusion why they aren’t. The answer should never be, “I have a good feeling about that guy,” or “I don’t know, but I just don’t like her.” Have specific reasons for or against a hiring, and if you don’t know, then you’re not yet done with the interview.
Know what you’re looking for
Before going into the interview you should have a thorough understanding of what you desire from an ideal applicant. This includes more than core competencies such as a strong sales background or accounting skills, but you must look deeper into the secondary responsibilities of any employee. Do they smile easily? Are they polite, professional and polished? Do you feel that they can learn all aspects of the job? Do they have the necessary humility to serve? With every quality that you require you will find that your list of applicants will shorten and naturally point you to your perfect candidate.
Ask relevant questions and expect them to be answered
Learn from every applicant their abilities and knowledge to the job as well as learn their views on exceptional service and what they see as an appropriate member experience. This will describe the type of service that you should expect from them within whatever role they might hold for you. This can be discovered by questions as simple as, “How would you describe exceptional customer service?”
Now that you’ve asked the right questions, expect answers. Don’t view your interviewing questions as a list to check off as much as topics of conversation that should be articulated by the applicant and you should not move on until the topic has been fully discussed. A new challenge for interviewers is that in today’s world, anyone with Internet access has the ability to study enough to be a great interviewee and supply you with great stories that describe how good an employee they will be and, often, applicants come into the interview with a list of great answers that they can’t wait for you to hear. Unfortunately, an increasing byproduct of this preparedness is that applicants often drift to one of those “great answers” even if it has little or nothing to do with the question asked. Stay on topic and get your questions answered.
Address your concerns
Sometimes there is something about the resume or the answers to your questions that just doesn’t seem right but too often interviewers feel like it’s impolite to ask for more details. Feel comfortable in saying, “Could you expand on that?” or “What was your specific role in that decision/practice?” Also, be aware that if a question is difficult for whatever reason, it is common for interviewees to give you the minimum amount of information possible in hopes of moving to the next question. It is your responsibility to gain an entire perspective. Therefore, you need to continue to ask questions. If your questions are to determine their ability to perform the job and do not infringe upon any area that is illegal or inappropriate, you need to satisfy your curiosity. It is fair to you as well as the applicant.
As the interviewer you are the gatekeeper to your staff and the face of your company. View this responsibility among the most important duties that you hold and be decisive and consistent with your choices.
John Oei is an operations and strategy consultant and columnist for Club Solutions Magazine. He can be reached through our editor via e-mail at tyler@clubsolutionsmagazine.com.
