You’re getting busier now. As your business grows you need to hire an additional technical person. Suddenly you’ve been thrust into the human resources role of interviewer. This blog is about doing a better job interviewing applicants. Most managers lack much training in interviewing skills, and that can be bad news. A poor hire is a nightmare for any company, but when you’re small it is even worse. This blog will talk about a type of question that should dominate any interview you conduct. And it probably isn’t what you think. I’m talking about “behavioral interview questions.” These are questions that ask about a real or hypothetical scenario that involves some conflict or issue. The applicant is then asked how they would resolve the situation. The goal here is learn about their character, judgment, ability to handle conflict, and the other “soft” skills that can often be overlooked when you focus only on their “hard” or “technical” skills.

Most managers unfamiliar with interviewing tend to focus on skill questions. They want to know whether the applicant has the specific skills required to complete tasks. In the case of managed services providers, skill questions might cover all the specific hardware and software knowledge needed to provide technical support to your clients. The mistake is thinking these questions should represent the bulk of the interview. That’s unwise because there is a lot more to a successful hire than their technical skills. My underlying principle about recruitment is that specific skills and training are important, but they shouldn’t be your primary concern during the hiring process.

Job skills are necessary, of course, but you should look beyond skills and consider the behavioral characteristics that spell success in your company. My belief has always been that I can teach you to do your job better, but I can’t change who you are. Behavioral skills are much harder to teach and to change. People skills, management, leadership, creativity, and ability to deal with adversity: these are of more value in the long term than any specific “job” skill. In the end, those are what we need. To provide a very simple example, you may find an applicant with excellent technical skills, but how will she be on-site when she interacts with customers? How will she handle a customer whose frustration over an unavoidable technical breakdown has spilled over into anger at her and your company? Will she become defensive or angry? You need someone with both technical skills and the people skills to talk that client down off the ceiling. If not, you may lose a client. Below are a few samples of questions and the traits they are seeking to identify.

“Describe a time when you felt the greatest sense of achievement” (Self directedness)

“Tell me about the most difficult customer you’ve ever dealt with?”(Customer service skills)

“Tell me about a time you had a conflict with your manager. What was the issue and how did you resolve it?” (Conflict resolution and interpersonal skills)

In summary, think of situations you anticipate your workers may face on the job.Ask questions that help you envision how they would handle and resolve those situations. You can also do a search on “behavioral interviews” that will yield a variety of already written questions. Just be sure to only select questions that are truly relevant to your situation and related to the specific open position in question.

.