Behavioral-based interviewing has been the buzz in hiring for the past few years and rightly so.  This technique brings real-world clarity to a sales interview as opposed to theoretical, positional answers.  Selling Power provides a good article to assist you in your interview strategy.

In order to ensure you are using a behavioral-based approach (emphasis mine):

“A lot of people think that they are conducting behavioral-based interviewing when they’re really not,” says Wolf, who defines behavioral-based questions as questions that allow candidates to relate real situations and demonstrate how their strengths and weaknesses are exhibited on the job. “Many times hiring managers are asking theoretical questions, such as, ‘How would you handle this situation?’ Or, ‘If you were faced with this situation, what would you do?’ A behavioral-based question is phrased differently, such as, ‘Can you tell me about a situation where you…’ A true behavioral question may not even be a question. For example, ‘Tell me how you handled a client objection.’ The whole premise that past behavior predicts future behavior falls flat unless you are really getting examples of past behavior.”

I am partial to using a statement as opposed to a question in the interview.  I find this approach focuses the candidate and allows less room for theoretical answers.  Here are a few suggestions from the author:

Wolf shares a few best practices of behavioral-based interviewing to help you garner the most information from your candidates:

1. Have a valid interview guide. “Start with a job analysis because every question you ask in an interview has to be job relevant,” says Wolf. “Questions have to be linked to the tasks performed on the job – that’s critical. For example, if the job requires the ability to overcome objections, you need to specifically ask about a time when a candidate overcame an objection.
2. Be familiar with your information. “Just like you wouldn’t go into a sales call without researching the company, don’t go into the interview without some knowledge about the candidate,” says Wolf. Review the resume, check out social networks, and review the candidate’s company Website.
3. Be a practiced interviewer. Seek training and role-play because interviewing is a skill, says Wolf.

“The most difficult things about doing behavioral-based interviews are balancing the timing and pace of the interview, while managing the experience that the candidate is getting,” says Wolf. “You need to get the information by getting enough detail, but not too much. At the same time, you need to get that detail without making the candidate feel as if you are drilling them – you need to have empathy. It takes a lot of practice and training.”

That last paragraph is filled with wisdom.  If you overdo it the interview becomes something of a scene from a crime drama interrogation.  One thing we always remind our hiring managers – you are selling the candidate also…don’t forget that fact.

However, we always recommend that you model the interview after a sales call.  You can be a little standoffish and disconnected to see how the candidate handles the situation.  The best way to see a salesperson’s talents is to see them selling.  You can model your hiring process after your typical sale to see which candidates can handle the different situations, pressures and processes.

If you need help in this area we would welcome the chance to talk to you about your sales hiring process.

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I read this post on Bnet and got a chuckle out of a couple of the points and thought I would share this article by Geoffrey James with you.  I especially laughed when I read don’t flirt with the admin…who does that?!  Anyway, here are the 8 things not to do:

1. Flirt with the admin.  It may seem tempting, but unless you’ve got soap-opera-quality looks, chances are you’re only going to annoy (or even alarm) the admin, who will tell the boss.  Fix: Stay polite, friendly and respectful.
2. Talk more than you listen.  Initial sales calls are all about relationship building and gathering information, which you can’t do if your mouth is moving. Fix: Get curious about the customer and ask questions.
3. Comment on the memento. The last 372 people who came into that office remarked about the signed baseball on the desk.  Ho-hum…  Fix: Research the prospect and ask about the prospect’s job.
4. Pretend to drop by.  Who are you kidding?  Do you think that it’s going to cushion the rejection if you pretend that it’s not a sales call?  Fix: Have something important to say or sell that justifies your presence.
5. Answer your cell phone.  Ouch! Ouch!  What were you thinking?  How could any telephone call be more important than a real live prospect?  Fix: Turn it off and leave it in your briefcase.
6. Overstay your welcome. Your prospect has hundreds of other things that he or she could be doing, rather than spending time with you.  Fix: Set a time limit for the call.
7. Let the meeting meander.  This isn’t the time for a wandering conversation that slowly gets to the point or a long series of complicated questions.  Fix: Provide brief agenda of how you expect the call to proceed.
8. Argue with the customer.  If the customer doesn’t agree with an important point, arguing is only going to set that opinion in stone.  Fix: ask the customer why he holds that opinion; then listen.

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Too many times the process of hiring a sales person rarely takes priority in a sales manager’s duties - they have enough to do already.  Unfortunately, the hiring tasks get pushed to the margins of their day.  Any sales manager knows how important it is to hire strong sales people, but it all too often doesn’t get the attention it deserves.  Dave Stein has 11 spot-on quick tips that can help you set the right priorities and increase your success rate.  His tips are:

1. Make sure you know what you are looking for.
2. Prepare your questions in advance.
3. Remain objective during the interview.
4. Trust but verify.
5. Don’t lead the candidate.
6. Push back.
7. Take notes.
8. Solicit peoples’ names.
9. Deliver powerful messages.
10. Practice.
11. Give the candidate feedback.

I agree with Dave that it is extremely difficult for people to stay objective during the interview.  He makes a great point in that you need to act like a doctor when they are taking your medical history or reading your EKG.  Too many times a hiring manager will get emotionally attached to a candidate and lose the objectivity needed to make the best hiring decision.  First impressions are important, but don’t allow that to cloud your judgment and write off what could be a strong candidate. 

I have been in interviews where the hiring manager didn’t think that a candidate was outgoing enough, made the decision they were not a fit and just went through the motions to fill the remaining time.  The candidate did well answering the manager’s questions and then the time for the candidate to ask questions arrived.  They were prepared with questions to discover information about the company and sales department, the challenges it was facing, why the position was open and what the hiring manager was looking for in an ideal candidate.  Yet the hiring manager had already made up his mind and determined that the candidate was not the right fit.  He had disqualified them.

The ability to stay objective and to gather enough information is critical to making a strong hire.  Be conscious of quick decisions and do not fall into the trap of prejudging a candidate.

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This is a long set-up, but you’ll get the point.  I just read an interesting Q&A article on BusinessWeek.com titled Being Pushy…or Taking the Initiative?  Here is the question posed by an office manager who is hiring for a sales position:

I’m the office manager in a branch of an international PR firm with more than 50 offices in the U.S. I run the administrative processes, work as the liaison with our U.S. headquarters, and serve as the HR chief for this branch. Last week I interviewed a candidate for an account manager position. This man had applied for the job through an online job ad. I do the first-screen interviews, and so I met with him to talk about the role and his qualifications. We had a fruitful cha (sic), and I was pleased enough with our meeting to say to the candidate in closing: “It’s been wonderful to meet you, and I’ll be speaking with Amanda Jones, our general manager, about our conversation and taking the next steps.”

As far as I could see, I was doing the candidate a favor by letting him know that I was taking his candidacy to the next level. I guess I shouldn’t have mentioned Amanda’s name, because this morning I received a thank-you e-mail from the candidate, and saw that he had cc:d Amanda on the note. That feels really pushy to me. Because I mentioned Amanda’s name, the candidate figured out Amanda’s e-mail address and wrote to her directly. I’m tempted to cross his name off the list of finalist candidates. Any thoughts?

I am always perplexed by this belief that a salesperson should not be effective at selling.  If I were in her shoes, I would move this candidate to the top of this list.  he showed moxie in attempting to move this “deal” to the next stage.

We see this in interviews also.  A hiring manager will state that they didn’t think the candidate talked much, but we sat and observed the candidate asking the right questions to qualify the position.  I know it is difficult, but when hiring salespeople, you have to step back from the process and review the candidate’s actions and words.  Look at them in entirety.  This approach will show you the candidates with initiative…initiative that may be sitting there right in front of your eyes.

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I have been used as a reference and I have called to talk to references – at times it can be awkward.  I am extremely careful with what I say when I am the reference as I sense legal danger everywhere.  When I am calling a reference, I truly enjoy the people who just roll and I only have to direct them a bit.

Now our local paper runs this short Q&A article about a liability waiver.  I have never encountered such a document:

Q: One company I interviewed with asked me to sign a waiver saying my former supervisor would not be liable for anything he said about me. Is that legal?

A: Yes, the waiver is legal. But with or without the waiver, your former supervisor is free to talk about you and your performance. “Legally, an ex-employer or representative of an ex-employer can say anything about the employee as long as it’s truthful and isn’t confidential, like medication information,” said Bill Egan, an employment attorney at Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly in Minneapolis who advises companies. “Nothing prohibits them from providing truthful information about a former employee.”

Despite this fact, many references are still reluctant to speak openly about a former employee.  Over time, you learn to hear the things they don’t say.  In the end, that becomes the basis for learning the most information on the call.  Perhaps it doesn’t have to be that way?

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I had a sales candidate ask an excellent, subtle question yesterday – “What other positions is this company currently hiring?”  Again, the subtlety of this question provides a view into a company’s needs, growth and possible turnover.  It is an excellent question to ask in any interview.

The second part of this equation is for the hiring manager to appreciate the question.  What I mean is this – listen carefully to the questions being asked by the candidate.  We often watch hiring managers trip over themselves to answer a good question without appreciating the question itself.  Some times the hiring manager cannot even recall the questions asked in the interview.  This is problematic for successful sales hiring.

Someday I am going to capture every question asked by a candidate in the interview and put them in a document, in order, and then present them to the hiring manager.  The questions themselves and the sequence of questions is important for successful selling (read: qualifying).  This ability is observable in the interview process…if you are looking for it.  Don’t miss it.

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CNNMoney.com offers up the latest story about this Springtime topic (must be all of the college grads hitting the interview circuit that gets these stories started).  There are some beauties in here:

“One job applicant came in for his interview with a cockatoo on his shoulder.”

“We had one person who walked out of an interview straight into a glass door. The glass shattered.”

“The candidate got his companies confused and repeatedly mentioned the strengths of a competing firm, thinking that was who he was interviewing with.”

“A candidate fell asleep during the interview.”

Fell asleep?  I’m guessing the only way that happens is if the interviewer is doing all the talking.  Not a good approach, if that was the case…still humorous.

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This article from abcnews.com starts off with a terrific interview anecdote (emphasis mine):

John-Paul Lee, CEO of Tavalon Tea, a premium tea company based in New York, recently interviewed a job candidate he’s not likely to forget.

“The first two minutes were great,” Lee says of the recent MBA grad. Then Lee asked the candidate who he believed Tavalon’s biggest competitors were. To which the candidate replied, “I think Tavalon Tea is a formidable one.”

“I assumed he was nervous and had blurted out the wrong company,” Lee says, “so I played along and asked him, ‘Why?’”

The candidate’s answer? “I don’t think they have the right management in place. I know the CEO of the company and he is a real jerk.”

Rather than let on right away, Lee asked the interviewee if the two had met before, and if the grad knew where, exactly, he was interviewing.

The candidate, who finally noticed the Tavalon Tea logo on the wall, realized he was in hot water: “Oh my god, I’m sorry,” he fumbled. “I know this is no excuse, but I partied a bit too hard last night.”

I’m still laughing at that last line.  The article continues with many more laughable stories that will start your Friday off right.

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CareerBuilder.com has put out another link-bait article titled Top Interview Questions.  I wonder if they send this version out to their employer customers and a modified version out to the jobseekers in a separate email?  Anyway, here is the list:

What circumstance brings you here today?

This is one of the best opening questions ever. This open ended question surprises many candidates. If they do not respond quickly, just sit quietly and wait for the response. Some candidates reveal problems with their current employer, potential insubordination, and both positive or negative character traits.

How would your best friend describe you?

What would you say are your 2 greatest weaknesses?

How do you alleviate stress?

What are your short and long term goals?

What type of work environment do you prefer?

When choosing potential employees, it is helpful to know what type of environment in which they prefer to work. If the company is very professional and usually quiet, someone who likes a loud, casual environment might not be the best fit. It is sometimes good to hire someone who does not fit the mold, but it is usually best to hire people who fit your work environment.

What is your typical way of dealing with conflict?

What tools or habits do you use to keep organized?

Instead of asking are you an organized person, this makes the interviewee prove and describe their organizational skills. Most hiring managers expect that their employees have some type of system to stay organized. Whether it is using a planner, or electronic calendar, these tools confirm that the potential employee is reliable and responsible.

Tell me about a time when you had to go above and beyond to get a job done.

What was a major obstacle you were able to overcome in the past year?

In what ways do you raise the bar for yourself and others around you?

This question gives the interviewer an idea of who is and is not an above average performer. It also demonstrates leadership potential and the willingness to be a team player.

Tell me about two memorable projects, one success and one failure. To what do you attribute the success and failure?

What unique experience or qualifications separate you from other candidates?

Where do you see yourself in five years?

Ok, I took the liberty of removing the explanation that accompanied most of these questions since I thought they were, well, common.  We use our assessments before the interview which provides a roadmap for questions.  The assessments are like an x-ray view of the salesperson’s ability which means we don’t have to do exploratory surgery in the initial interview.

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From CollegeRecruiter.com’s Sample Interview Questions for Those Hiring Millennials:

William recommends that interviewers “incorporate more personal questions that expose a candidate’s personality, work ethic, and personal motivations” because “how a person approaches life is often indicative of how they’d approach work.” He therefore recommends rephrasing typical interview questions in a way that they better apply to the personal lives of your candidates. Sample interview questions in this area include:

• How do you primarily communicate with friends? How often?
• When you have a dilemma to solve, how do you approach it?
• How do you spend your free time? (Do you prefer doing activities solo, with friends, or in groups?)

Excellent advice for interviewing a Gen Y candidate.  The questions will lead to revealing insight into the candidate.  The secondary benefit that now you appear to be speaking their language which is valuable in itself.

If you were to tie these questions to an assessment, you would have an in-depth view of this candidate like you have never seen.

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