| Use targeted questions to help avoid a bad | | | | to think a long time, they probably aren't |
| hire. | | | | that well read. |
| | | | |
| With qualified job candidates in short | | | | Tony Petrucciani, CEO, Single Source Systems, |
| supply, the hiring process is perhaps more | | | | a $5.1 million systems integration company in |
| important now than ever before. Yet although | | | | Fishers, Ind. |
| company builders are desperate for good | | | | |
| workers, the cost of a bad hire is | | | | What he asks: Why do they make manhole covers |
| intolerable. So these days, many smart | | | | round? Why: "We ask this of potential |
| companies are developing their own | | | | developers to see if they get flustered, and |
| idiosyncratic interview questions tailored | | | | how they think on their feet," says |
| specifically to their organization's culture. | | | | Petrucciani. (The answer? Because covers of |
| | | | any other simple geometric shape could fall |
| Jim Sheward, CEO of Fiberlink, a $10 million | | | | through.) Robert Baden, CEO and president, |
| Internet-consulting company in Blue Bell, | | | | Rochester Software Associates, a $4.3 million |
| Pa., places a lot of stock in his staff's | | | | software developer in Rochester, N.Y. |
| integrity. So his favorite question to ask | | | | |
| interviewees is, What's the biggest career | | | | What he asks: If I stood you next to a |
| mistake you've made so far? Sheward looks for | | | | skyscraper and gave you a barometer, how |
| reflective candidates who have learned from | | | | could you figure out how tall the building |
| their errors. "I've found that those who | | | | was? Why: The answer: well, there really |
| can't think of anything either don't take | | | | isn't one. Baden just wants to see how |
| risks or aren't telling me the truth," he | | | | creative people are. According to company |
| says. | | | | lore, one interviewee responded that he'd |
| | | | find the building's janitor and then offer |
| Of course, some questions are just plain | | | | the janitor the barometer -- in exchange for |
| practical. Tired of making offers to folks | | | | information about the building's height. |
| who had already accepted other offers, Eric | | | | |
| Schechter, CEO of Great American Events, a $3 | | | | Doug Chapiewsky, CEO, CenterPoint Solutions, |
| million event-marketing and merchandising | | | | a $2 million software developer in Denver. |
| company in Scottsdale, Ariz., started asking, | | | | |
| Who else are you interviewing with, and how | | | | What he asks: If you had your own company, |
| close are you to accepting an offer? And some | | | | what would it do? Why: "I want to see if |
| questions simply make sense for certain pools | | | | they've got that certain entrepreneurial |
| of candidates. Greg Conigliaro, president of | | | | spirit it takes to succeed in a small |
| Conigliaro Industries in Framingham, Mass., | | | | software company," he says. |
| says he hires a lot of prerelease prisoners, | | | | |
| as well as convicts who have recently been | | | | Madonna Flanders, employment manager, |
| paroled, to work in his $1.6-million | | | | Community Health and Counseling Services, a |
| recycling-services company. One of the | | | | mental-health and home-health-services |
| questions Conigliaro asks? Naturally, it's, | | | | company with more than 1,000 employees, based |
| What were you in for? Here's a sampling of | | | | in Bangor, Maine. |
| what other company builders ask -- and why. | | | | |
| | | | What she asks: If I asked your previous |
| John Discerni, CEO, Physicians Formulary | | | | coworkers for key words to describe you, what |
| International, an $11 million wholesale | | | | would they say? Then if I leaned close and |
| pharmaceutical company in Phoenix. | | | | whispered, "Now tell me what I'd better watch |
| | | | out for," what would they say? Why: To find |
| What he asks: What's the last book you read? | | | | out how in touch candidates are with their |
| Why: Discerni says that it's not what they | | | | own strengths and weaknesses. "I also get |
| read so much as the amount of time it takes | | | | information that I can check with references |
| for them to answer the question: if they have | | | | when I call," says Flanders. |