The Wrong Interview Questions

When employers turn prospective employees away from jobs, it's not
always because the applicants lack the right stuff. Many of them are
victims of lousy interviewers. Employers who don't know how to ask
questions that pinpoint real job skills often pass up quality
people.

"The challenge is to make sure you ask questions that are related
to the job -- like how they handle group situations not waste time on
questions that aren't related," says interview expert Stephan Motowidlo,
Ph. D., director of the Human Resource Research Center at the University
of Florida. Motowidlo checked into what "the right questions" are and how
to go about asking them. What he came up with was a three-point
formula.

o Point One -- Situation:

Ask the applicant to name something specific he did in the past. It
has to be any problem or situation related to what he'd be doing in the
job he's interviewing for. For example, if the new job calls for dealing
with angry clients and he was a cashier in the past, ask him about
interactions with angry customers.

o Point Two -- Reaction:

Follow up on the situation or problem the applicant named. Ask
about her reaction and how she handled it. Find out how she dealt with
the problem. If the former cashier blew up at angry customers it's a bad
sign.

o Point Three -- Results:

Ask how the situation was resolved. Was the problem solved? Did the
interviewee make a positive contribution to the company? Or were her
actions ineffective or detrimental to the company's best interests? If
the former cashier faced anger with anger, he most likely alienated
customers. That's probably not something you would want an employee of
yours to do.

As for the stupid, irrelevant questions you don't want to ask, the
list is endless. Stay away from latest movies seen, music preferences,
favorite forms of exercise, the dress she wore to her high school prom.
Absolute no-nos are questions about pregnancy and sexual
preference.

You can't judge a book by its cover. Motowidlo warns against being
taken in by appearance alone. Too often interviewers judge on looks and
other nonverbal cues which we "know aren't necessary attributes" of a
good worker.

Just to make sure interviewers ask pertinent questions, Motowidlo
has devised a structured interview, which includes seven mandatory
questions. Follow-up questions are up to the interviewer. Other interview
formats use questions about hypothetical situations and multiple choice
set-ups on paper.

But Motowidlo says there's nothing like sitting down with an
interviewee face-to-face and asking about past work experiences. It's the
best predictor of what someone will do in the future.

Does the method really work? Eight telecommunications firms "hired
good people" after using it, Motowidlo claims of his structured
interview.