By Bill Barker
When you are interviewing a candidate for a position, have you ever considered what information you seek to know about that candidate? Here is your list: Intelligence, knowledge, skills, abilities, experience, values, beliefs, interests, physical health, mental health, behavioral attitudes, and motivating needs. Plus, when obtaining such information, you must match all of it to what you want accomplished in the job and how the job is to be performed. Most business owners and managers do quite well when assessing whether an individual can do a specific job. Where they often fail, and sometimes miserably, is determining whether the candidate will do the job.
So, looking at the list above, which areas are can do the job and which are will do the job? The can-do part is determined by a candidate’s ability to discuss or present their knowledge, skills, abilities and where they gained the relevant experience. If a manager understands the job, she will know if the candidate knows what he is talking about. So, the manager might conclude any one of the following: The candidate has a high/moderate/low level of relevant knowledge, skills, abilities and experience appropriate for the job. Easy! I rarely see managers misfiring in this area of candidate evaluation.
The difficult part is the will-do area. This area is nearly all related to behaviors. Examples of behavioral concerns are things like being on time for work, possessing a good work ethic, acting in a mature manner, handling details correctly, working cooperatively with others, working at a fast pace, multitasking, being proactive, collaborating with others, making major decisions independently, working with complex systems or processes. The list is endless. But how do managers assess such things? The quick answer is to ensure there is a well-defined interview process, and the inclusion of at least one cognitive and one behavioral assessment instrument. Yes, unless you are highly effective at evaluating levels of intelligence and behavioral attitudes, you will want such assessment tools. Within future posts, we’ll explore the will-do area in more detail.
