As a CEO, you have many goals in mind and hiring the right people is the best way to accomplish your goals.
Everyone knows having a pristine resume and ideal answers to interview questions could land you the right job, but are you really hiring the right person?
If you took a random survey in your company and asked your employees to articulate the company’s values and identify what the company stood for, would they be able to? Understanding your company’s mission statement, values, and culture is the one thing that will allow you to take the right interview questions and ensure you are hiring the best people for your company. Consider identifying this first before asking your interview questions. The answers to those questions shape how the interviewee will fit into your company.
Here are a few questions you can ask to identify which candidates fit the right qualities for your open position:
- What is your largest business success story?
Take a second to not only listen to the story itself, but listen to HOW the story is told, as well. How did the person accomplish that goal? More often than not, candidates will speak to their own personal accomplishments, if you determine “team” as a core value in your company, see if the candidate uses the pronoun “I” very often or if they focus more on “we” or “our.” The use of these team words allow you to see that they are more focused on completing the goal than seeming proud of their own personal accomplishment. They are the candidates willing to take on more work to help others and don’t mind giving credit where credit is due.
- What was your largest failure in your career and what did you learn from it?
This is where you want to see the opposite of the “I” versus “we” that we saw above. Ideally, you want to see a candidate take full responsibility for their actions and not point fingers at their coworkers for their own failure. After all, the question asked was what was YOUR largest failure, not the ones of the candidates coworkers or staff.
- What could I do better or differently as a CEO?
Assuming the candidate has done their research, they should know the role the CEO plays in the company. The answer to this question is one that will determine if the candidates values align with that of your company. If a candidate shies away from the question, they might not be brave or direct enough to succeed at your company. If your company shows courage and openness as one of its largest traits, then a firm and confident answer might show you that this candidate could speak up and have a positive impact on your company.
The questions above are just a few ideal questions to ask in an interview to determine if you are hiring the right person. Take your time to identify other interview questions that will give you insight into the candidate’s value system. The interview process should become easier with a full understanding of your own company’s values and culture.