Take a trip without your GPS? - Maybe

Give a speech to the board of directors without preparation? - Never

Interview an employment candidate without knowing ALL aspects of the position - TOO OFTEN

Recently coaching a firm's President who was about to interview a candidate for what is characterized as the #2 position in this 150 person manufacturing firm. I posed two basic and essential questions:

· What specifically are the responsibilities/accountability of the position for which you are recruiting?

· What are the most important values you want the candidate to have?

In the case of the 1st question - the President could neither describe in a comprehensive manner, quantitatively or qualitatively, the responsibilities/accountability of the position. Nor could he prioritize which responsibilities are most important along with the "key" successes and accomplishments of a successful candidate. His responses were generic and evolved around "well it depends on what the candidate brings to the table", or "I'll know it when I see it". The President's scores on the Profile XT Assessment indicate he is strongly moved by intuition, subjective analysis...But in this case he obviously didn't have an operational plan or an interviewing plan upon which to draw relevant conclusions.

Secondly, the lack of ability to identify candidate values is a mirror image of the importance of values to the firm. Neither the President nor the Executive Team had foundational values as necessary linchpins of organizational decision making and performance or employee selection criteria..

Asking the Executive Team the same two questions as above, the results were similar. The two most recent position holders failed. Incompetence? Wrong Fit? Round peg in a square hole? Perhaps all of the above.

For the purpose of this discussion, it is safe to assume that getting the right person on the bus is ONLY possible if you can identify the job fit characteristics for the position in concert with identifying technical expectations, and a team fit.

Interviewing is part art and part science. In both worlds, preparation is key. Imagine Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel with out a plan? Or the US sending a rocket to the moon without years of calculated study? Neither would happen.

So you want to hire the best? Be an employer who hires outstanding performers?

· Identify in detail the job duties and responsibilities of the position

· Identify the Thinking Styles, Behavioral Traits and Occupational Interests for the position.

· Know the values of your firm and the candidate

· Prepare behavioral interviewing questions in advance -and know what responses you want

· Practice - remember interviewing is a conversation - not a monologue or an interrogation.