All the Right Questions

Too often hiring managers focus on a candidate's skills and qualifications rather than on who he is or his personality, says Dick Grote, president of Grote Consulting, which specializes in performance management. "The focus of our selection is on whether an individual can or can't do a job. We ask: 'Where did you go to university? How much experience have you had?'"

That is not to say that CIOs shouldn't test a candidate's knowledge or ask about his professional experience. But they should stock their interviewing arsenals with the types of questions that will help them identify if someone's personality and attitude is right for the position they're looking to fill. (Learn how to assess personality based on sample answers in "I Can't Believe He Said That!", page 73.)

Bear in mind that these questions aren't necessarily traditional. For example, Mapics's Hofmann asks: What would you do if I gave you an elephant? (Interestingly, however, she did not ask Chris White that question.) One candidate interviewing for a customer support position said he'd slaughter the elephant and eat it. This response suggested to Hofmann that the candidate lacked the warmth necessary for helping customers. Another candidate said she'd learn how to care for the animal and provide it with food and water until she could find it a suitable home. This response, indicative of the candidate's empathy, told Hofmann that she'd found her customer support specialist.

Brian Kautz, CIO of Arnold Logistics, typically asks candidates to describe their dream job. "The answer gives you insight into the person and the types of things they like," he says, adding that CIOs should be wary of candidates who start describing the job for which they're applying. This can suggest that they're disingenuous, focusing on their own agenda instead of on what's being asked of them.

John Sullivan, a management professor at San Francisco State University, says you can use a person's answer to the dream-job question to determine whether the characteristics they're looking for match the job you're offering. If there's a match, you may have a winner. If not, you will probably want to move on to the next candidate. For example, if your corporate environment is cutthroat and internally competitive, and you have a candidate who describes his dream job as one that challenges his intellect, rewards his contributions and his colleagues subordinate their personal agendas for the benefit of the company, he's probably going to be unhappy working for you.

In addition, when you ask about skills and experience, make those questions as pointed as possible. Frequently CIOs ask unspecific, uninspired questions that they've been asked in the past, like: Tell me about a project you worked on. What went well? What didn't? What do you expect from your manager, and what should your manager expect from you? These questions elicit canned answers, and interviewees often respond by telling you what they think you want to hear, thereby not revealing their true personality.

Instead, ask questions specific to the role they'll be playing in the organization. When hiring for a leadership position, ask candidates if they've ever fired anyone, says Mark Zimmerman, vice president of IT at Gevity HR. If a candidate has been in that situation, ask why and how she handled it. If, for example, the candidate says that she first sought HR's advice to ensure she wasn't violating any policies or making herself vulnerable to a lawsuit before telling the employee in the privacy of her office that the person's performance was negatively affecting team morale and that the employee would need to move on, then you know the person is capable of handling sticky situations in a methodical, professional manner. On the other hand, if the candidate answers that he'd simply tell the employee that she's unsuitable for the position and hand her a pink slip without ever having reviewed the performance, the individual's response indicates a lack of sensitivity and experience.

When hiring for a project manager position, Tracy Austin, CIO of Mandalay Resort Group, suggests asking candidates how they would tell a senior vice president that a critical IT project is multimillions over budget and doesn't work. Austin says a prospective employee once answered that question by saying: "I'd have you do it." Austin instantly knew this person didn't have the nerve required for the job. A better response would have been to be frank about the problems, identify what went wrong and come up with a solution for either getting the project back on track or for preventing the company from losing any more money on the project.