Finding the perfect career match is tough stuff! But it doesn’t have to be quite so hard.
If you have interviewed someone or have been on an interview recently, you know how challenging it can be to really get to know a candidate, or potential employer, during the interview process. Candidates are more schooled than ever in how to “ace” an interview. Employers are well-versed in how to effectively pitch their organization, making them more attractive to top talent.
While both parties are courting the other, what really matters is getting through the surface level mutual attractiveness to understand whether each party can fully help the other live into their vision, mission, and goals. Regardless of which “side” of the conversation you are on, here are some quick and effective tips to help you dig beneath the surface level sales and marketing pitch of the other party, and really determine if the potential career match is the right one.
• Make it a values based discussion: Ask the potential employer about the firm’s core values (or ask the candidate about his/her values). More importantly, ask for evidence of how those things show up? What are the behaviors that they put into regular practice and serve as evidence of the values coming to life? It is also useful to ask about a time when the candidate/firm had to make a tough decision based on one of their values.
• Culture, culture, culture: Ask the candidate about the best company culture she has experienced, why it was the best, and what she contributed to make that culture more vibrant. Ask her to talk about a time when a coworker’s actions or mentality wasn’t aligned with the culture or values – and, what she did in that situation. Ask the potential employer to describe the company culture, with examples of how the culture comes to life. Also, ask the potential employer to cite examples of times when the organization used the culture to make specific decisions (when an employee wasn’t fitting the culture, or a tough client decision that involved the culture).
• Responsibility and Accountability: Ask the candidate how she defines each of these terms. Then ask for examples of how she embodies them. Also, ask for examples where she didn’t take responsibility or accountability when she should have. Ask the potential employer how responsibility and accountability come to life in the organization. Ask for examples of how employees hold each other accountable, and also how employees hold senior executives accountable. Especially, with regard to accountability, if there is no strong evidence of peer accountability, or upward accountability, that could be an indicator of weak organizational alignment, transparency, or health.
In all the cases above, the goal is to really understand what it will be like working together. Hiring mistakes on either end of the equation are too costly. Profile tests and assessments can be very useful to help curb hiring mistakes. They can demonstrate a sense of what actually happens, how people think and behave in real life situations, and provide great insight and value into the quality of the potential relationship. In reality, the profile tests and assessments do a great job in allowing both parties to make fully informed decisions.
Be sure to put in the time and effort up front – after all, you deserve to work with only the highest performing people and organizations, right?
Andrew Freedman, Principal at entreQuest, specializes in helping eQ’s clients grow by creating well aligned company cultures and strategies that result in remarkable client and employee experiences.
