Hiring: Part 3
Digging for the right information in an interview is valuable. I’ll share with you a few of the topics we try to cover and offer a sample question we use to uncover information.
Cultural Relevance: What is the last movie you watched? What book are you reading?
Flexibility: During your career, what was the most difficult adjustment you have had to make? What happened as a result of your actions?
Humility: What was the dumbest business or ministry decision you ever made?
Resilience: Describe a work situation where you faced incredible odds, but prevailed. What were the odds that you faced? Why was there so much resistance? Why did you prevail?
Sense of Humor: Tell me a joke or a funny story.
Teach-ability: Tell me about a situation that required you to learn something difficult. Why was it difficult to learn? What did you have to do to learn it? How long did it take? What was the end result?
Work Ethic/Drive: Give me some examples of things you have done that go considerably beyond what is required by your job.
Communication: Have you ever had to “sell” an idea to your co-workers or group? How did you do it? Did they “buy” it?
Decision Making and Problem Solving: Give me an example of a time when you had to be quick in coming to a decision.
Interpersonal Skills: Tell me about a time when you had a major conflict with another team member. What things did you do to alleviate the problem?
Job Performance: Describe a situation when you were not very satisfied or pleased with your performance. What did you do about it?
Leadership: What is the toughest group that you have had to get cooperation from? Describe what you did.
Loyalty: Give a specific example of a policy you conformed to with which you did not agree.
Motivation: Give me an example of a time when you went above and beyond the call of duty.
Planning and Organization: How do you decide what gets top priority when scheduling your time?
Team player: Give me an example of your involvement in a team effort that failed. What role did you play? Why was the effort successful?
Spiritual Maturity: What is God showing you today? What is your biggest spiritual weakness? Tell me what you do to grow in Christ.
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Craig, I am 25 years old. After reading these questions, the thought that continually came to mind is….”uhhh, I dont think that situation has happened in my life yet” So instead of a business or ministry situation, i thought of a situation in college when i was working on a group project or when I was a college athlete and was in similiar situation. I guess my question is. Would you ask these same questions to a 25 year old, considering that most 25 year olds have only 2-3 years of work experience. Obviously this only applies to a few of the questions, but do you take that into consideration?
Good thoughts…I like Meyers Briggs as it lets you know one’s pressure points and potential points of failure…I’m ISTP myself.
One thing I reinforce to my team and ask in interviews is how misatkes are addressed. Specifically, do they move forward and try to resolve or do they follow another protocol.
…paasively loaded question but what I am looking for is whether they share bad news fast, and what qualifies on their matrix as bad news. Resolving is important but sharing bad news fast is critical.
Jordan,
These questions are just examples. We may or may not use them. If we did use them, they would be adjusted for age and life experience.
Michael,
Good thoughts about mistakes…
WOW! If I was trying to get this job I would feel like I had been to Therapy after my session with those question.
Just a guess but men give short answers to them and women long anwsers?
As someone who went through the hiring process at LifeChurch.tv, I just wanted to throw out there that it was as beneficial for me and my family as it was for LC. Amy and I felt like we knew what we were about to get into because of the thoroughness of the method and interaction with the LC staff. It may seem tough from the outside and difficult to determine if LC’s hiring process is healthy, but it benefits everyone when all the pieces fit together.
Andrew,
Thanks for your perspective. You’re a gift to our team!
I have been through a lot of interview processes in the secular world, and the LC process was my first experience into ministry. I only wish that all of the interviewing/selection processes had been as thorough and educational as the one I went through 6 months ago at LC. There was no doubt that day, nor 6 months later into my role here, that my gifts, personality, work style, etc. were all a good fit for this ministry. Without that in-depth, probing process, it would be easy for me to ponder if I am in the right place at the right time. Instead, I feel very comfortable and confident that I am where God wants me to be at this time in my life.
Leaving these kinds of critical decisions up to chance or “gut” feelings can be a disservice both to the applicant and to the organization. Thoroughness is great in my opinion!
[...] So two nuns walked into a bar … 11 04 2007 I don’t know what I’d do in a job interview if someone said, “Now, tell me a joke …“ [...]
How about the “tell me about yourself” question?
From what I’ve seen and experienced, this ends up being one of the most difficult questions to answer, either because people take too long to tell their life story, or because people simply don’t know where to start/what to tell.
Another LC staffer here who has been through the interview process (3 times). You are probably thinking: “3 Times?” Yeah, and that’s my point.
I felt called to ministry with no religious training or professional experience. I was very active as a volunteer at LC and knew that I was being called to ministry but had absolutely no idea how God could use me based on my professional experiences in the secular world. I sent my resume to my campus pastor, Sam at the time, and explained that I felt called to ministry but not to any particular position. Sam got me started on the interview and testing process. The testing and interview process was brutal. Ultimately I was turned down and told to be patient, that something might come up in the future, but I wasn’t a good fit for the positions open at that time.
About a year later a position came open that I was encouraged to apply for. I did, and the result was the same. “We can see you on the team, this just isn’t your seat on the bus. Be patient.” Then a few weeks later a position opened up that combined so many of my gifts and past experiences. It was my seat on the bus! I’ve been on staff for almost exactly one year and feel so blessed that LC was faithful to their testing and interview processes. I would not have been as content and satisfied as I am now had I been offered and accepted one of the first two positions that I interviewed for.
So my point is that the process works for the good of both the interviewer and interviewee. Thanks to the LC leadership. It’s been a wonderful year.
This is great stuff. Just looking at the list makes me think that I would need a vacation after the interview process. But I have also experienced the reality of people being placed on my team by HR processes who were not a good fit. They were really awesome people that I loved but they were not a fit. A better process can save everyone involved time and frustration. Thanks for sharing.
I’ve never had an interviwer ask me to tell a joke. That’s brilliant!
Reminds of the movie - Pursuit of Happyness
Another thing to remember when hiring is that there are no “unimportant” hires. A mistake that is often made is short circuiting the process for hires that are deemed not so spiritual in nature i.e. facilities guy, tech guy, or some admin roles. All of these positions will add chemistry to your team and contribute to the overall culture of your organization. Get lazy for one interview and it can spell disruption for the whole team.
Along with Travis, I’ve been through the Lifechurch.tv interview/testing process before and did not get the job (although I’m still not yet on the bus). Instead of being upset because I didn’t get the job, however, I could only trust that the right person got the job. The process may not be perfect, but it is thorough. And that fact makes it easy to believe that the right person ends up in the right position at the right time.
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