Before you Ask About Them, Ask About YOU!
The best interview questions are ones that help you understand if the candidate before you meets the requirements of the job description and shares the practice’s passion for its Mission and values. This is why owners and managers do themselves such a disservice when they use premade job descriptions or they don’t take the time to articulate the practice’s Mission or values in writing. As leaders, all of you would agree that working at your business is more than just completing tasks or having a certain set of skills. It’s how you complete tasks and how employees are using their skills that are most important to you. By taking time to draft a job description that is original to your business and that qualifies the work you expect the employee to do, you arm yourself with a more complete understanding of the position and the language to articulate what it is you are genuinely looking for in a candidate.
All of that said, I’d like to give you a jump start on some questions that might provide you meaningful insight into whether or not the candidate before you shares your values and is the right fit for your practice’s culture.
Interview Questions Don’t Necessarily Happen in the Interview
Remember that many questions needn’t take place in a formal interview setting. Use online surveys to probe deeper into the kinds of skills applicants have or to get a better feel of who they are. Reserve these surveys for only the very best of the first round of applicants as a way of further culling the lower performers from the group and as a way of generating interest in the position on the part of the candidate. Great questions for an online survey might include:
- List all Social Media platforms that you understand how to use
- List all word processing applications you understand
- List all the applications in the MS Office Suite that you understand
- Have you had experience with cash handling?
Additionally, you can ask essay questions:
- Have you had previous experience in a leadership capacity at a hospital? Tell me about it.
- Talk to me about a low point in your life and the things you drew upon to help you get through it.
- What are the actions you take when a client seems frustrated with service?
- What do clients want when they come to the vet and what do you do/will you do to ensure that they get it?
- What makes a good veterinarian? Of the qualities that you mentioned, which are your strongest?
- Tell me what you expect of the team members that support you in your efforts. What do they expect of you?
- Would you be a good practice owner? Explain.
- What was the best job you ever had? Why did you like it?
- Have you ever worked in a place that had a great positive environment? Why was it so positive? How did you contribute to the workplace’s positivism?
- What can you do to help any frustrated client feel better about their consumer experience?
Don’t Interview for Skill, Interview for Soul
In an interview, look for individuals that display thoughtfulness, truthfulness and sincerity. Sometimes applicants come prepared with answers to give to certain questions. If you feel that they have provided you a ‘canned’ response to a question, encourage them to elaborate or give examples of what they mean. Here are other ideas for questions:
- Integrity is important in any job. Have you had an experience at work, in school or elsewhere where you have displayed integrity? Tell me about it.
- Why do people believe that good communication is so important in a workplace? Have you ever worked at a job with someone who was a great communicator? Have you displayed this ability yourself? Were the effects positive? Tell me about it.
- Often times, working with others can be inspiring or energizing. Has this been your experience? Tell me about it
- Have you ever worked with someone that you felt was underperforming? What did you do?
- Have you ever had tension between yourself and a former employer or coworker? How did you handle it?
- Have you ever been reviewed? What were the highlights of the review that you remember? Tell me about the things that the reviewer praised and the things that they gave you to work on.
- What do you enjoy doing outside of work? Why do you enjoy it?
- What are your long-term goals? Do you see this job helping you to achieve them? How?
- Looking back on your time at school or in the workplace, are there any moments that really stick out as demonstrating your best qualities?
- Talk to me about a time when you were very proud of the client service you provided.
- Is there something you are currently trying to improve about yourself? Are you consistent in your efforts? What have you learned about yourself in your endeavors to improve?
Don’t Create a Prove-Yourself-to-Me Environment
Presumably, you have drafted a great ad and built screening tools that have selected for the finest candidates. The candidates that are about to walk through your door could be your next ticket to veterinary boogie land. Don’t spoil the momentum by sitting across from treating the candidate dismissively, sitting across from the candidate with your arms crossed, or scrutinizing their resume while they sit silently before you. No one wants to work in a business where the first foot forward is a kick in the teeth.
Hire People that You Like and that Grasp Your Mission
Irrespective of talent, you’re going to be working with these individuals on a day-to-day basis and providing them coaching. Doing either with a person that you don’t like or who isn’t interested in your Mission is nearly unbearable. Skills can be taught; soul, heart, and likability cannot. Hire for those that will fit into your culture, not those that have to be forced into it.
EEOC Guidelines on Interview Questions
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has guidelines in place to ensure that everyone has equal opportunity to work. To that end, they have established guidelines on what we legally can and cannot ask applicants. Below is a list of what you can and cannot ask a candidate.
Subject | Permissible | Not permissible |
Race, color, religion, national origin | There is no permissible way to ask this question | All direct or indirect inquiries are illegal |
Height, weight | Informing the applicant that this job requires lots of physical movement and lifting bags of food or pets that weigh 40 lbs is okay. Asking the applicant if they have any physical problems that would prevent them from doing this is okay | If the question is designed to eliminate women or other groups of people from taking the job then it is illegal. |
English Language | You may ask questions with regards to English ONLY as it pertains to the job. | |
Education | Refer only to the education that is listed on the resume. Additional questions about education are okay but only as they pertain to the job | You can’t ask education questions to determine age or to eliminate minorities or other groups of people |
Marital status, children, childcare | The only way you can ask these kinds of questions is if you ask them of both men and women and only as it relates to job performance. | |
Conviction | Make sure the applicant understands that every applicant is screened for criminal offenses. | |
Availability for holiday/weekend work | You can ask about availability, but not in such a way that screens people for religion affiliation or inclusion in another protected class. If you are open on Sundays, then it is permissible to inform the candidate that work on Sundays is a requirement of the position provided that your state requires no other accomodation. | |