Tell me about … your biggest weakness ... your favourite colour ... the superhero you most admire.
At least 70 per cent of employers still ask lame, predictable questions such as these in job interviews. That’s why they often miss clues that a candidate is destined to be a flop as an employee, leadership coach Mark Murphy found in a study his company did, which became the basis for his new book, Hiring for Attitude. (Click here to read an excerpt.)
(What's the weirdest interview question you've been asked? Send it to careerquestion@globeandmail.com.)
The study tracked 20,000 newly hired employees in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia, and found that 46 per cent of them had either been dismissed or received poor performance reviews or written reprimands over the course of the past three years.
“Most new hires don’t fail for lack of skill. Rather, their underlying personalities and attitudes aren’t a good match for the job and the organization,” Mr. Murphy concluded.
Their employers didn’t probe enough into the attitude behind their skills and their well-rehearsed answers in the job interview, said Mr. Murphy, chief executive officer of Washington, D.C.-based Leadership IQ.
“I’m regularly told by employers that their low performers have really good job skills, but other factors such as being negative, feeling entitled, blaming or being change-resistant turned out to be the reason they didn’t work out,” he said in an interview.
The right attitude for a job is a blend of the candidate’s personality and how they will fit with the culture and values of the organization, he said. “You can have a great personal attitude that’s upbeat and positive, but if you are an individualist and like to work alone you may not fit in a collaborative work environment.”
Mr. Murphy found five main issues that led to failure:
Coachability: In 26 per cent of failures, the employees were unable to accept and use feedback from bosses, colleagues or customers.
Emotional intelligence: In 23 per cent, the issue was inability to manage their emotions and accurately assess others’ reactions or expectations.
Motivation: For 17 per cent, the issue was lack of sufficient drive to reach their potential and excel in the job.
Temperament: In 15 per cent of the cases, their personality didn’t suit their job or their team.
Technical competence: In only 11 per cent of cases, the person’s functional skills weren’t up to the job.
Given these findings, Mr. Murphy said employers have to know what attitudes they’re looking for in an employee and ask probing questions to make sure candidates are right for the organization,
A good example, he said, is the Toronto-based Four Seasons Hotels chain. “In their interviews, they treat candidates like they treat their guests, and they expect that candidates will reciprocate,” he said. For example, “even when candidates are waiting for the interview, do they greet each other? Are they polite and make eye contact? And their interview questions are designed to reveal underlying personality and attitudes.”
Interviewing for attitude will become increasingly important as organizations realize they can’t hire as many people as they did in the past and they want to ensure they get people with the right fit, Mr. Murphy said.
“When you only have 60 minutes or so in an interview, it makes no sense to ask questions that people can prepare for in advance and don’t tell much about underlying attitudes.”
He said his suggested “coachability questions” for getting at underlying attitudes may sound somewhat stern, but they are effective. For example, he recommends that the interviewer start by asking about the applicant’s previous boss: “Make them believe you’re going to talk to the former boss, even if that’s not the case.”
