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Interviewing

Copyright Thomas P. Crouser, October 16, 1995

Selection of employees is critical to our success in business. Most of us base our criteria on pressing the flesh in an interview. Problem is, most of us interview infrequently and really have never had any training for the procedure in the first place.

John Finlayson is a management trainer with a large bank holding company and he has made several presentations to our Performance Group participants regarding interviewing. Here s a summary of some of the highlights.

Know The Position
Many times, we aren t really clear on the position s objectives. Sure, a press operator is a press operator, but many times we allow the applicant(s) to determine what we need in the way of skills. Oh, this applicant has printed process color before. Great, let s hire them and we then can produce process color. Everybody has certain prejudices with respect to specifically what they like to do. What management has to do is to not allow this employee pull to decide the company s strategy.

I know an Indiana printer who wanted to hire a typesetter and received an application from a Graphic Designer. The printer was so impressed by the halo of the graphic designer s degree that the objective was lost. Result: Designer hired at 2x the salary for the typesetter. Problem was, this was in 1973, the designer couldn t type and the printer had only a Multilith and an electrostatic platemaker (Bruning 2000), so the printer couldn t print what the designer could design, meanwhile the typesetting wasn t getting done!

What Skills Does The Person Need?
With the objective firmly in mind, review the job description. If you don t have one, then at least make a list of tasks which need to be done. From tasks comes a list of specific skills (or specifications) the person must have in order to do the job.

In doing so, be sure to separate critical from nice to have. It s nice to have a person who has printed process color before, but does this position require these skills?

What Don t You Want?
Consider past employees and analyze traits displayed. I never again want a guy like Joe. He was a great printer, but he never got along with anyone!

What s Gonna Change?
Give attention to changes. You can t hire today for jobs which might occur in the future, but you can sense adaptability to change?

Had a woman apply for the position of bookkeeper once. She would have been great except her insistence on using her own comptometer rather than that newfangled electronic calculator tipped off problems with change. . . .Er, comptometer is a mechanial calculator used prior to. . . oh, forget it. You re too young.

How To Predict What People Will Do On The Job
So how do you determine in an interview how people will react to change? How do you determine if they will get along with other people? How do you know if they will show up to work or not? Here s the key: Past performance is the best predictor of future action.

How a person actually handled themselves with other employees or how they actually reacted to change or how they worked through a difficult situation with other employees predicts future behavior. You must know the behaviors you value most. Then you can question examples of past performance, and predict future performance.

The phrase Tell me about a time. . . is best used to start this type of question. Tell me about a time you were able to get a rush job done when you already had a full schedule.

Tell me about a time when a job presented an unusual problem and you were able to solve it. Tell me about a time you had a question about the job you were doing, but had no one to ask. What did you do? Tell me about a time when you knew one of your fellow employees was not being honest with the supervisor. What was the situation and how did you handle it?

You get the idea. Now, an important point: give them time to respond. Hold your ground until you get a specific answer. We all hate silence. Usually we hate it worse than the other person. But allow it. Be prepared to reassure the person silence is alright. Holding your ground on the early questions make the later ones easier for they will know you want only specifics.

Infallible? No. What is? But, it s better than many other ways such as open ended questions. Tell me what you want to do with the rest of your life? They re good for getting the interviewee talking. . .but you don t learn anything of value except they have a great novel inside them. Waste of your time and theirs.

Or like I m boss questions. What is the most important switch on a press?
(((Duh- - - -Think fast. . .What do they want me to say. Could it be they want me to say the Off switch- - -Yes, that s it))).- - - The off switch. Great, Bardo, you re my kind of printer! I m sure you ll do fine!


Note: While these questions may soothe your ego, you can t predict from the answer whether the person will actually use the switch or not.

In summary, identify or rewrite the job description if necessary. Identify job specifications (skills needed to do the job). Prepare a list of questions which will help you predict behavior in the job. Review applicants to select ones meeting minimum qualifications. Arrange an appropriate setting for the interview. And get mentally prepared before you start.

Common pitfalls: not asking questions clearly; interrupting the interviewee during preparatory silence ; cutting off responses; permitting an inteviewee to meander in answers; using leading questions (Most important switch...); and asking questions which can be answered by yes or no. The process isn t infallible, but it s better than what most use now.

Happy Trails. . . .Tom Crouser Crouser & Associates Performance Group program includes two on-site evaluations by Tom Crouser each year along with two group meetings. Management training is held during the group meetings along with participation in a meeting with non-competing printers. Join others who have decided to run their business instead of the business running them. Reply to by Email to Tom Crouser for more detailed information or call Clark Workman at (304) 342-5100. Or fax (304) 342-5187 or contact crouser@ibm.net. Return to Crouser Index
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