Managing Sticky Situations at Work
Managing Sticky Situations at Work
Managing Sticky Situations at Work
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
<strong>Sticky</strong> Interview <strong>Situ<strong>at</strong>ions</strong> 143circuitry th<strong>at</strong> runs from the limbic centers (in the brain) into the gut(symp<strong>at</strong>hetic nervous system), giving us the compelling sense th<strong>at</strong>something feels right.’’ He went on to say, ‘‘Gut feeling, in fact, hasgained new scientific respect because of recent discoveries aboutimplicit learning—th<strong>at</strong> is, the lessons in life we pick up without beingaware we’re learning them.’’ 2In our reaction against laissez-faire interviewing toward structuredinterviewing, we lost th<strong>at</strong> all-important intuitive part of the interviewprocess. Str<strong>at</strong>egic interviewing enables us to recapture our gut reactionsbut without the looseness of the laissez-faire convers<strong>at</strong>ion. Furthermore,it employs focus and parameters more consistent with astructured interview. In other words, str<strong>at</strong>egic interviews blend thebest of both styles and produce the best results.CHARACTERISTICS OF A STRATEGIC INTERVIEW• Str<strong>at</strong>egic interviews feel convers<strong>at</strong>ional. One goal of the str<strong>at</strong>egicinterview is to help candid<strong>at</strong>es relax so they will tell you somethingthey had not intended to tell you. In so doing, the interviewer engagesthe candid<strong>at</strong>e in a real convers<strong>at</strong>ion. This does not mean theinterviewer talks too much, but it does mean the interviewer sharesopenly. Honesty provokes openness on both sides.• Str<strong>at</strong>egic interviews focus on the individual candid<strong>at</strong>e. If you ask aquestion you could ask any candid<strong>at</strong>e anywhere or you find yourselfasking all candid<strong>at</strong>es the same questions, you’ve missed the essence ofbeing str<strong>at</strong>egic.• Str<strong>at</strong>egic interviews are not structured, but they have a purpose. Thepurpose depends on the job <strong>at</strong> hand. As a str<strong>at</strong>egic interviewer, youmust determine wh<strong>at</strong> skills you are looking for. Questions th<strong>at</strong> devi<strong>at</strong>efrom the skills you are searching for are not str<strong>at</strong>egic.• Everything you do in a str<strong>at</strong>egic interview has intent. You have areason, for example, for asking a closed question. Perhaps you wantspecific inform<strong>at</strong>ion or you want to quiet a talk<strong>at</strong>ive candid<strong>at</strong>e. If youask a candid<strong>at</strong>e about his or her behavior while playing a team sport,you might want to ascertain how th<strong>at</strong> person works in teams.• Str<strong>at</strong>egic interviews blend behavior-based techniques. Behavior-basedquestions focus on a candid<strong>at</strong>e’s past behavior. Responses based onwh<strong>at</strong> the candid<strong>at</strong>e predicts or believes he or she will do <strong>at</strong> some pointin the future give the interviewer little inform<strong>at</strong>ion. Behavior-basedinterviewing assumes th<strong>at</strong> the best predictor of a person’s behavior isthe way th<strong>at</strong> person has behaved in the past.
Change language