Rascal Rusty’s Guide to Interviewing

Hiring Managers have had this nagging doubt. Besides delaying the process or adding one more roadblock in hiring someone, why should someone from HR interview a potential employee? Rascal Rusty, my buddy from my days in B-School had once coached me on the subtle art of interviewing candidates for jobs. "If the line manager can ask candidates all the questions that most typical recruiters ask, do we really need HR to interview candidates? Most recruiters ask these standard questions that even had standard answers. The hiring managers have learnt that the trick is to look for those predictable responses to standard questions."I was very offended and was determined to prove him wrong. If HR were to be so simple that even line managers would know how to do it, we would all be out of jobs. Even as a student of Management, Rusty always knew a shortcut to solve every problem that I have ever faced. I needed to ask him about hiring tips.  

So in the evening I accompanied Rascal Rusty look alike to the nearby watering hole and challenged his wisdom, "What do you define as typical questions that HR people ask?"

"You know it is the usual stuff about why you want to join this company or tell me about your strengths and weakness kind of stuff. Ummm... I forgot, there is no such word called weakness - in the HR lingo we all have 'developmental opportunities', right? These are questions the candidates expect to be asked and now even the answers have become more standardized. So the 'correct' answer to the first question is that I want to join your organization because it has an exciting culture and has top class leaders (like yourself) and has a product line that will rock the economy way beyond what the subprime crisis has done. "Rusty continued, "I always give the job to a candidate whose strengths are hard work, teamwork and ability to motivate the troops. Any others strengths are also welcome - we need at least a few blokes who will pull their weight. I am really tense when the candidate talks about weaknesses err... the developmental opps. Of late I have been meeting a lot of people who say stuff like I work too hard... I set very tough standards for myself. Now that's a fault one can't have enough of. I love those folks next only to people who say I need to address my work-life balance. That always means the person is willing to bust his gut working hard while I go away worrying about my golf game."I tried to make hiring more technical than what this ignoramus realized. “There are questions that can give you a sneak peek into the mind of the candidate. These are psychological insights that come out of the responses to seemingly innocent questions.”“I know those ones too. My favorite psychological-insight-generator comes from the innocent query, if you were an animal, what would you be and why.”“What is the correct answer to that question?” I never hesitate to learn even if it is from a chimp behind bars at the zoo.“I look for standard responses. The people who want to be horses are ambitious and hardworking. Maybe tough to rein in. Then there are those who say they want to be dogs. These folks are all about loyalty.”“I was once attacked by a blood hound.” I reminded Rusty who was by now suitably inebriated.“Good move. If someone wants to be a dog, ask them a follow up question like, what breed would you want to be. If the candidate wants to be a blood hound, then steer clear. Stick to candidates who see themselves as a Spaniel or Retriever wannabes. They are worth their weight in gold especially if you are a boss that is constantly losing papers. Imagine the value of having your very own retriever in the office. Abbey, you have to read between the lines.”