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The One Question Interview Challenge

By Bryan Johanson, November 7, 2007

Two months ago I gave a presentation to a room full of HR managers and executives from an engineering company in Omaha, Nebraska. After the presentation I had several conversations about their hiring challenges with individual managers. I ended up giving three people copies of the audio CD, "The One Question Interview," with the challenge that they use this approach on their next big hire and report back on their results. Last Thursday I received the following voice message from John Martin of Cascade Engineering. Here's what he had to say:

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"The One-Question interview was incredible! It was effective and helped us learn a great amount of information about the person. We actually offered them a job. But the thing I am most impressed about is that when I look back at five hires that we made that were unsuccessful when they came onboard, I realized that if we had only used the One Question Interview, where we probe deeply into something that they did to get the details, we probably would not have made those hires. I'm absolutely convinced of it".

"The 10-factor candidate assessment I thought was also very interesting. We used it to determine if the person was fully qualified for the job. Once you've gone through the formal evaluation process it's very easy to decide if you've got the right person. Thank you very much! Wonderful stuff. I appreciate it."

John isn't alone. We get this type of reaction all the time. So, let me throw down the proverbial gauntlet to anyone reading this article. If you're not getting these types of results from your interviewing methodology, then you owe it to yourself and to your company to take the One Question Interview Challenge.

Here's the Challenge

I personally challenge each and every one of you to go to www.adlerconcepts.com and order a copy of the audio CD, "The One Question Interview." It's only 60 minutes long. Listen to the audio CD twice carefully and then use the approach on your next interview. If you are a recruiter, order a copy for yourself and one for your most difficult or challenging hiring manager (you know the one I'm talking about) and give it to him/her as a gift. Then help them conduct their next interview using the process. After the interview send me (bryan@adlerconcepts.com) an email with your results and observations. It if doesn't work for you, we'll gladly refund your money. If you need a quick refresher on the basics of the One Question Interview you can read Lou's original article The Best Interview Question of All Time.

How do I know it will work for you? At The Adler Group, we've trained thousands of managers to interview and assess top talent. During the training sessions we get a lot of questions about how applicable this interviewing methodology is in different environments, cultures, and especially across various levels of positions. Performance-based Hiring was conceived in the world of executive search where hiring the best was the goal. The concept of investing time to fully understand the job, create a compelling Performance Profile, and focus all sourcing efforts on engaging top talent all come out of that executive search experience for mostly mid- to high-level positions. In John Martin's case, he was hiring a mid-level, well educated engineer with very specific expertise. But what about entry-level people? What about those lower skill jobs? What if we just want someone to scrub floors, flip burgers, or answer the phones? Couldn't anybody do those jobs?

Over the years we've helped companies hire burger flippers at In-N-Out Burger, Chinese food managers and assistant managers at Panda, Panda, and entry-level sales positions at Verizon Information Services. The process works equally well for these more entry-level positions with a few minor adjustments. Below are a few practical suggestions for applying Performance-based Hiring and the One Question Interview to entry level positions.

• Modify the One Question Interview slightly. Entry-level workers with limited work experience can become intimidated when asked, "Tell me about your most significant accomplishment." Sometimes they go blank and struggle to know what to talk about. However, if you modify the question just slightly and ask, "Tell me about something you've done that made you very proud, or something you've done where you really had to work hard to achieve it or finish something." You'll be surprised at what you will find out. All good people have done stuff. It doesn't matter if they have 10 days or 10 years of work experience, the best are always accomplishing things that require real effort. The fundamental goal of the One Question Interview is to establish a pattern of hard work and achievement.
• Performance Profiles are still very important. Even for non-skilled or limited skill positions the goal is to assess a candidate's ability, and more importantly their motivation to the do the required work. Taking the time to define what real success looks like for any entry-level position in a performance profile is critical in the process. Among other things, most entry-level jobs require that the new employee be on-time 100% of the time ready and willing to work. Dependability is critical. So, during the interview we try to establish a pattern of dependability in the candidate's past behaviors. One question we like to ask is, "What activities are (were) you involved with in high school? When I call your coach, teacher, or leader, what will he/she say about your attendance at practice and the effort you showed to improve your performance over time?" Once again the goal is to dig deep and understand where the candidate showed real commitment and energy in accomplishing a goal or task.
• Look for recognition. All good people get recognized in some way. Good fast food workers get small raises, get more hours, win contests, and eventually get promoted. They are trusted to close up the store by themselves. Look for any type of recognition or achievement in a person's background. It tends to be a good indicator of overall promotability and effort.

These are just a few suggestions for applying the One Questions Interview to entry-level positions. Are you ready to take the One Question Interview Challenge? It doesn't matter if the position you are hiring for is your next CEO or the lowest level clerk in the mail room. Once you see how it works, you'll never go back to you old way of interviewing.

Happy recruiting,