| Friend,
Okay, so last week we discussed writing help wanted ads and conducting the initial interviews with our applicants. Today, we're going to talk about conducting the second interview.
In the first interview, you should have softballed it a bit. The questions should have been more general, with nothing too difficult, because your goal was simply to weed out the duds.
But in the second interview, you're going to need to make things a bit more challenging in order to show you who your standouts are in this group. So, here are some tips to help you conduct a successful second round of interviews:
Tip #1 - Ask Specific Questions
And by specific questions, I mean asking them detailed questions about their previous work history. Or if they're straight out of school, ask them about their experiences in school and about any extra-curricular activities they did.
For example: - "Tell me about your last job. What was your favorite part of the job?"
- "What was your least favorite part?"
- "Why?"
Sure, these are pretty common questions, but asking questions like these can reveal a lot about your applicant's work ethic and attitude. Of course, everyone puts their best foot forward in an interview, which is why we're going to...
Tip #2 - Make it More Difficult
Again, we pretty much gave them a softball interview the first time around. This time, we want to ask more challenging questions.
These questions should be specific to the job they are interviewing for, whether it's an assistant teaching position, sales and marketing, or an admin job.
For example, let's say you're interviewing applicants for a sales and marketing position. Here are a few questions you might ask those candidates during their second interview: - "Leads are the lifeblood of the sales process. Tell me three things you would do to bring in more leads for our school."
- "Knowing how to deal with objections is critical to enrolling students. Let's say you're about to enroll a school-age student, and the parent says they need to think about it. What would be your response?"
- "Sometimes you only have so much time to get things done. Let's say that you have two enrollment appointments back to back, and your first appointment is running over because the prospect is asking a lot of questions. What do you do?"
You're probably going to get a broad array of responses to these questions. TAKE NOTES. When you're doing a lot of interviews, it's easy to get confused later and forget who gave the most memorable (or worst) responses.
So, write down your initial impressions, either on their applications or on an attached sheet of paper. Trust me, you'll want to refer to those notes later when you're deciding on who is going to make the cut.
Tip #3 - Test Their Knowledge
For assistant teaching positions, you want to make sure that you're dealing with the real thing. I mean, I'm sure you've seen videos online of people getting outed for being fake black belts...
Well, that's the last thing you want to have happen with a new hire, because it will reflect poorly on your dojo when it happens. So, of course you need to check their credentials, but also you want to check their skills.
For starters, I suggest asking them to send you a video of them competing or demonstrating techniques during an exam or demo. You would request this at the end of their initial interview, and set a deadline for them to send it a day or so before their second, in-person interview.
Second, I would also ask them to perform in person. This is going to throw a lot of people off, because they are probably going to show up in dress clothes for their interview. So, you can either tell them to bring a gi or workout clothes with them to the interview beforehand, or you can put them on the spot.
Obviously though, you don't want to ask a female applicant who has shown up in a skirt and heels to demo high kicks and mount escapes. And, you also don't want to make some poor kid ruin his only decent set of dress clothes. So consider who is interviewing and what you'll be asking of them before you decide to put them on the spot.
Even so, putting someone on the spot to demo their skills is a great way to see how they perform under pressure, and it's also a great way to out a phony. But if you do think you've spotted a phony, don't be rude about it - just thank them for their time and send them on their way.
Alright, so that's the second interview - tomorrow we'll start talking about weeding through those applications and interview results, and choosing the right candidate.
Until next time,
Mike Massie MartialArtsBusinessDaily.com
P.S. - I also always like to ask one "irate customer" question. But, it's too easy to simply ask someone what they'd do with an irate customer. So, you might want to role play a bit to see how they'd respond to an upset client. Obviously, just don't cuss or get too out of hand, but act the part accordingly and see what they say and do.
P.S.S. - You're going to have a good idea of who your front runner is after this second round of interviews, but don't jump the gun just yet. Tomorrow I'm going to give you some tips on making this final hiring decision that will help you choose the best candidate. So, stay tuned...
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