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What does it take to hire the best talent? Is it assessment, interview, certification, skills, experience, or confidence? While a seasonal recruiter may scan through the curriculum vitae of an applicant on the employment website, a professional recruiter will look beyond. He would set questions to evaluate the candidate's mindset for growth and adaptability to future needs.
As Marc Benioff (CEO of Salesforce) said: "The secret to a successful hire is this: look for the people who want to change the world."
So, the question is, how do we know who wants to be the world changer? The answer lies in understanding the candidate's mindset.
There are broadly two types of mindsets – fixed and growth. A fixed mindset uses basic intelligence and skills to complete a task. They avoid challenges, ignore criticism, and may give up easily. The growth-oriented mindset is focused on enhancing their skills by trying new things, taking up challenges, and learning from criticism.
To check the candidate's mindset - introduce him to situational questions that will trigger his thought process.
The interview is the baseline of the entire hiring process. A recruiter forwards an offer letter to a candidate based on the interview experience. Therefore, the interview has to be crafted in a way that helps the recruiter understand the candidate's mindset.
Just like an interviewee prepares for the interview, the interviewer also needs to do some homework besides scanning resumes on the employment website. The interviewer should ensure that during the assessment skills are tested, the hiring process is simplified, and the candidate leaves with positive feedback from the company. Remember, even if a candidate is rejected, there should be a positive remark and no negative feeling.
Here are a few strategies to help you understand the candidate's mindset:
'What do you know about this company?' - is a simple question to understand the candidate’s capability to take challenges. The question also helps understand the sincerity level of the candidate. The answer will also help evaluate if the candidate has an interest in exploring and learning.
Ask a brainstorming question that would put the interviewee in a situation to think and answer on the spot. The recruiter should provide the interviewee some time to think to evaluate the candidate’s thought process. On-the-spot questions are the trigger points that can help you understand how the candidate responds in a tough situation and whether their values align with the company's.
Opinion-based questions are open-ended questions. They focus on collecting the understanding of the candidate, understanding their thinking strategies, and confidence in answering a question. An example of opinion based question – 'What do you see as your biggest professional success to date and why?'
Put the candidate in a situation where he has to make a decision. The situation can be anything, such as an internal team dispute or an aggressive customer. The answer to these questions can help the interviewer understand the candidate's problem-solving approach, team spirit, and thinking capabilities.
A good candidate is not only an active decision-maker but also a listener. To test the listening capabilities of the candidate, provide hints in the questions. The hints can be – 'what will you do – if the IT team timely alerts you of technical glitches before you start a meeting with a client?' The hint is clear: the IT team has alerted you about the problem, and your meeting is scheduled – the answer can be finding an arrangement or asking the IT team to provide a time frame to fix the issue so the client can be informed.
Hints in the question can help recruiters evaluate how candidates catch up on minute information and put it to use.
How do you know a candidate before meeting them in person or via virtual set-up? The answer is – resume. The resume of a candidate is a window to his skills and work experience. Unfortunately, a very small number of resumes and cover letters are viewed by the recruiters. Going through the resume helps you prepare questions for the interview that will ultimately help you understand the candidate's mindset.
Limited time or time boundaries may hinder you from understanding the potential of a candidate. Schedule an interview when you have enough time to test candidates and provide them the flexible time to answer the questions.
Understanding the mindset of a candidate before forwarding an offer letter is a cornerstone of any recruitment process. Every recruiter needs to have a strategy set to test and evaluate the skills and thought process of the candidate. Having a candidate on board with a growth mindset definitely helps the business grow, but it also comes with caution. There are also other things, such as problem-solving abilities, communication skills, and listening skills that must be evaluated carefully at the time of screening.