To identify personality traits use behavioural interviews. How they acted in the past is the best predictor of future behaviour.
Ask a question and then drill in with sceptical follow ups.
Some people might find it hard to remember specific incidents from the past on the spur of the moment.
But if a candidate has strong experience in a certain area, she will have no problem at all. And the people who have a flood of relevant stories stand right out.
In fact, the difference between people who have really solid answers and people who don't is enormous and it's been backed up time and again.
I asked a candidate for the position of office manager, "Tell me about some problems you may have solved that really weren't really part of your job description."
And I sat back for a half an hour while she told me story after story about bringing a building up to par on the fire code and stepping into a lawsuit.
And since she's been here she's done that same type of stuff.
Interviews are just a chemistry check after the references.
The Aura Test looks for your gut reaction during the first 30 seconds of the interview. This doesn't give the candidate a chance to schmooze you into liking him.
"Tell me something that's true that no one agrees with you on?" This tests for original thinking and courage.
"Most people think originality is easy but I think it's really hard and when you find it it is very valuable."
A recruiter might find you on the basis of your profile's keywords. To do that she really doesn't have to know much about the work you do. She might not even know the right topics to investigate when she speaks to you.
This means that you have to give her the information she needs to represent you properly to an employer. You have to educate her during the interview.
Founders of startups face the same challenge when they speak to reporters who don't understand their hi-tech products. So, let's compare some job hunting tips from Johanna Rothman and Rich Stone to the recommendations Caryn Marooney,Facebook's Head of Tech Communications has for startup CEOs.
As a founder, you know more about your topic than anyone in the world. If you’re talking to a reporter and you just answer their questions without telling them what’s important about your company, shame on you.
Brand image is your lump of clay and you have to go out there and make it into something beautiful. Respond to their questions, but then tell them what’s important in every answer, because they don’t know, or even how to ask.
For every line on your résumé, explain the value. If your build system automation work on a project saved three-person weeks every quarter, you would say something like this:
"Saved three person-weeks every quarter via automation by delivering scripts for the build system."
That’s still a little wimpy. As a first draft, that might be good enough... However, if you are refining your résumé, or you haven’t worked for too long, you want to craft each line on your résumé. How can you clarify this line to specify your value?
"Saved three person-weeks every quarter by automating scripts for our git-based build system. We transitioned from SVN to git and I automated the scripts."
Don’t let your experience look like a job description. I see a lot of “responsible for this” or “participated in that” bullets.
If you are hiring a QB for your football team, do you hire a QB who was responsible for calling plays, throwing passes and participated in running the offense? or do you hire one who scored 30 points per game, rushed for 100 yards, threw for 350 yards, had a 75% pass completion ratio over that last 3 seasons?
