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Job candidates of the caliber you want to hire have thought out answers for the obvious questions you might ask. You still have to ask those questions, but after you get the prepared answer, drill deeper to get at the truth.
Here’s an example of a master deep driller (YOU) at work with a candidate for a project manager job:
YOU: Tell me about a recent successful program you managed.
CANDIDATE: My team installed a $10 million computerized management system for the organization. I was “Project Manager.”
YOU: Wow.
(Sounds impressive, but should you accept that as evidence of project management ability? NO! Drill down deeper.)
YOU: How many people worked with you on this project?
CANDIDATE: 12 professionals and 6 support staff for 6 months.
(That’s quite a staff. Stop questioning? NO. Drill deeper.)
YOU: How did you select the team?
CANDIDATE: Well, the consultant selected them.
(Hmmmmm. Better drill deeper.)
YOU: How did you go about planning the implementation?
CANDIDATE: Oh, the consultant handled that—she’s the expert.
(Whoops!)
YOU: How much time did you spend on the project?
CANDIDATE: Well, let’s see, it took about an hour a week to check in with the consultant, make sure she didn’t need anything.
What did drilling deeper reveal? This candidate was just a “gofer”—a go-between with no real project management responsibilities and an inflated title—not an experienced project manager, for sure.
Other Drilling Techniques
Here are some other techniques you can use to start drilling deeper:
Silence. Often if you simply sit silently after a candidate answers a question, the candidate will fill the silence with more information.
Reflecting. Another way to probe for more information is to simply repeat or reflect what the candidate says:
CANDIDATE: I ran big projects.
YOU: You say you ran big projects?
Inflating. Another technique is to take a position beyond or broader than the candidate’s. For example:
CANDIDATE: I ran a big project.
YOU: Would you say that project was your biggest contribution? Would it be fair to say that you are an experienced project manager?
Interviewing is a daunting responsibility—be sure that your interviews yield the most informative responses you can get.
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