“On a scale of 1-10 how likely are you to accept this job?”

I think this might either be the lamest interview question I have heard, or the most ingenious!

My sister is a healthcare worker. Best in the business! Has patience for days with the seniors she works with. LOVES them all! But she hates, I mean despises, the business of the business. So when her company told her they were closing their doors, she was freaking out. Not because she was concerned she wouldn’t find a job in a week, but because finding that job was going to try her patience. And sure enough it did.

During an interview that she wasn’t particularly thrilled with, as they wrapped up the interviewer asked, “if you were to be offered this job, on a scale of 1-10 how likely would you accept it?” What answer do we think we will get here? 10! Okay so clearly that isn’t true or you are desperate. We all need time to process and think. A 1! Who would ever say that? My sisters’ response… “a 6.”. Well now I just don’t know what to do with that. Are you interested? Would more money make you an 8. Are you really a 1 and don’t want to say it??? What are we trying to understand with that question?

What do you think, best question or lame question?

With so many people moving jobs, being poached, or returning to the workforce, companies are hiring everywhere I turn. I won’t talk about the great resignation (save that for another post), but what I hear from business owners is “it’s so hard to find people”, they aren’t even saying good people, some just want “butts in seat”, which I guess is strategy… it falls adjacent to the solid approach to “hire for fit & personality, train the skills” – I full heartedly agree. But if you are putting butts in the seats you must be clear about the expectations (seems like a non brainer, but you would be surprised what I see) and the manager is clear about who their new hire is. We want a butt in the seat and are happy to train them, but what makes them tick, how do they learn, how do they communicate, how big of a gap do you have so you are prepared and connecting with them appropriately. Getting them up to speed as quickly as possible so they are productive and the company is meeting its objectives. This is one of the reasons I love The Predictive Index. You might get your job filled, but what is their success odds or what kind of care and feeding will they need to enable their success. PI does this, super cool. Gives you the leg up to fast track the learning for both manager and new employee.

Another interview story…A former client is interviewing, ready for a change, and she went through 8 interviews, 5 of which were technical. WHAT??? That is a lot of time to ask of a person… (I think). She didn’t get the job. They all loved her and wanted to work with her, but it was split decision on the technical, again I say WHAT??? Two things on this… hire for fit… train any skill gap… AND what does this say about your culture that people go through 8 interviews!! What kind of analysis paralysis, over engineered procedures do we have here! I say bullet dodged. Your hiring practices set the tone for the culture in the organization. Candidates are deciding if this is a culture they want to be connected to from the point of application.

If you are looking to hire people for fit with the job, the team, the business objectives, I highly recommend using The Predictive Index. Message me to learn more.