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In episode 38 of “The JoyPowered™ Workspace Podcast,” JoDee and Susan discuss how to have a great job interview, from both the interviewer’s and the interviewee’s perspectives. Topics include interview formats, questions you need to have an answer for, and questions to avoid to stay legally compliant. Listener Dave asks if it’s okay to fire someone for having a negative attitude if they’re technically competent.

Job interviews can be difficult and stressful, both for the interviewee AND the interviewer. Ideally, they should be a two-way dialogue, allowing the interviewer for determine if the candidate is the right person for the job, and giving the interviewee and idea of whether the organization is the right place for them.

It’s important to think about candidate experience, especially in the current “candidate’s market” – you need be a salesperson for your company, because if the candidate has a bad experience interviewing with you, they’re not going to want to do business with you. Interviews can be done in a structured or unstructured format, but it’s typically best to have some kind of structure while still allowing for some freedom and conversational feeling. If the interviewer is uncomfortable and does an unstructured interview, they may ask inappropriate questions, not enough questions, or not have comparable conversations with each candidate.

Behavioral interviewing questions, which ask candidates to describe a past experience related to something they’ll need to do in the role, are a popular way to attempt to predict future performance. Situational interviewing questions, which ask candidates what they would do in a given situation, can sometimes make sense, but are easy to answer in a way that sounds good but isn’t really what would happen. The chronological in-depth structured (CIDS) job interview, which involves walking through every past job and background checking with every past employer, is very in-depth but problematic due to the length of time it takes. JoDee and Susan discuss their opinions on these types of questions, pre-screening via video recordings and text messages, and interviewing one-on-one vs. in a panel format.

The hosts discuss some of our listeners’ favorite questions to ask when interviewing, and what questions interviewees need to be prepared for, including “Tell me about yourself,” and “What are your weaknesses?” They also discuss questions that interviewers should avoid to stay legally compliant; anything that touches on race, gender, national origin, color, religion, age, pregnancy, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or sexual orientation should not be asked. This may seem easy, but it’s easy to trip up when asking friendly questions – for example, don’t ask questions about kids, spouses, where the candidate is from, or even why they’re wearing a cast.

In this episode’s listener mail, Dave asks whether he can fire his Administrative Assistant, who is technically competent, but brings negative energy to the office. JoDee and Susan discuss a list of do’s and don’ts for keeping employee handbooks in compliance with the National Labor Relations Act.

Mentioned in This Episode:

• Purple Ink, the HR consulting firm JoDee owns
• Susan Tinder White Consulting, the HR consulting firm Susan owns
• JoyPowered, JoDee’s first book
• The JoyPowered Family, JoDee’s second book
• Kansas Department of Administration Behavior Interview Questions Generator, where you can select performance skill categories to generate a list of behavioral interviewing questions tied to those competencies
• Topgrading, the chronological in-depth structured (CIDS) job interview method
• Hirevue and Spark Hire, platforms that allow interviewers to send questions to candidates and have them record their answers
• Canvas, a text-based interviewing platform
• Roche Diagnostics and Community Health Network, organizations that are using text-based screening
• Our podcast episode on salary negotiation
• SHRM seminars, including a behavioral interviewing class and one about how to identify high potential talent (you might have Susan or JoDee as an instructor!)
• the ink pad, a unique and memorable space to host meetings and training in Carmel, Indiana
• “30 employee handbook do’s and don’ts from the NLRB”