Best Way to Understand the Supervisor’s View During an Interview



Most employers address the question of what they are looking for by asking those who will supervise the person(s) being hired what characteristics they think they ought to look for in candidates. Chances are they come up with a reasonable-looking list. Let’s suppose you try that exercise and come up with this list:

intelligent

personable

motivated

diligent

Supervisors View Best Way to Understand the Supervisors View During an Interview

team player

good writer

discreet

Sounds like a respectable list. Great, so that’s done, now we can go out and interview.

Unfortunately, that’s the level of sophistication many companies reach in identifying what they are looking for in candidates. (Indeed, some do not reach even this level of sophistication. They define the job solely in terms of technical skills, ignoring entirely the interpersonal skills necessary for success.) What’s wrong with the approach of asking supervisors for a list of characteristics? At least the following:

  • It may be the wrong list (supervisors often list characteristics they would ideally like to possess themselves, rather than what is required for the job).
  • It may be an incomplete list.
  • It does not define the characteristics in a way that would allow an interviewer to know whether the person he is talking to possesses the characteristics.
  • It does not define what the job requires somebody to do.
  • It does not take the culture of the company into account.
  • It does not distinguish the relative importance of the various characteristics.

So how can we avoid these pitfalls? Perhaps, instead of starting by asking supervisors to list the characteristics they are looking for, we should ask them to define what the job requires. This is a way of checking whether the characteristics they believe are necessary to perform the job are in fact necessary. Ask them to answer the question “What does a person have to DO in this job?” When we ask that question, we may come up with a list something like the following:

  • Work with people in the (specific list of) departments.
  • Identify several action choices for the company.
  • Recommend one choice to management.
  • Write a report containing that recommendation and explain the basis for it.
  • Produce reports within a short time period.
  • Present reports orally to management and defend your conclusions.
  • Relate to clients with respect to your area of responsibility.

Once we have identified the actual tasks a person must perform in the position, it becomes easier to assess the specific characteristics a candidate must have in order to perform those tasks. Thus, for example, in order to work with people from other departments, an employee may need the following skills:

 Best Way to Understand the Supervisors View During an Interview

good listener

respects others

able to understand what other departments do

able to convince others to help him empathy for others’ concerns

The above are only hypotheses as to what characteristics the task may require. In a particular situation, some of these may not apply. And, of course, there may be other hypotheses as to what characteristics it takes, as well. Once you have identified these hypotheses, test them out with the supervisors who have identified the tasks. You can make a similar analysis of what characteristics each of the tasks in whatever list you develop requires.



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