When conducting a candidate search, you want to hire someone who has the skills and experience to do the job. However, if you want the person you choose to have staying power, you must also be sure that their personality aligns with the team. Hiring someone who clashes with others can be a recipe for disaster. Either that person will leave, or you’ll lose talented people who have been with you for a while. Here are some strategies to help you hire the right personalities for your team.
First, Understand Your Culture
Hiring managers have to know the actual culture of the company, and they must be honest with themselves and with candidates about just what that culture is. Do you value structure and hierarchy, or are you more of an egalitarian and laid-back group, for example? When you have a good grasp of the personality and culture of the company itself, you can better identify traits that will mesh well with the team.
Understand Where Things Have Gone Wrong in the Past
Sit down and talk with managers and team members and ask them to be candid about the type of person they think will succeed in the position. An easy way to drill that down is to ask what went wrong with team members in the past who clashed with others. Sometimes it’s easier to identify what you don’t want. From there, you can shape a list of the traits that you do want to see.
Ask Behavioral Interview Questions
Identifying personality traits in an interview can be tricky, but behavioral questions are a good way to get a feel for how someone behaves on the job. Behavioral questions require the candidate to describe the way they handled specific situations in the past, which can give you a window into the way they are likely to behave in the future. Typical behavioral questions focus on things like teamwork, overcoming obstacles, dealing with difficult clients, dealing with difficult co-workers, or getting along with supervisors. Some examples to get you started:
- Describe a time when an angry customer was clearly wrong, but insisted that they were right. How did you resolve the situation?
- When you are overwhelmed with work and are at risk of missing a deadline, describe the steps you take to dig out of that hole.
- Tell me about a time when you experienced conflict with a co-worker that made it difficult for you to do your job. How did you resolve the situation?
Are you looking for top talent?
Finding the right personalities that complement your team is important, but it’s not easy. If your Bangor-area company is looking for innovative and effective staffing solutions to help improve hiring and retention, contact the experts at Bonney Staffing today.
