tips for conducting interviews
Insights from Indeed
Interviewing plays a vital role in the process of attracting and onboarding new talent. Whether your goal is to hire support staff, junior advisors, or long-term partners, it is crucial to ask the right questions, conduct thorough evaluations, and assess cultural fit to prevent making a bad hire. Although the approach may vary depending on the specific role you are trying to fill, the use of effective interviewing questions and techniques remains paramount in ensuring you can successfully onboard the right talent for all positions.
Why the Interview is so Important
Common effects of a bad hire:
- Didn’t produce the proper quality of work
- Had a negative attitude
- Didn’t work well with others
- Skills did not match what they claimed
- Immediate attendance problems
The Interview Process
Although each interview may vary, in general, it follows multiple steps to ensure the selection of the right candidate for the role. Initially, pre-qualifying candidates through pre-screening, assessments, and initial interviews helps determine serious contenders. For potential candidates, an interview process involving not just yourself but other team members is essential. Maintaining consistency is crucial, so consider using a pre-defined set of questions for each role and conducting a debriefing session with your team to gain additional perspectives on the candidates’ suitability.
The interview process doesn’t end with the interviews; post-interview steps like additional due diligence can be included. If you haven’t utilized DiSC assessments during the pre-screening, consider having candidate finalists take one at this stage. Finally, the process concludes with selecting a candidate and successfully onboarding them into the organization.
Process:
- Phone Screening
- First in-person interview
- Second interview/team interview (if needed)
- DiSC Assessment
- Offer
- Onboarding
Pre-Qualifying Candidates
The recruiting process can be time consuming depending on the type of position
you are looking to fill and the number of interested candidates. Maximize your time by pre-qualifying candidates prior to granting an in-person interview. Two options to consider are conducting phone screenings and leveraging assessments. Phone screenings can be helpful in gaining an initial impression of a candidate and assessing their communication skills. If they pass with flying colors, you can establish the first in-person interview. If they fail to meet your expectations, you have only used up 10 minutes of your time rather than an hour in the office.
Leveraging assessments is becoming increasingly popular among advisory practices as it allows them to pre-qualify candidates with regard to cultural fit and ability to succeed in a role based on their personality.
Accurate Skills Assessment
High-level skills, as well as subject-defined skills testing provides an evaluation of a candidate’s proficiency in specific areas critical to the job role. Unlike relying solely on resumes and self-reported examples, skills test offer objective and quantifiable results. This can be anything from completing an application to typing speed or data entry accuracy.
The traditional hiring process can be time and resource-intensive, involving multiple rounds of interviews and assessment exercises. Skills testing helps streamline the process by quickly identifying top performers from the pool. This allows you to focus on a narrower field of candidates, ultimately leading a more efficient and cost-effective recruitment process.
Skills testing contributes to mitigating unconscious bias during the hiring process. Resumes and interviews may inadvertently allow biases related to gender, ethnicity, or educational background to influence decision making. Skills testing can help ensure that candidates’ evaluations are also based on merit and objective criteria, creating a level playing field for all candidates. This, in turn, fosters diversity and inclusion, which can enrich your culture with a variety of perspectives and ideas.
Skills testing not only assesses a candidate’s current abilities, but also highlights areas for potential improvement. This information is valuable for talent development and management within your business. Identifying skills gaps can guide targeting training programs, fostering continuous learning among employees and contributing to a highly skilled workforce. Investing in employee development can also enhance employee engagement and retention, leading to a more stable and contented workforce.
Asking the Right Questions
Let’s look at the interview from a high level. You have 30 to 60 minutes to draw conclusions about whether the candidate is right for the role without actually watching them perform. Therefore, asking the right questions is critical. You cannot conduct and assess an interview based on the candidate’s handshake and interpersonal skills alone. You need to go back to the job descriptions and competencies you identified as critical to the role and gauge how the candidate measures against them.
These questions will help you delve into the candidate’s true motivators and why they do what they do. You should ask about their values and principles in the industry, in business and in life.
This, of course, is more obvious and a standard part of any interviewing process. Remember, you want to find people who have different strengths than yours; they need to complement you. Avoid bringing on people with the same talents as your own. Understanding their challenges will also help identify if they are right for your business and the job at hand.
Understanding what a person enjoys outside of work hours will help uncover commonalities among existing team members and, if they are the right person for your business, can help set the stage for some customized appreciation later on. (For example, if they have a passion for fishing or wine, you can give them something you know they will appreciate during bonus seasons or when they go above and beyond in the workplace.)
Questions regarding the candidate’s short- and long-term career goals will help you gain insight into their future plans and whether they are likely to be a short-timer or an extremely loyal long-term associate.
Will the candidate work well within your existing team? You are not only trying to find the right talent for the role, but also an individual who will fit into the culture that you have created within the business.
If you are bringing on an advisor with an existing book of business, you want to make sure that their clientele fits with yours. Questions concerning the number of clients, the average size of relationships and how they define their ideal client relationship will help you gain a better understanding of whether the client bases will jell. If you are hiring a support person, asking questions about how they would handle certain client situations will also help you identify if they are the right person for the role.
Question Bank
- Would you like some coffee or a glass of water?
- How was your commute to the office?
- Where do you live?
Examples: Junior Advisor or Growth Oriented Paraplanner
- What important trends do you see in our industry?
- How do you stay up-to-date on industry knowledge and changes?
- Do you have a passion for this industry?
- What do you feel is our biggest advantage over our competition?
Examples: Administrative Support
- What do you know about our company?
- Tell me about a time when you had to go above and beyond the call of duty in order to get a job done.
- Give me an example of a time when you had to make a split-second decision.
- Give me an example of a time when you had to come up with a solution to a problem that you did not fully understand.
- Tell me about a difficult decision that you’ve made in the last year.
- Describe a situation where you failed to reach a goal.
- How did you handle a recent situation where the direction from your superior(s) was unclear?
Technical testing will vary depending on the role, but overall, a technical test should ask more defined questions about specific skills or knowledge which are necessary to the role.
Examples: Junior Advisor or Growth Oriented Paraplanner
- Advanced data interpretation tests
- Numerical reasoning tests
- Error checking tests
Examples: Administrative Support
- Error checking test
- Software usage tests
- Typing test (words per minute)
Soft skills are intangible qualities that focus on skills needed for successful team building, patience, and communication. These skills can’t necessarily be tested in the traditional sense. Instead, the assessment needs to happen through carefully designed questions, which an understanding of what to look for within the responses.
Examples: Junior Advisor or Growth Oriented Paraplanner
- What is the job of a junior advisor/paraplanner?
- Listen for a procedure for accurately analyzing processes and data related to the role, an emphasis on working closely with a senior advisor and clients to fully understand their needs, and collaboration with the senior advisor and the team to achieve a higher level of service for a client.
- What is your philosophy when it comes to communicating with a senior advisor and/or clients?
- Listen for an emphasis on transparency and keeping the client informed, the ability to be available to the senior advisor and/or, and their willingness to check in with the senior advisor to see what more can be done to help the client.
- How do you continually improve your knowledge in the financial services space?
- Listen for candidates who take interest in following the market or developing a deeper understanding of financial concepts, their willingness to continue honing their skills through classes, workshops and professional networks, as well as their emphasis on understanding financial regulations.
Examples: Administrative Support
- How would you approach a situation that requires your discretion?
- Listen for professionalism when it comes to handling highly confidential information, an ability to be selective with details during interactions with other team members, and an ability to accurately identify sensitive information.
- How would you research a problem or question for a client or team member?
- Listen for clean communication skills that allow the candidate to explain their thinking, an ability to facilitate effective research and collect necessary data for the problem, and a clean demonstration of how the candidate contributes to a positive and collaborative environment.
- How do you adapt to unfamiliar business procedures and policies?
- Listen for a willingness to quickly learn new business procedures, an ability to adjust to sudden changes while ensuring that workflows are not disrupted, and an openness to accepting new responsibilities that maximize efficiency.
Asking problem-solving questions that are specific to the role can help you learn more about how and why a candidate would choose a solution.
Examples: Junior Advisor or Growth Oriented Paraplanner
- Can you name a few considerations people should keep in mind when planning for the current tax year?
- Listen for references to current events or recent changes in regulations, high-level explanations that would work well when talking to a client, and actionable solutions that candidates could implement or use to support their research when working with a senior advisor.
- Which financial planning software have you used, and how have you used it to support your role and the client?
- Listen for specific software solutions, explanations of the software’s benefits that indicate familiarity and proficiency, and examples of client use cases to demonstrate abstract software capabilities, are preferred.
- Talk me through an investment you were excited about. Describe the type of client you think would be perfect for this opportunity.
- Listen for clean explanations of the advantages of this investment for a (demo) client, an emphasis on how this investment could help support goals such as retirement or estate planning, and consideration of a client’s potential concerns about the investment’s drawbacks.
Examples: Administrative Support
- Describe how you manage your tasks and deadlines.
- Listen for a proactive approach to establishing hard deadlines, a clear understanding of expectations for assigned tasks and projects, and an ability to create an effective roadmap of tasks according to their deadlines.
- Explain your knowledge of computer software.
- Listen for past experience using software for project and office management, including Word, Excel, CRM, etc.
- How do you ensure that emails, reports, and other documents are written correctly?
- Listen for proven experience in proofreading and reviewing various types of documents, an ability to quickly edit and submit consistent data on a regular basis, and attention to detail that allows the candidate to closely identify errors.
Behavioral assessments may involve situational judgement tests, where candidates respond to workplace scenarios to evaluate how they handle specific situations, resolve conflicts, or prioritize tasks.
Examples: Junior Advisor or Growth Oriented Paraplanner
- Tell me about a time when someone disagreed with your advice or recommendation. How did you solve this problem?
- Listen for a well-mannered and respectful tone, candidates who back up their advice with further evidence or data, and consideration of how the suggested action would be supportive of the client’s goals.
- Describe an experience when you felt your personal integrity was being tested. What happened, and how did you react?
- Listen for a true test of morals in which a candidate was offered two opposing choices, the ability to maintain discretion in a high-pressured situation, and a serious tone that recognizes the weight of these ethical challenges
- Think about a time when you were especially proud of the impact you had on a client. How did you leave them in a better place than when you began?
- Listen for a consideration of the client’s goals and objective, interest in a plan that is oriented to the client, and an example that demonstrates how a candidate had a measurable impact on the client, is preferred.
Examples: Administrative Support
- Whas there ever a moment you disagreed with a supervisor? How did you communicate and resolve the conflict?
- Listen to their ability to explain their rationale behind a decision, a willingness to collaborate with a supervisor and brainstorm effective solutions, and flexibility with certain expectations as long as they guarantee successful project completion.
- Tell me about a moment where you did not know how to complete a task. How did you approach this challenge?
- Listen to their strong verbal communication skills that allow the assistant to facilitate productive conversations, an ability to research and identify clarifying information independently, and a willingness to collaborate with the others when a task is unclear.
- Think about a time when you made a mistake. How did you approach the situation?
- Listen for proven experience in identifying and executing solutions for a previous error, transparency when acknowledging one’s mistakes, and their ability to reflect on previous shortcomings while action planning to minimize potential mistakes in the future.
General Questions:
- Can you describe your ideal work environment?
- This question will help you determine if the candidate will fit into the working environment you offer.
- What gets you excited about coming to work?
- This question will help you be able to determine if the level of interest and passion the candidate has for the job.
- What did you like most/least about your last company?
- This question will show you what type of working environment the candidate is likely to thrive in.
- How could a manager or advisor best support you?
- Asking this question will help you see what type of managerial style works for the candidate.
- How do you handle stress or deadlines?
- This question helps you to understand if and how the candidate values teamwork.
- What motivates you to do your best work?
- Learn about the types of things that motivate the candidate.
- Would you rather work alone or in a team?
- Determine how well a candidate values autonomy and individualism or if they are driven by personal interactions.
You will have a lot to consider when preparing for an interview. You will likely ask the candidate some hard-to answer questions which can sometimes drop the energy level. And if you aren’t keeping up the energy during the interview, you may never get to truly understand the deeper parts of a candidate’s personality.
Additionally, this information can help you dive into developing a CX record in CRM for your potential new staffer. If you can gather some key insights about them before they start, you are already ahead of the game.
Unique and fun questions to help enhance enthusiasm and also learn more about personality and culture fit:
- If you could hang out with any business leader in the world for one day, who would it be?
- If you could have a superpower, what would it be?
- If you just won the $10 million lottery, what would you do with the money?
- What title would you give your autobiography?
- What was the last gift you gave?
- What is your favorite thing about yourself?
- Are you more of a dog or a cat person?
- What’s the word people who know you best would use to describe you?
- If you could go back in time, what historical event would you want to see?
- What is something on your “bucket list?”
- Which person has made the biggest impact on you in your career? How so?
- What is your favorite sports team and why?
- If you could give your high school self a piece of advice, what would it be?
- Who would you want to play you in a movie about your life?
Topics to Avoid
- Race
- Sex
- Marital and family status
- Pregnancy
- Age
- Handicap
- National origin
- Religion
- Arrest record
- Association with present employees
- Citizenship
- Sexual orientation
- Commuting distance
- Political affiliation
Tip: Consider asking each candidate interviewing for a specific role, a set of questions that are the same for all. This way you can evaluate them on a consistent basis.
Evaluating the Candidate
Besides asking the questions, your role is to evaluate the potential new hire objectively and consistently. Your focus should be on assessing and evaluating rather than looking for ways to drive the conversation forward. As a result, have your list of questions prepared. A beneficial technique that many organizations use is to create an interview guide that provides structure around the interview.
Debriefing Post Interview
After the interview is over and the candidate has left, take 15 minutes to complete your notes and re-read those you took in the interview. Compare your notes with other team members who may have interviewed the candidate and assess the individual. This is a great way to provide consistency around interviewing, especially if you have multiple interviews scheduled across multiple days. The guide enables you to cover all of the points you intended to and provides a strong record to refer back to during the decision-making process.
The bottom line is you should be conducting your interviews in a manner similar to how you conduct your meetings with prospects. You will find that the best interview candidates (those who are serious about the position and excited about the work) are also the candidates who are most likely to be interviewing you as an employer.
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DiSC for Candidate Review
While it is never recommended to base a candidate’s potential on their DiSC assessment results, the assessment is a great tool for understanding the cultural dynamics if they do end up joining your practice. It may give some insight on how they will best work with you and those who already work for you.
Best Practices
- Prepare, prepare, prepare.
- Review the job description and specific job responsibilities that you have created for this role.
- Create your list of questions and what you want to accomplish in the interview; choose questions that will provide insight into their talents for the open position, but also ask behavioral questions that will provide insight about who they are on a personal level.
- Choose from the question back (next tab) based on your defined need.
- Role dependent – some advisors like to provide candidates with some thought-provoking questions prior to the interviews, and then ask additional questions during the interview to get their gut reactions to see how they would handle a specific job.
- Depending on the role for which you are hiring, the first interview is often best conducted via phone. If the candidate is not strong on the phone, then you will be able to save time through a quick initial screening.
- Take good notes throughout each interview so that you can have the information to perform an “apples to apples” comparison as you narrow down your field of candidates.
- Have key team members participate in interviewing potential candidates to ensure “buy-in” from all before making an offer.
- Use a DiSC assessment prior to making the final offer. This allows an unbiased tool to help confirm that the candidate has both the right skill set or the job and the right chemistry for you and your existing team.
- Be consistent in your hiring process and do not rush.
