Every experienced interviewer knows how to pose behavioral questions. "Tell me about a time when you were faced with this situation". But I've made my best hires when I've actually put candidates in front of a computer for 15-30 minutes and have them do the job.
Here are a couple of examples from some of the best hires that I've made.
- I've had candidates who will use to a proprietary software package to manage inventory poke around the software, and explain screens to me. The successful ones told me the item numbers, how much is on hand, where it's located and more. The unsuccessful ones couldn't.
- I've had account managers use Outlook during the interview to answer typical emails that they would receive from clients. It created an opportunity for us to see how well they can think through the situation, craft a professional email message, and use the software.
One that I'll never forget was when we let a warehouse manager candidate hang out in the warehouse for as long as he wanted to. He got to see how we process orders and processed some orders himself alongside the people that he would be leading. And he got to interact with our people "in the real world" instead just some conference room. He stayed for two hours, and everyone that he interacted with got to see how he would do the job.
Anyway, I've learned that it's better to have candidates show you how they'd do the job than to have them tell you how they'd do it.
