Behavioral Evaluation

Early in the fall I had been to Campus hiring in few universities. The evaluation is 2 folds.

1)    Technical  Evaluation

2)    Behavioral  Evaluation

Being focused on operations in my  day to day work, I get to handle the Behavioral Evaluation.

Behavioral interview questions are a big part of most job interviews. Employers and hiring managers use these types of questions in order to get an idea if you have the skills and competencies needed for the job

The rationale is that if they know how you performed in the past it will help give a sense of how you might do in the future

For interviewers, asking behavioral interview questions is the most reliable way to get a sense of who the candidate is and how they approach their work. For candidates, strong answers to behavioral questions allow them to stand out from the pack and highlight their best qualities. Rather than simply asking candidates what they did in their jobs, behavioral interviewers ask candidates how and why they did it.

This approach is extremely effective at identifying unqualified applicants or those who exaggerate in interviews and on their resumes. The result is that more of the most competent and best-qualified candidates get hired. These questions can help you uncover a candidate’s approach to problems, conflict and stress, as well as illuminate values that are important to your company’s culture. 

Types of questions

1.    Teamwork Interview Questions

Most jobs require you to work with other humans. Before hiring you, a smart manager will want to find out, How well do they function in a matrix environment

• Are you easy to get along with? 
• Can you communicate effectively with different personalities / difficult personalities?
• Do you know how to push back diplomatically when necessary?
• Can you mediate disagreements?

2.    Leadership interview Questions

If people may be reporting to you (or you’re a project manager), then you should expect questions about your ability to lead and motivate others

This type of question can seem daunting. It requires a bit of bragging and many of us are not comfortable with “selling” ourselves.

Not to be humble, talk with Confidence and NOT show Cockiness.

3.    Handling Conflict  interview Questions

Why Interviewers Ask About Conflict

Some roles require a lot of interaction with clients or prospective customers (or challenging situations with other employees). The employer may ask for examples of how you handled tricky situations.

Unearths the candidate’s conflict resolution abilities. It also may illustrate how flexible the candidate is in adapting their expectations and/or behaving with humility to achieve a greater organizational goals.

4.    Problem Solving interview Questions

If the role requires creativity and critical thinking, then the employer may want to hear about challenging issues/situations that required some innovation or outside-the-box thinking

Here are just some of the competency areas that can be considered part of “problem solving:”

• Initiative — you step up and take action without being asked. You look for opportunities to make a difference.
• Creativity — you are an original thinker and have the ability to go beyond traditional approaches.
• Resourcefulness — you adapt to new/difficult situations and devise ways to overcome obstacles.
• Analytical Thinking — you can use logic and critical thinking to analyze a situation.
• Determination — you are persistent and do not give up easily.
• Results-Oriented — your focus is on getting to the desired outcome — solving the problem.

Exposes the candidate’s advanced customer relationship management skills, as well as tenacity in problem-solving. It also reveals how well they connect the dots between a problem and a have meaningful outcome. Even better if they can measure the results or articulate how their resolution contributed to longer-term gains.

5.    Biggest Failure interview Questions

More and more recruiters and hiring managers are asking failure questions. Whether you like it or not, you need to be prepared to have a good answer.

They know that everybody fails.

They ask this question to understand:

• Are you someone who can learn from failure?

• Are you self-aware enough to acknowledge your failure /weakness ? 

• Do you take smart risks?

• How do you view success, failure, and risk in general?

6.    Work Ethics interview Questions

Every hiring manager loves a hard worker. No matter the job or the industry or the experience level, they want to hire someone with a strong work ethic and a commitment to getting the job done.

•    Initiative — You look for opportunities to solve problems and make a difference.

•    Reliability – You show up when you say you’re going to show up and you deliver what you promise.

     Determination — You are persistent in the face of obstacles.

7.    Greatest achievement  interview Questions

What is your greatest accomplishment?

Every manager wants to hear about your “greatest hits.” They want to know you’ve left a trail of amazing accomplishments.

If your interviewer asks you this question, consider yourself lucky. It’s the perfect opportunity to talk about your most impressive experience.

Evaluate Candidate Responses for Each Question: Review the candidate’s responses to each question and decide if they truly answered the questions.

When evaluating candidates, it can be helpful to use a rating instrument. A rating instrument can consist of multiple categories (unacceptable, acceptable, and target), or even a simple numeric scale of 1 to 5 or 1 to 10. The rating instrument can be used for each answer provided by the candidate and can provide an easy way to see how many questions were answered on target or who had the highest scores.

With these guidelines is that you want to hire people who are creative, innovative, and willing to step outside of the box.

People with more analytical / methodical - are left brained

With more creativity / artistic - right brained

To hire anyone, you do need both. And, a candidate who can demonstrate creativity, while seeming to make logical decisions, is potentially a great hire.

The result is that more of the most competent and best-qualified candidates get hired.

M I R R O R

Do  you see the mirror -  what do  you see.

Yes we see our reflection / image in it… 

We all  look at mirror invariably everyday… It is our habit.

Assume you have an ink mark on your face.

You  see  that on  the reflection too…  Mirror will  show

     1)      Exact size of the mark (unless you  are NOT using a magnified mirror)😉

     2)      The ink mark  is seen only, if you  are in  front of  it. 

In spite of the mirror showing the ink mark -  you  keep  the mirror safely.

Yes, it teaches 3 lessons: 

     1)      When you  talk  to  your  friend about  his/her  defects -  just quantify it accordingly. Do  NOT  exaggerate it.

     2)     You tell this upfront on  to  your friend’s  face.

     3)    You retain your  friendship

Next  time when  you  see the mirror , think  of these lessons learnt. ✅

Promotion !

When were you promoted last….  Who does NOT like to get promoted at office…. It is NOT just for the monetary  gain – but also  it gives a sense of work  satisfaction and feeling that your  boss and  company  is able  to  recognize and reward you  for the hard work  put in…..

If you  are someone , who  is working in the company  for a while and you are trying to develop a personal brand and trying to  get noticed for the next level promotion , but you still  NOT sure what it takes….We  do see some of our friends and colleague, who are in this dilemma,

·         they are very strong performers at their Job,

·         they are  good at what they do.

·         they are reliable by their bosses / by  their team members in their dept.

What happens is in spite of how  good they  are  in what they do , year after year, they do  get  messed up with promotion.  The most common complain we hear is

·         I work harder than him/ her  /      I am smart or more experienced

Career coaches and authors recommend setting up a meeting with your boss in which you make it clear you'd like to talk about your performance and compensation months  in advance. Even before you set this meeting, you want to make sure you're ready to present your best case.

There are 6 tips that will help you to get promoted. These tips will change you   from a Strong Performer to TOP Performer.

1. You carry yourself with Gravitas…

To get ahead, you need to be professional and project that you are in control of your career.

You need to showcase your gravitas in voice, language and attire, most of all, it should become your style.

"This gravitas or seriousness, maturity - traits that are tough to fake and that will lead your boss and colleagues to respect you and give your perspective greater consideration.

You command respect by being a person of integrity.

You deliver what you say you will. 

2. You look to help others… all the time.

TRUE TOP performer is one who is willing to help other around him /her.

Whenever there is an opportunity to help, the TOP performer is willing and ready to do that. It does NOT mean that you  say 'yes' to  everything and you help  everyone  with  everything and you  can’t ever get to do your own work. NO. You know how to prioritize

Eg. One of my Best practice ---- Hotline Call -  Regular Call  with  or without agenda. 

This will  help  you  to project you  as a person who  can go  above and beyond  and eventually people  will start coming to you  for more  guidance  and you  will  be offered new and exciting projects

3. You are eager and flexible but NOT doormats.

When we first started our career, we just do whatever job was assigned to us without refusing and prioritizing.  There are NO ‘Buts’ or NO 'Nos'.  Just become order takers. By this you will be sinking in the job that is NOT important and that is NOT your role too.. 

By being eager and flexible and NOT being a doormat means you should know how to establish priority.

 If someone is offering you a work,  you  need to  let them know,  I am working on these  for my boss which is critical  and hence cannot do their task.

Doing this you are being transparent and know how to communicate diplomatically.

Yes, you always have a ‘To Do List’ which has all the priority tasks.

4. You execute more than you talk.  Get work done, before the deadline.

Hard work is the key ingredient in getting promoted. You need to execute show the sweat equity you can build. 

Once you  are able show that you  are capable of executing the job, then you  start articulating, how  and why  you  were able to  perform that and tell them that you  are an asset to  the organization and able to  use that leverage to  getting you  the  required promotion. Mindset of a top performer is simple - Top performer are driven by the intention to deliver high quality work as quickly as they can. Getting promoted is not just about doing your job, - Taking additional initiatives and It’s about over-delivering

5.Top performers are NOT Mute.  Avoid office Gossip.

Even though I said ‘They execute more than they talk’   but they are NOT mute. They know when to talk and right time and place to do it.  

Learn when to talk and when to listen respectfully.  If you're not sure about something, ask a good question. 

Majority of workers know, who the gossiper are.  If you want to be the top performer, you do NOT want to be in that list.  Top performers do NOT to spend time with these gossipers, they always maintain a safe distance from these gossipers.

6. They are constantly training and updating their knowledge and skills

Strong performer are comfortable in doing what they know…. They feel threatened, they stick with what they know, because they are afraid of change.  But the top performer have a growth mindset, they always have the room to explore and learn new things

Every company has some training program or the other… To keep yourself updated - make it a norm to sign up for 1 training program per Quarter.

Let me know, how these tips helped you -  All the Very  Best!

How to work with Recruiters?

Happy International Woman’s Day!

Tomorrow I am travelling to our NYC office for woman empowerment outreach activity.  As we celebrated the international woman’s day yesterday, we have invited few woman immigrants from a non-Profit organization who need help to find a better job.  Being part of the Panel, one main question that all have in their mind is  ‘How to work with Recruiters’

Prepared pointers for them and thought of sharing..... 

Recruiters - There are 3 sets of recruiters

1)      Corporate Recruiter -  If you work  for a bigger company, in your  HR department there will  be associates  your co-workers  hiring for  your  company  -  They  are called Recruiters / Talent  acquisition Group/ Team.

2)      Vendors / Head Hunters - If your company is small  or  in  case if your  recruiters are NOT able  to  meet hiring needs of your company , then  we work with  lateral  recruiters / vendors /Head Hunters.  The company is outsourcing the recruitment duties with these Vendors. These vendors have an agreement with the company, service our hiring needs /demands, and are being paid on a contingency basis.

3)      Retained Search / Executive Search: It is similar to Head Hunters - but they are involved in search of Niche Skills or executive level associates.  These Firms are paid an upfront fee for their service and also get paid based on the joiner confirmations.

The recruiter of your company and the vendor you work with have 1 major difference.  The recruiter is aware of the demands in your company ONLY. However, the vendors you work with have been helping in the hiring process for many different companies, hence have more opportunities for you.

Below are few pointers to  keep  in  mind when working  with  recruiters / head hunters/ Vendors , before you  land in  your  dream job.

1)      Connect Proactively.

Proactively reach out to the recruiters via LinkedIn, who recruit in the field you are looking to get in.

                                       i.            Do  NOT  be afraid to  get connected with  recruiters - They need to  know  that you  exist

                                     ii.            Get connected - through LinkedIn, email send message and share your resume with them and let them know you are interested in the role /position that they have shared/published.

                                   iii.            They are FREE to you.

2)      Know what you are looking for.

When get to work with recruiter/ headhunter, do NOT go open ended, that you are OK with any job.  If you come with a mindset of any job, you will definitely end up getting NO job. You need to be specific enough with all the particulars you are looking into like

         i.                    Job Experience
       ii.           Abilities
     iii.            Qualifications
     iv.            Job Title
       v.            Salary
     vi.            Location
    vii.            Industry

You need to articulate these clearly with the Recruiter, so they understand you  better and match  you  with  demands/role  accordingly.

3)      Perfect the ‘Tell me about yourself’

All recruiter want to know 

   Brief explanation of your  background

       ii.           Skills

     iii.           What you  are able  to  do

     iv.            What type of job fits you next

Most recruiters are NOT technically specialized that you come from, hence do NOT spend a lot of time getting into the details. Be concise and to the point.

4)      Resume / LinkedIn Profile should  be Top Notch

Your profile should be MORE attractive and compelling, so it is easily picked / shortlisted by the recruiter. As you know they hardly take 5 to 10 seconds to review your resume. Either it makes a cut and ends up with the hiring manager, else shelved.

5)      Be Flexible and Open.

When you work with recruiters, they will be calling you when you at your current job too. They want to talk to you about an opportunity or about an interview.  So keep them well informed about your availability so they can call you accordingly.

If the recruiter is NOT talking, do NOT take it personally.  Remember their priority is to work for their client’s demand. If you are the right candidate for their demand, you will receive the call. It is both luck and timing that plays big role here….  Do NOT put lot of pressure on 1 recruiter. You can work with a couple of more recruiters simultaneously

6)      Be HONEST 

 Let the recruiter know how serious you are looking for next job.  If you are just exploring to check the market - let the recruiter know…  You  are only  doing a disservice  to  yourself  and recruiter and wasting  the both  of your time  and the recruiter and yourself by  NOT telling  the truth.   Being dishonest will lose the credibility with anyone that includes recruiters too. Also NO harm oversharing details. If you are working with  more than  1 recruiter - simultaneously – but keep  them  well  informed with  the progress -  Client , status…. Also over communicate with the recruiter…. This helps to create a bond and you can take advantage of it.

7)      ‘Ask questions’ 

This is a critical item in my list.

a.       Why the position is open , how many similar positions are open

b.       How  long  the position is open

c.       What qualities of me, make me a good fit

d.       How many others are interviewing

e.       Talk about  Travel / Benefits / Telecommute

f.        What is the process - Internal evaluation / client evaluation - Proactive hiring / Skip level evaluation - Who is the decision maker? 

g.       How  long is the process -  some have background verification -  small  client close  it by 2 to 3 weeks, but clients like  Google take 2 months. 

h.       How often can I hear from you

i.         One important questions - whether recruiter has any vacation plan, will there be backup and will there be a connect email, connecting you with the backup recruiter.

j.         Last 2 critical  questions

                                                                     i.            I  have some technical  questions, can you  share the POC to  get in  touch  with

                                                                   ii.            Are there any other questions, the other candidates are asking, which I missed.

Hope these pointers help and lands you in the dream job you wanted to be in….

Good Luck!