A new blog post from Pittsburgh-based employee assessment and hiring solutions firm Select International highlights three shaky interview questions.
Paul Glatzhofer from Select International listed three questions hospital human resource professionals should avoid or carefully phrase.
1. Can you sell me this pencil? This is a commonly asked question for sales positions, but it can lack structure and end up being meaningless in the selection process. How will the organization interpret the answer to this question? What is the organization trying to measure, and is it measuring responses with the same criteria? "Without structure rating guidelines this question put an organization in a place where it is heavily relying on the interviewing to be able to interpret a good response from a poor response," said Mr. Glatzhofer.
2. Do you have any disabilities that will interfere with performing this job? Mr. Glatzhofer said this question is phrased in a way that places the onus on the candidate to thoroughly understand all aspects of the job. "This is a tall order for any candidate. If you wanted to rephrase this question, the recommendation would be to simply state a job requirement (hopefully reading from a job description) and ask the candidate, 'Can you perform this function with or without a reasonable accommodation?'"
3. If you could be an animal, what kind of animal would you be? Mr. Glatzhofer said his main concern with a question like this or others similar to it, such as "What is your favorite book?", is around job relevance and legal defensibility. "An interview is essentially a pre-employment test, and every part of that test needs to be job-related. Most organizations that use this question rarely have documented proof that they are measuring a job-related skill or ability."
More Articles on Interviews in Healthcare:
5 Common Hiring Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
A Better Employee Screening Process: One Way to Save HR Energy and Resources
Conducting More Effective Interviews