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Karen Thornton – Speaker
Once you build rapport, you’ll transition to the
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questioning stage of the interview. Begin your questioning with your list of
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pre-planned questions. While the candidate is answering your questions,
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actively listen to them and take notes.
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Remember that your questions should relate specifically to the job requirements.
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Don’t be afraid of unplanned, spontaneous dialog during the interview.
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Ask follow-up questions if you hear something you’d like to know more about.
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In our self-certification course, we train our people to follow an --
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Ask
Listen
Clarify
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Probe, and
Show
progression when asking questions.
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A similar system can be used in an interview setting.
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Ask your question – listen for a response –
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clarify the response by repeating it back –
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and then based on the answer, probe deeper for more information.
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Since this situation is different than a traditional selling dialog,
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you’ll replace the show with note.
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Meaning you’ll write down your thoughts so you don’t forget during your decision-making process.
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Don’t neglect your list of pre-planned questions.
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They can be an anchor point to regain control of an interview if the candidate ventures into uncomfortable territory.
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To help you identify these situations, let’s discuss the benefits of knowing which questions you may and may not ask.
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Why is it important to know which questions to ask and not to ask?
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If you keep your questions based specifically on the job requirements,
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then your interview will be more efficient, take less of your valuable time,
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and you’ll make better hiring decisions.
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There can be very serious legal implications if you don’t follow Fair Employment Laws and Equal Employment Opportunity Policies.
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Always make sure you don’t ask any questions or make any statements that would support a discrimination claim
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by an applicant. If you’re not sure, then don’t ask the question.
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If a candidate begins to talk about something of a personal nature,
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you need to steer the conversation back to the job specifics.
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The subjects that you want to be careful with, or avoid altogether, are:
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Race
Gender
Religion
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Marital Status and Family
Disabilities
Ethnic Background or Country of Origin,
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and
A Person’s Age
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When it comes to questions about race or religion,
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remember that legally an interviewer cannot ask any question of an applicant
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that requests information about these subjects.
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Asking a question that specifically requests information about family status is illegal.
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The question “Do you have any obligations that would prevent you from working occasional overtime?”
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is one way to ask a question that refers to family status without being specific.
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It is illegal to ask an applicant about any disability.
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If you need to make sure that an applicant can handle a requirement of the job, a question like
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“Can you lift a 35 pound box?” specifically refers to the job requirements and is therefore within the legal guidelines to ask.
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A question you can legally ask would be, “If hired, can you provide proof of eligibility to work within the United States?”
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Any question whose answer can identify an applicant’s age is considered illegal.
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So keeping the question based on age requirements of the job is essential.
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Such as, “If you’re hired, can you provide proof that you are 18 years of age or older?”
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You also cannot ask any question that would tend to identify a person as being 40 years of age or older.
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Mr. Miller:
Well, I see that you have been working in the industry for a number of years.
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What type of experience do you have in the collections?
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Ms. Ford:
Well I actually have six years’ experience in accounts receivable
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and the last few years I have also been helping out in accounts payable.
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Mr. Miller:
Oh, wow, I didn’t know you had accounts payable experience also.
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Why did you start helping out in the accounts payable department?
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Ms. Ford:
Well, I noticed that at the end of month my co-workers
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were really busy so I asked my supervisor if I could help out if I wasn’t busy.
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I didn’t actually put it on my resume because I don’t work in that department.
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Mr. Miller:
Well, that’s really impressive. I mean we
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sometimes have overflow here in our accounts payable department and that could be very useful.
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Ms. Ford:
Well, I’m always willing to help out my co-workers and I
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believe it is a strong multi-tasking skill.