Managers should be fully engaged in the hiring process and not rely excessively on the HR department to identify the best candidates and keep the hiring process moving, acting OPM director Beth Cobert has said in a blog post.
“If managers work hand-in-hand with the HR team to identify the strategies that will help them identify and interview the best possible candidates, they can help achieve hiring excellence,” she wrote.
Cobert said that she has been involved in many hiring decisions of various levels of employees and that one of her favored techniques is to ask questions that “take applicants out of their rehearsed comfort zones to get a real feel for who they are and how they would work with me on a daily basis.”
Such questions include matters such as: What is the individual’s passion, and how does that help us achieve our mission? Are they constantly curious and ready to learn? How do they navigate real-time problem-solving? Are they able to think outside the box? What is the most important thing that you accomplished last week?
“I also like to hear how the candidate did the work and who he or she brought in to help, because this says a lot about whether or not the candidate is a team player. Especially when hiring junior folks, I always look for how well the person took advantage of the opportunities available to them, no matter what the setting, whether the applicant came from the Ivy League or a community college, a small startup or one of the Fortune 500. I value that above most other qualities because it shows resourcefulness, willingness to grow, curiosity to learn, and a commitment to working hard in order to succeed,” she wrote.
