The Focused Interview

November 24, 2009

When you are conducting final candidate interviews, I think that the best way to do so is through Focused Interviews. In these interviews, you will assign the members of your team who are providing recruiting support to one or two competencies or outcomes from the job scorecard. By splitting up the competencies and outcomes among members of your team, you can be sure that each topic which you felt was imperative to the role is covered.


Focused Interview Questions:

1. The purpose of this interview is to talk about ______ (Fill in the blank with specific outcome or competency, such as the person’s experience selling to new customers, building and leading a team, creating strategic plans, etc).2. What are your biggest accomplishments in this area during your career?
3. What are your insights into your biggest mistakes and lessons learned in this area?

Lastly, double check the candidate’s cultural fit. Cultural fit is extraordinarily important for expansion stage companies in order to avoid turnover.

The Focused Interview is the final candidate interview as recommended by Who. When done effectively, this interview should show you how your finalists match up with the competencies you were looking for when you initiated your search.

VP, Human Capital

<strong>Diana Martz</strong> is Vice President, Human Capital at<a href="http://www.ta.com/">TA Associates</a>. She was previously the Director of Talent at OpenView.