How to build a dream team: interview questions

Hello everyone, this is Stepan Gritskov, CEO of the marketing agency Art-Sites, and today we are going to talk about how to build the perfect team for your business.

As we all know, people decide everything. So where do you find those people who will go through fire and water with you? The question matters for practically every entrepreneur. Understanding a person, their motivation, their open and hidden desires and ambitions, predicting how they will behave and react in a given situation — that is a difficult and at the same time fascinating task. 

Over the years we have worked out an algorithm that lets us select the most proactive and responsible team players. Our hiring funnel is complex, but effective: 

Out of 30 people who apply for a job at our company, only one passes the probation period and stays. 

In this article I will describe the main triggers, parameters and test questions that help you find the person who will become a reliable support, a full member of the team and a partner on the way to your goal.

We assess a candidate on 4 main parameters: 

• professional skills
• sensitivity and kindness
• drive and hard work
• modesty

Each parameter is scored from 1 to 10, the scores are added up and divided by 4. The result is an overall score. At our company the pass mark is 5.5. If a candidate scores lower, we say goodbye. 

What questions are worth asking in each section to understand whether this is the person you are looking for?

Professional skills:

1. Obviously the questions in this block depend on the role the specialist is applying for. Here you clarify purely technical knowledge: experience, case studies and the scope of their responsibilities.
2. It is also worth asking about how long they stayed in their previous jobs and why they left. If someone has changed 2-3 companies without working at any of them for at least 9-12 months, that is worth thinking about. It may point to instability, uncertainty or a tendency to conflict. Taking such a person onto the team is risky.
3. It also matters whether the person resigned or was dismissed. How do they answer that question themselves? If they immediately start blaming the manager and the bosses at their previous jobs, that is a warning sign. Such a candidate is prone to an inflated ego, is not ready to admit mistakes, is not objective about themselves and, as follows from all of the above, is most likely irresponsible. 
4. In this block we also ask about education. School results, university studies, grade average and favourite subjects — the answers to these questions show how hard-working, persistent, curious, ambitious and open to new things a person is. If the grades were low and there was no drive for knowledge, the person is passive, drifts with the current and is unlikely to show initiative.

The second block — sensitivity and kindness towards others:

For us this is an extremely important parameter, because if a person is indifferent to those around them, they will sooner or later create conflict and misunderstanding, and the team will decay from within. We have worked out a set of test questions that help identify such people as early as the first interview. Here are some of them:

• • How would you describe yourself as a person?
  • Which of your habits irritate the people close to you?
  • What type of people irritate you the most, and how do you deal with them?
  • What will you do if a colleague makes a mess at their workplace?
  • How would colleagues from your previous job describe you? What did they say about you?
  • Were there quarrels and disagreements in your previous teams? How did you handle them?
  • How do you feel when you have to give or accept an apology? Can you give an example of such a situation?
  • How would you most comfortably receive remarks and criticism, if there are any?
  • How many clients are unreasonable?

The answers to all these questions help build a picture of how this person will interact with colleagues and behave within the team. 

1. Pay attention to how well the candidate's description of themselves matches the reference from their former job. If there are contradictions, the person is either inclined to lie or to embellish.
2. Our families know us inside out; you cannot hide behind the mask of a nice guy with them for long. It is precisely the people closest to us who most often voice criticism directly. Pay attention to which qualities will «come out» in this candidate over time, because if they show them with the people closest to them — rest assured they will show them at work too. It is only a matter of time. And decide — is that acceptable, are you ready to deal with it, and can you? 
3. Note for yourself how irritable the candidate is and whether they are ready to put up with the negative qualities of their future colleagues. How will they resolve such issues? Will they have enough patience?
4. How does the candidate resolve conflict? What position do they take? Are they ready to compromise? Will they be flexible and give ground where that serves the common good?
5. And there is no such thing as an unreasonable client. Everyone is reasonable — you just have to find the right approach.

Drive and hard work

At our company we have a term — the drone. These are people who constantly try to push their tasks and responsibilities onto others, dodge work, imitate furious activity and throw dust in your eyes. As a rule they try to curry favour and win the trust of managers. We simply do not let such people into the company. The following questions help identify these tendencies:

• Tell us about the hardest job you have ever faced.
• What do you like doing outside work?
• Did you have to work a lot as a teenager?
• What was your working routine like?
• What motivates and inspires you? 

The answers to these questions let us understand what a person considers difficult, which tasks come easily to them and whether they are inclined to be lazy about basic things.

1. Hobbies and interests also speak volumes about a person's character. If they are films, TV series, parties in bars and so on, it is unlikely that the person is used to pushing themselves or has leadership qualities. Practically all our company's employees are interested in sport, travel, self-development and a variety of hobbies connected with completely different professions. But all of them imply an active attitude to life and a habit of challenging yourself.
2. The question about motivation and inspiration matters. Believe me, money is the main motivation in no more than 10% of cases; more often it is self-realisation, the sense of doing something important, the desire to conquer peaks, to develop one's specialisation and so on. And one of a manager's main tasks is to create the internal conditions for specialists to grow, and to help them. But if the main motivation is simply to collect a salary and serve time from 9 to 6, I think no comment is needed.

The last, no less important parameter — modesty.

We need team players who are ready to share even their personal victories with the team. If the whole team behaves that way, together we win far more medals and achievements than each of us would separately. A team is a great force. We never hire people with an inflated ego, selfish, narcissistic or with delusions of grandeur. Self-esteem has to be objective and sober; then a person can grow and develop, whereas someone who believes they have reached their maximum starts degrading from that very point. The following questions help us filter such candidates out: 

• Tell us about the most important achievements of your career.
• Name the most awkward moment in your work. And your biggest failure?
• How do you deal with failures?
• What is your greatest weakness?
• What are your strengths?
• What could stop you reaching a goal or hitting your KPIs? 

1. The readiness to admit your mistakes honestly and correct them — is a sign of strong people. The weak-willed do nothing for fear of failure, and when they do make a mistake they always blame someone or something rather than take responsibility. 
2. People who consider themselves perfect and think they have no weaknesses are vulnerable, because they can easily be manipulated. As Lao Tzu said: «He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened. He who conquers others is strong. He who conquers himself is mighty».
3. It is also important to understand what obstacles the candidate sees in front of them. Nothing can stop a person reaching their goal except themselves. People who understand that — are ideal team players.

All these test questions and a careful analysis of the answers will let you select the best workers for your team and, most importantly, the best people. You can always become a specialist, skills are easy to learn; becoming a person of character is far harder! So look for decent, hard-working, modest and kind people for your dream team, be that example yourself, and then your business, whatever you do, will grow and develop.

Thank you for your attention. See you in the next issues!