Hiring Smart: Finding the Right People, Not Just the Right Skills

With tax season quickly approaching, some practitioners are probably thinking of increasing the number of people on their team. The following are just a few pointers of things I’ve learned in trying to identify the best candidate for our team.

Be clear of what you want.

Something that I recommend is that you make a list of the qualities you seek in the candidate. Once you’ve identified those 5 – 10 things, come up with one or two questions that will assure you that your candidate meets that qualification.

Ask hypothetical or situational questions rather than directly. 

For example, say one of the things you seek from your candidate is that they be punctual. Rather than asking if they are punctual (because they will likely say yes whether its true or not), ask something like this “Tell me of a time you were late.  What happened and what did you do?” or “Tell me how your previous employers dealt with people who came in late. Did you agree with their ways of dealing with it? Why or why not?” The answers should allow you read between the lines and get a sense of whether they are generally punctual and reasons they’re not.

Hire for Heart

Rather than hiring people based on their skills, hire based on their heart, work ethics, beliefs and core values. I can teach someone how to reconcile a bank or prepare a tax return. It is much more difficult to teach work ethics and core values. Those are far more important and usually already deeply entrenched in each person before you hire and difficult to change.

Stick to Your Core

Determine the top 3 non-negotiable core values you seek in the candidate and never ever hire someone who falls short of those 3 non-negotiables.

Take your time.

Don’t hire people simply because they have a pulse and because you’re desperate. It is often better NOT to hire than hire a poor candidate. Hiring poorly is often EXTREMELY costly. The cost in training, using valuable resources (as people doing the training are often amongst the most productive on your team), and more detrimental and dangerous yet, the cancerous poison a poor candidate can become to your entire team.

The most important advice I can provide is to trust your gut. Rely on your gut much more than your brain. I cannot tell you how often a candidate had the perfect resume and answered all the interview question extremely well. My brain told me that the candidate was perfect, but my gut told me not to trust this person. I don’t recall a single time where going against my gut served me well. Your subconscious mind is extremely powerful. Trust it. The goal is to ask enough questions of all kinds to allow your gut to get a good feel for this person sitting across the table at the interview. If you gut is unclear, keep asking questions until you know. Talk about anything. Odds are excellent the candidate will say or do something that will make your decision easy.

Here are a few questions I always found gave me tremendous useful insight allowing me to make the right gut decision:

  • Tell me about the worse job you’ve ever had and why?
  • Tell me about the best job you’ve ever had and why?
  • Tell me about the best ideal job ever you could imagine. 
    The job of your dreams. Tell me about …
    • Your boss
    • Your colleagues
    • Your job – what you’re doing
    • You work conditions – desk, office, lighting, etc.
  • Rate the following in order of importance to you in your next employment from 1 (most important) to 5 (least important)
    • Wage / Salary
    • Experience (opportunity to learn new things)
    • Co-workers (fun to work with)
    • Benefits (disability, health, others)
    • Flexibility (ability to take days off for personal or family reasons)
  • I really don’t like surprises. So, tell me something about you that will surprise me.
  • What is the one thing about you I need to know before I hire you?  Maybe something that will sway my decision.

There’s obviously a lot more that goes into hiring. But if you can focus on the person rather than their skills, I’m sure this will tremendously improve your chances of making a good hire.