Dear Liz,

I made three hires in 2010. One person is great, one was so-so and left us, and the last one was a flame-out fiasco. Any tips on interviewing? What do you think about behavioral interviewing, where you ask the candidate about a time when she dealt with a difficult person, worked on a team, etc.?

Thanks, Gregory

Dear Gregory,

A lot of the things we do in the business world, particularly in the management arena, are time-honored and unexamined and make no sense whatsoever. The traditional job interview script is a great example.

The typical goofy and irrelevant interview questions do not help us determine whether a given person can do the job -- or not. After all, what do we need from a job-seeker?

We need to know how he thinks. We need to know how she would attack our biggest problems. We're going to get that information more readily by talking with the candidate about what's actually happening than by asking a bunch of insulting theoretical questions.

When we call a plumber because our tub drain is clogged, we don't say "Joe, tell me about a time when you unclogged a stopped-up drain."

We say "My tub drain is clogged and I think my kid may have let his sock go down the drain." The plumber reacts to that information. You listen to him (or her) talk about drains and socks and you decide whether you like what you're hearing. Case closed.


I start a job interview by asking the candidate if he has any questions. It is absolutely crazy not to let the job-seeker go first, because his questions are packed with useful information for you.

If the questions are on the order of "What does your company do?" that's not so great, because the candidate should have found that information on his own. If the questions are more like "How's the channel conflict in your distribution scheme, and how are you dealing with that?" you're talking with someone who understands the landscape.

If a job-seeker can only think of questions like "How long is the lunch break?" you'll know right away what his priorities are.

After you've answered the job-seeker's questions, describe your business situation. I'm not talking about the tasks and duties the new hire will perform. That's good information to share, but only in the context of the purpose of the job -- the reason for its existence.

Ask the job-seeker to react to the information you're sharing. A sharp person will have additional, thoughtful questions that show his brain working. You'll have additional questions, too. It'll be a conversation.

No script -- just dialogue. Avoid, especially, idiotic questions like "Why should we hire you?" and "What is your greatest weakness?" and "Where do you see yourself in five years?"

We are smarter than that. We need living, breathing, funny and brilliant people on our teams, not drones and robots -- right?

Enjoy the interviews!

Yours, Liz

Ask Liz Ryan is a consulting firm that works with job-seekers and employers on branding, job-search and recruiting with a human voice. Write to us at for one of Liz's E-books that will help with your career reinvention or employer branding.