Interview Questions Don’t Make Bad Candidates Good | Edmonton Business Coach

It is not the question that you asked on the interview. It’s the number of candidates that you interview.

Yeah, I can see why I cause it’s mad.

Hi. Thanks for joining us for another episode of Ass Burl CPA. And today we’re talking about interview questions. Don’t make that candidates good. And I might be interview questions. Don’t make bad candidates. Good. So for that I have, you know, Trevor, uh, my business partner had inspired methods. So Trevor, how has it been, you know, moving in to the accounting office the last few months ago. What have you, what have you learned here? What we have learned is that everyone needs a Edmonton Business Coach. Well, it’s been an adjustment going from working in your home, at your desk, at, with all the distractions that are there. Um, it’s been a great shift, you know, just getting involved in getting into the groove of, you know, doing things differently. Um, it’s been better because we’re working on a better schedule now. We have more focus, more focused work time, which, uh, allows me to get a lot more done. Yeah. Which is great. And then, you know, just being able to interact with you on a day to day basis, um, I’m learning a lot from you and able to really put that into place into my own life and I can see how our business is going to grow and really start to shine.

Right? Yeah. Yeah. We’re working towards that entrepreneur center, right? Eventually. Absolutely. You Edmonton Business Coach would agree. So the, the coat that we have here today, Jim Collins quote, uh, and talking about those who build great companies, understand that the ultimate throttle on growth, three, any great company is not markets or technology or products, uh, or competition. It is one thing above all others. It’s the ability to get and keep enough of the right people. And you know, the stats back this up that, uh, you know, 50% of Canadian small businesses fail in the 23% have failed. Business owners will say that they fail because they have the wrong team, which is the third top reason that business owner’s site for failing. Um, and you know, when we’re talking about interview questions, don’t make bad cabinets good. And the story that we have is we get business owners, they’re struggling to find the right team and they’re just simply overthinking the interview questions and they think if they somehow ask better questions that they would find better team members.

Right. Um, so Trevor, one of the questions do you think these business owners need to be asking? This is a great question to ask you Edmonton Business Coach. Well, I guess the first thing is can a well written job ad eliminate a lot of questions that you need to ask? 100%. So, I mean, we can start listing things like where you’re going to work, what are the hours that you’re going to work, you know, is there any travel or over time expected or after hours appointments, evenings or weekends, you know, what’s the rate of pay? Um, if there’s any other perks included, just get them in the APP. There’s no reason to tie up the interview time or you know, it deal with candidates who are bad fit. Um, we could put those, those questions right in a, in a well written ad. And if there, if it suits them, they’re going to apply. And if it doesn’t suit them, they’re not going to apply.

But there’s no point delivering that information on a, on a one to one basis. Right. So what’s more important, the questions you ask or the number of people that you interview.Your Edmonton Business Coach will agree. Here’s the trap scene is not the questions that you asked on the interview. It’s the number of candidates that you interview that are going to, you know, limit your ability to find the right team members. And I’ll use the sports analogy and let’s pretend that you’re a scout for an NHL hockey team and you, you’re talking about, you know, what questions I’m going to ask this person after the game, uh, that’s going to help me find the best player to play on my team. Um, well, would you be better off asking more questions or would you better off, you know, looking at more games and seeing more players? If you want the best players on the team that does it, you know what, the way you scout that player does not make them better.

Right? It’s just the fact that you see the right player who belonged on the team in the first place. Your Edmonton Business Coach will help you find him. Um, that’s generally the biggest limit to growth is the same thing in business. You know, we’re, we’re overanalyzing the questions that we’re asking when it’s just the wrong fit. Hmm. That makes it a lot of sense. So the next question is how many candidates should you aim to interview to fill a position? So the, the question that I’m going to, the, the, the number that I’m going to throw out there, I don’t have, you know, a huge amount of, of science to back this up, but it’s just going to put it in perspective and it’s going to be a good guideline that’s going to scare a lot of people is I would suggest if you want to fill a position in your organization that you need to interview 100 people.

I just saw some HR people’s minds just go 100 people. Your Edmonton Business Coach will agree with it. So if you want to find the best person, you know, don’t think about asking eight people who you see better questions. Think about seeing a hundred people instead of eight. That’s going to help you find better people. Wow. So why do big businesses normally get better talent than small businesses? Because they have that HR position that you talked about and their sole job is to look at resumes and bring people in for interviews and correspond with them over and over and over again. We’re, the small business owner just does this when they need someone and they’re in a time crunch and they spend as least time on it as possible and they just see less people. Right. Uh, for the, you know, it’s not about the questions that they’re asking, you know, we’re not having them, you know, d scramble the Rubik’s cube and the interview is, it’s not about that.

They just need to see more people. And the big businesses generally see more people, uh, for every candidate they want to hire than the small businesses. Small businesses need a Edmonton Business Coach. And that’s why they get better people. Okay. So, um, next question is, how can a busy business owner possibly interview a hundred people? So I think the, the hack if you want to, you know, outpaced those big businesses is you need to do a group interview. You only have so much time to do these interviews. Um, and if you can come to the conclusion, if you, if you can, you know, come to your senses on, it’s not what I asked them, but it’s how many people I see to get the right person. You know, the way to see more people in less time is to see those people in a group interview setting. You can just see so many more people.

Okay. So then how can you avoid asking common interview questions in the group setting? The kind of, the hack to doing, you know, there’s always little same questions that you’re asking, you know, you’re asking, you know, what, um, what, what teams have you been a part on? These are great questions to ask your Edmonton Business Coach. You know, what software have you used? You know, maybe you’re a trades person. Have you, have you worked on this sort of, uh, uh, have you worked on this sort of commercial build or this sort of industrial build before? You know, the, the, there’s some questions that you just want to ask every single candidate rather than ask them all in a group is you can just supply these questions before the interview. So before they come in for this interview, you can just email them this list of questions and say, Hey, can you bring the answers to these questions written down when you show up to the interview?

Uh, because you know, there’s probably going to be, you know, half dozen questions that you want to ask every time for every position that you feel. Um, just ask them right away and they can bring written answers to those questions rather than going through them one by one in a group interview, uh, or even even a one to one interview. If you don’t even agree with the group interviews, why not ask those questions, bring them in and writing it. And B, it has the additional benefit of, it shows some diligence too that they followed the instructions that they actually, this was their first test, not just show up but to show up. But the list of these five questions, uh, filled out and written now. Very good. So I guess the next question is, what is the main question to ask in the group interview? The main thing that I want to ask people is, you know, why do they want to work here?

You know, I don’t want to waste my time asking, you know, what software they use are, I asked that in the written questions and it’s important to me if they know how to use a piece of software that’s an asset, right? But I’m more concerned about why they want to work here. Yeah. What balloon animal, aren’t you? Yeah. You know, the silly questions that people will come up with. Yeah. See how people think on their feet. I think a lot of that’s just silly, but I really liked that question. Why do you want to work here? That’s right. That’s it. That’s amazing. So what types of answers are you not looking for in the interview? So the key is, and why do you want to work here? And some people will start saying, you know, well, I want to be an accountant. Okay, well there’s other accounting firms that doesn’t really tell me why I want to work here or you know, I’m, I’m uh, uh, I just got laid off from this organization.

Um, same thing. I, that doesn’t see you where you want to work here. It is a question your Edmonton Business Coach can answer. I just finished my four year degree at u of a or graphic you underneath. We’ll locate those other accounting firms who want people with a undergrad degree. You know, majoring in accounting. That’s the type of thing. It’s not really telling me why they want to work here. That’s just the generic why I want to be an accountant or working accounting firm or why I want a job to pay the bills. That’s not really the important part. So then what is the most important answer that you’re looking for? The answer is you need to see that this person actually connects with the, you know, problem, vision, mission, and values of the organization. Um, you know, there’s gotta be something about Your Business that speaks to this particular candidate that goes beyond their career objectives.

It goes beyond their monetary objectives from just wanting to collect a paycheck. It goes beyond logistical concerns of this is a closer look over or location to where I live and it speaks to something that I’m doing some sort of work that matters. And I believe that this organization has the same opinions and values of me because those are things that employees will stick to when times are harder. Um, you know, if there’s something that connects with them, that means, you know, when they get an offer for a dollar more an hour, they’re not leaving because they actually want to do the work that they’re doing at this location. If you have not seen this yet, your Edmonton Business Coach can really break it down.Or you know, they move houses from one place to another in the city. They’re not going to leave just because somewhere else is closer. Um, you know, because there’s something within the business, you know, a specific problem that you’re, you’re trying to work on.

You know, in our business is helping. Can any business beat the odds. Yes they can with the help of an Edmonton Business Coach. They are really passionate about helping business owners, um, you know, a secondary to other organizations. You know, other accounting firms who, for example, they want to just prepare financial statements and tax returns. And there’s a lot, there’s lots of that going to do that. I can’t guarantee that I can be the the highest pay are the closest to your house or have the best working hours for you. But we’re super committed to helping small business owners and if that’s their biggest passion, you know, that’s likely a longterm employee. And I’m interested in that. Yeah. So do you read the resume answers to common questions before the interview? I absolutely do not read the resumes or the answers to the common questions before the interviews because I want them to show up. I want to have a good impression with those people.

You know, we’ve all met those people who come into interviews and we know we’re not going to hire them 60 seconds into the interview, never mind even five minutes. We know 60 seconds in an interview. This is not the right person, you know, and think of how much time you can waste and reading all of those applicants. Heck, half of the people who apply and submit a resume will never show up for an interview anyways. So why do I want to read those before I know a, they’re going to show up, be, I’m going to have a good initial impression of them and see they have a really good answer to that question that tells me why I want to work here, which is different than, you know, why I want to do the job that you’re, you’re, you’re posting for. Um, so I don’t, I don’t read them.

It’s just a time hack. You know, when an after the, you know, they come up, they come to the interview and they show me those three things. Now I’m going to read their resume and do they have the type of skills and experience that that I’m looking for. Um, you know, now it becomes important because they’re, they’re one of, uh, one of the many and I just spent so much less time reading resumes. I’m only reading resumes for people that have a shot. That makes a lot of sense. Yeah. So that’s what we have here today. Thanks again for tuning in. Uh, you know, as always hit the like and subscribe buttons. So he continued to deliver you tips on how to beat the odds as at business, and you’ll please leave your comments and questions below so we can address them in the future videos. Thanks very much.