One of the biggest mistakes churches make when they are looking to hire is in not taking the interviewing process seriously. Often, it’s never done or just brushed over. The reasons church leaders miss this step range far and wide. It may be that they already feel they know the candidate. Or perhaps they think they will get a ‘sense’ of the person from a casual conversation over coffee. I know some leaders who would simply say, “I’m going to let the Lord lead me.”
Whatever the reason, I’ve come to the conclusion that leaders will likely never regret doing an interview – but they will often regret NOT doing one.
Just recently I was coaching a pastor who was getting ready to hire a new youth pastor. His team was sure they already knew who the ‘right’ hire would be – and were thinking of skipping this step altogether. I urged them to collect other applications and do a few interviews anyway. They were pleasantly surprised and shocked when a totally different candidate rose to the top during the interview process – becoming their ultimate hire.
In today’s post, I thought I’d share just a few random thoughts when getting ready for an upcoming job interview. I hope you find them helpful.
- Ask yourself, “Am I hiring a leader or a manager?”
There is an important distinction, and it means you’re looking for different qualities/competencies. Leaders lead change. Managers guide systems.
- Investigate Them.
Even if you already know the candidate, take the time to get acquainted with them before you meet. Study their resume. Call and speak with their references, check out their facebook, twitter, or blog, speak with their previous employer.
- Get a Personality Test in Advance.
As part of your investigation, have them complete a thorough Personality Test in advance (not the day of the interview). This will help you generate questions during the interview regarding how they might handle potential challenges they may face which their personality doesn’t match very well. For example, let’s say you’re hiring for an analytical bookkeeper type job and the person happens to have a laid-back people oriented personality. That could be a problem. My favorite Personality Tool is found at ministryinsights.com and is called the “Leading From Your Strengths Profile“.
- Begin with Prayer.
Invite the Holy Spirit to be part of the interview right up front. This reminds everyone in the room that we’re trusting God rather than man to ultimately lead the process of finding the best hire for the position.
- Create a Safe Place for the Interview.
I’ve already talked about the idea of ‘Creating Safety’. Establish a place where the interview can take place in a non-threatening & comfortable environment. Try to stay away from the ‘leader behind the desk’ approach. If possible, move to eye level with them and remember to smile a lot.
- Ask Them to Tell You About Themselves
It’s important to get them talking right away. Ask a few questions about their life, family, hobbies, plans for the summer or vacation. Keep it light and informal at first. Don’t begin with potentially loaded questions like, “How did you like where you worked in your last job?” I find almost everyone likes talking about their kids or grandkids, so usually that’s a great place to begin.
- Share the Agenda of the Meeting Up Front
I think it’s important that the candidate knows what to expect at the meeting. This will help them feel safer too. For instance, I might say something like, “Here’s what the interview is going to look like. We’re going to ask you a series of questions and will also be asking you to do a little typing test for us on the computer over there. We use four ‘C’s’ to guide us in the decision-making process, let me tell you what those are right now…. After that, you will have a chance to ask us any questions you may have. When the interview is over, we will give no indication as to whether we plan to hire you or not. At some point in the next couple of weeks, we will contact you to let you know our decision and, if appropriate, ask you in for a second interview.”
- Watch for Nonverbal Communication.
It’s important that you, or someone with you, can read some non-verbals during the interview. Many times, it’s their nonverbal communication that is answering the question, not their verbal one. For instance, if you ask, “How are you when it comes to dealing with conflict?” and the person says, “Good” while they fidget or won’t look you in the eye, it’s possible they aren’t being completely honest with you or themselves. It’s normal for most people being interviewed to be a little nervous, so you do need to take that into account. However, if you’re interviewing for a leader role, hopefully they are able to handle the relatively minor stress of an interview – after all, they’ll eventually be facing a lot more stress than that someday!
- Create Mock Scenarios to Use During the Interview.
Plan in advance and describe two or three circumstances that you would expect your new hire to one day face. Ask them to describe how they think they would handle the situation.
- If Possible, Give Them a Real Test.
If you’re hiring someone to do a lot of typing, ask them to take a typing test online during the interview. If they will be writing articles or creating graphics or pulling together a bulletin, ask them to do so as part of the interview. The best way to ascertain their competency is to test it live, when possible.
- Start With the Interviewee, Not the Position.
It can be very tempting to begin the interview by trying to ‘sell’ the interviewee on the job. We do this by talking about the job and what we are looking for in the best candidate. Don’t do this. All you’re doing is feeding the information you want them to give you in advance of the interview. Rather, start by interviewing the candidate and end with giving information about the position.
- Include Two Interviewers In The Room.
I think it’s wisdom to include at least two interviewers in the room during the interview. There are a lot of great reasons for this. I have always found it super helpful to be able to debrief with the other interviewer and get insights as to what they thought and noticed during the session. Often, they will have picked up on things I didn’t because I was busy talking or focused on the conversation. Additionally, it is a lot easier to communicate to others why the candidate is a good fit – or not so good of a fit – when you had two people present who agree together.
- Refrain From Making False Promises.
Again, sometimes we can get carried away after a great interview and say things at the end, like, “I think you’re a great candidate. We’ll probably end up hiring you.” OR “Yeah, I think you’re the one we want.” Don’t do that. I falsely leads them on and only increases their emotional letdown if you change your mind later. Just let them know you enjoyed spending time with them and that you’ll get back with them later.
- Use Four C’s As Your Guide.
Whenever I do an interview, I explain and use four words to guide my questions. I talk more about The Four C’s in this article. Here they are in a nutshell:CHARACTER: The fruit of the Spirit are your benchmarks, but I usually like to also have a few other qualities I’m looking for as well, like ‘teamwork’, ‘committed to the local church’, ‘giver’, ‘submitted to leadership’, etc. This might be a great place to ask about their spiritual walk as well. Often I will ask if the candidate has a ‘life verse’ or what the Lord has recently been speaking to them in their quiet times. I will also listen throughout the interview for areas where they struggle with bitterness or anger towards previous employers or people.
COMPETENCE: This is where we confirm they have the right skill-set to do the job. Do they have enough leadership experience? Do they know how to host an event? Have they ever created a decent website before? These are going to be the standard interview questions you will ask to ensure they can do the job.
CHEMISTRY: It’s real important the candidate will work well in the culture you have established in your ministry. This means they will be OK with the work environment you will be offering them, that they will ‘fit’ with the other team members and that both you and the candidate will be able to work comfortably together. This is a hard one to interview for, but it’s still important to evaluate. If I seem to have a hard time ‘connecting’ with the candidate during the interview or just feel uncomfortable about them, it’s possible it has something to do with chemistry. The fact is, some people ‘fit’ in certain cultures better than others.
CALLING: I make it real clear to the candidates that they need to feel a calling to the position we are offering and we need to feel called to hire them. This is not meant to be an excuse to not hire them. It’s meant to be an honest indicator that we’re trusting God to lead us (and them) in making the right choice. Simply put, the candidate could be perfect for the job, but either they, or we, don’t feel a release from God to bring them onto the team at this time. One time I was interviewing for a secretarial position and a young man applied. He seemed fit for the job. When I asked him what he wanted to do with his life, though, I discovered he wanted to work outside and stay away from administrative things. It was easy for me to see that he wasn’t called to do what I was looking for, even though he was qualified.
What other things do you like to remember during an interview?