…ask no questions, the saying goes. This is partially true when it comes to evaluating candidates to fill your positions.

An interview process establishes the fitness of a person to join a particular team and take on certain responsibilities. Simple, uh?

No, not simple at all. Only truly professional Recruiters can do a good job at this, consistently, time after time. Sure, anyone can ‘hit’ once in a while, mostly of out sheer luck, as in a ‘numbers game’ like a lottery winner. Making ‘winning’ a profession, comes only when a Recruiter is endowed with the right personality and works very hard for several years at perfecting the art and science of seeing through the smoke, separating facts from fiction, and sending out good candidates to a Client.

For years, Recruiters relayed on the answers provided by candidates, their prepared statements and history (often ‘stories’) of success, rehearsed references, etc. etc. Those replies where neatly compiled in a document called ‘submittal’, hence leaving the Client with the blunt of the selection job.

Surely, professional Recruiters ask questions, many of them. In fact, they may ask the exact same question multiple times. If the Candidate gets upset or impatient at this (apparent) memory lapse of the Recruiter… he/she may not be a good fit for most organizations that rely on team members able to keep the cool, to be tolerant and flexible.

That Candidate most certainly checked the box “Able to remain in control under stress” and/or similar stock questions. Actually, we may ask some stock questions… multiple times!

The answer to the question may be truth or not, but the emphasis is in ‘how’ the question was answered.