The Hidden Dangers of Competence-Based Hiring

— by Bobby Albert

For many years as an entrepreneur, my hiring practice was to just look at the interviewee’s resume, e.g., education, work history and accomplishments. I would ask a lot of “what” questions and focus on the “things” and results listed on their resume.  Then I would hire the person based on our competency-focused interview. All was good until later, I often needed to fire them because of personal character issues, which created higher personnel turnover.  But why?

Well, it was not until I did a self-awareness evaluation and asked the question “why” multiple times that I discovered the root cause – my failure to uncover the character, or the heart condition, of the person I was hiring.

When I look back over my life, I found in school, at college, and even when I attended industry training on hiring, they all modeled, focused, and tested you on your level of competence - knowledge.  

The church was the only place I ever heard about the condition of my heart. The Bible explains the sinful nature of my heart and that I need by faith to believe in Jesus Christ to change the condition of my heart and become a new creature with a new nature.

Finally, after many years of failing with my hiring, I asked Jim Lundy, who mentored me for over 20 years, to do the interviewing of people while I looked on as he focused on the character of the person – the condition of their heart.

As I looked on, typically, the potential hire would bring their resume and give one to each of us.  Then I noticed Jim would just lay the resume down next to his chair, and he never looked at it again. I initially thought, WOW, this interview is going to be interesting.

After the initial relationship-building introduction and discussion, Jim would proceed to ask the potential hire, in a very disarming way, high quality discovery questions and just listen.  He would… 

• Ask about where they grew up.

• Ask who was their favorite teacher or coach in elementary school, and then, he would ask “why” they were his/her favorite.

• Ask who was their least favorite teacher or coach in elementary school, and then, he would ask “why” they were his/her least favorite. 

• Follow this path through middle school, high school, and college. 

• Ask what they did after college, and then…

• Follow up about their past bosses and current boss.

• Ask follow-up questions about “how” did these teachers, coaches, and bosses impacted their life.

• Ask about past decisions in the workplace and follow up with “how” did he or she make that decision, and “how” did that decision impact the people and organization.

•  Ask if there were anything else that we should know.

When Jim finished asking questions and listening, he thanked the potential hire, and they would leave feeling really good about the interview. Frequently, they would comment that this was the best interview they had gone through.

Every leader can minimize mistakes in hiring by understanding the following three insights as they simply ask questions and listen:

1. Understand that the “why and how” questions can uncover mindsets and behaviors that validate whether the person is the right or wrong person to join your team.

2. Understand that when the interviewee answers this type of questions about their favorite and least favorite teacher/coach/boss that they are actually sharing behaviors they want to model or not model – character qualities. 

3. Understand that the “why and how” questions can uncover both the character and competence of the potential employee.

Oh, and once you start hiring the right people, the next question is, “How do I keep them?”  The only thing worse than hiring the wrong people is watching your best people leave when you don’t even have a clue they were dissatisfied. It turns out that there are five questions that every employee is asking – but don’t verbalize until it is too late! <<Click HERE>> to download 5 Questions Your Best Employees Are Afraid to Ask Before They Quit and start keeping your best employees.

Asking good questions is important in an interview – and in life. Jesus asked perhaps the most profound question when talking with his disciples. It’s a question that gets to the condition of our heart. He asked…

 But who do you say that I am?  Mark 8:29

When you interview a potential employee, do you focus on their competence or focus on their character? Are you afraid your best employees will soon give their 2-week notice? <<Download the 5 Questions Your Best Employees Are Afraid to Ask Before They Quit – it’s free>>.

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