At least once a week, a member of the mwah. team will get a call asking for help.

“I am going for a job I really want, and I have an interview this week – what questions should I ask?’.

 And no matter who calls, no matter the job, the context, the level, even the country, you can be guaranteed that every member of the mwah. team will give you the same answer.

3 questions.

We call them our ‘Killer Questions’- which are THE things that every candidate should ask the Leader in the interview process , to make sure they are not going to end up working with an a-hole (or even perhaps a bunch of a-holes across the team).

Now, you may be giggling (or baulking), at the gratuitous use of the term ‘a-hole’, but this is something we need to be taking more seriously.

Many of us that have, the frankly soul destroying experience of working with jerks. The gaslighters. The passive aggressive. The dishonest. The lazy. Even more serious – the bullies.  These are not experiences taken lightly, and frankly, should be avoided at all costs.

In the recruitment process, every candidate needs to own and value their own half of the experience and prioritise capturing the information needed for them to make a great decision.

So, here are the three questions you need to ask –

1. Development and Career

Ask: ‘I’m really keen to learn and build a career. Can you tell me about the two most successful people who’ve worked for you?”

Look for: Can the Leader easily share stories of people who have grown, developed, and thrived on their watch? Does the Leader keep in touch with previous members of the team? Has the Leader shown personal skin in the game in supporting their team to succeed.

2. Money

Ask: ‘I’ve read so much about people not being paid fairly or correctly lately. How do you make sure you’re paying people correctly?’

Look for: Great companies and Leaders understand that paying people fairly is a non-negotiable. Look for clear guidance around how pay works in the team (e.g. we always paid above award, we benchmark salaries regularly, we do annual reviews).

Red flags should be raised for anyone that looks uncomfortable, dodges the question, or comes across as being ‘tricky’.

3. Support

Ask: ‘What sort of people do you love working with? Perhaps the two people on your team who you’ve found easiest to work with, and what they had in common?

Look for: Do the people they described sound like you at? Listen to what is described as important by the Leader and consider if this is also what is important to you. For example – if the Leader describes the two best people in the team are those who come in at 7am and leave at 8pm, that is a very clear sign about what is valued. If that works for you, great, and if it doesn’t, you have a decision to make.

Three simple questions, that will give you incredible insight into the things that matter most, and will safe guard you against accidentally deciding to work with an a-hole Leader.

Look out for next week’s newsletter where we will share the three killer questions for Leaders to ask in your interviews, and ensure you don’t accidentally introduce jerks into your team and business!

Can’t wait until next week? Check out our latest episode of Article 23, where we discuss Killer questions for both individuals and Leaders.

Downloads

Go deeper into this topic

Topics

Tags