The Three Hardest Words for Someone to Say | No BS Hiring Advice
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter discusses the three hardest ones for someone to say at an interview and questions you can ask to see if they will say them.
I want to talk with you and give you some no BS hiring advice.
Now, one of the unfortunate things that’s happened in this “me-oriented time” is that people think they have to have all the answers and, as the folks from Freakonomics are so prone to say, the three hardest words for people to say are, “I don’t know.”
If you’re in an organization and you’re hiring someone, you may prefer someone like me who always projects like they know. I could tell you stories about things that I’ve said that I later have to explain because I do know but other people just think I’m blowing smoke at them. But, when all is said and done, you need to hire people who can admit that they don’t know. So, here’s two ways to do it.
Number one is you can ask them a goofball question. You know, the one that gets labeled as a ridiculous interview question. A question like, “What am I going to have for lunch today?” It’s so ridiculous that why would anyone try and sort their way through it. All you have to say is, ” I don’t know. Would you like me to expand on that and take a guess?”
The Freakonomics guys joke about saying, “Well, you look chubby. I think you are going to have pasta.” Okay, maybe they are chubby and they are trying to lose weight. So, that doesn’t necessarily work. But, all they have to say is, ” I don’t know. Now, I could take guesses at it and that’s all they would be are guesses but the fact is I have no idea.”
Another way of asking the question is something beyond their pay grade to use the military term, the question that’s Way Beyond the person’s capabilities and have them say,” I don’t know. If you like I can walk my way through my thinking process to get to an answer that, right now, I couldn’t give you but the fact is I don’t know.”
Those words are ridiculously hard yet they’re words that you should be able to have employees say in an interview where they feel the pressure to perform. It’s a huge risk for them to say, “I don’t know,” and having the guts to say it in an interview should advantage them in your thinking process as you evaluate the different candidates
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ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. He is hired to provide No BS Career Advice globally. That can involve job search, hiring staff, management, leadership, career transition and advice about resolving workplace issues. Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us
He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2400 episodes.
I do a livestream on LinkedIn, and YouTube (on the JobSearchTV.com account) Tuesdays and Fridays at 1 PM Eastern. You can send your questions about job search, hiring better, management, leadership or to get advice about a workplace issue to me via messaging on LinkedIn or in chat during the approximately 30-minute show.
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