We’re wrapping up our 3 part series on Behavioral Interviews and have some more golden nuggets up our sleeve we can’t wait to share with you. In case you’re just chiming in, here is what we’ve covered so far:
Part 1- What Not to Ask
Part 2- Ways to Ask the Right Questions
…and Part 3:
4 Tips for Board Member Interviews
- Be prepared. That should go without being said, but I’ve participated in many interviews with extremely busy board members who didn’t have time to prepare. Study the resume and references, looking for places where behavioral-based questions can be linked to particular accomplishments.
- Circle actions verbs on the resume. They serve as springboards from which you can dive into questions that follow up on performance.
- Plan ahead. Write down your primary questions ahead of time rather than formulating them “on the fly.” The objective is to listen intently to what they say and what their answers imply.
- Maintain dialogue. The objective is to create and environment in which the candidate is comfortable providing candid and straightforward answers.The interview should be a dialogue. If at any point it turns into a monologue on either side, it has gotten off track.
A special thank you to Mike M. who commented on Part 2 with a performance based question that he has either given as an interviewer or received when being interviewed that he felt provided an especially helpful snapshot of personal leadership style. His question was:
“Think back over your entire life… To a the intersection of when you were really good at what you were doing AND you loved it. What was happening? Tell the story! #jobfitmatters :)”
Happy interviewing!
Tommy Thomas is Lead Partner of JobFitMatters® as well as Board Member and Managing Director of parent entity SIMA® International. He specializes in cabinet-level retained executive search for nonprofit and faith-based organizations.