How Do You Assess Attitude and Learning Ability in Interviews? Seeking Your Insights

Dear Friends,

I would like to know how to judge an individual's attitude and learning ability in an interview as an interviewer. Expecting favorable replies at the earliest.

Dear login_chandru,

The aptitude and attitude of an employee can certainly be judged. Depending on the kind of grade for the interview, this can be decided. There is a theory known as the Iceberg Theory, which states that only 10% of a candidate/employee is seen in life by the company in the form of knowledge, skills, and intelligence, while the rest is hidden beneath the water and has to be explored.

Now, the same theory applies when we are evaluating the interviewee. One method we can follow is to put him in a certain situation and ask him to provide a solution based on his understanding. Personal attributes will automatically come out through the solution. I hope this will help us gain a little insight.

Kind regards

As a practicing Clinical Psychologist, I will not recommend aptitude tests as they have nothing to do with behavior. Attitude assessment is also not very useful if you want to assess personality traits. Instead, you may use a combination of personality tests, EQ Test, and a Projective technique (administered by a trained psychologist) along with simple observation.

Regards,
Amruta

Dear Sam / Amruta,

Thanks for your valuable suggestions.

Dear All,

Situation - A candidate has plans for doing his higher studies overseas or any other plans for his future in the long/short term, and he/she conceals the same from the interviewer despite being questioned about his/her future plans. The candidate is recruited based on his personality traits, but he/she leaves the company within a month's time as he/she had opportunities for higher studies overseas.

Now the question is "how to pull out one's idea about his/her future plans in an interview and to have an idea about his stability in terms of tenure in the company." Please guide me on this with your experience and expertise.

Hello,

I believe it is gauged by taming the art of interviewing.

By conducting a Chronological Interview (i.e., by delving into the candidate's college years and exploring each phase of their career choices from then on) - but ensuring - you focus solely on the "Career Choices." Never show any reaction on your face if something weird happened in between (i.e., don't react). Just act like - that would be the most normal thing that could happen - in this way, you get to know more.

I would start by asking, "Could you please give me a brief overview of your college years, specifically events that may have influenced later career decisions?"

I would also inquire about their expectations from each job, the responsibilities and accountabilities, what they encountered upon starting the job, main challenges, strengths and weaknesses, and especially the circumstances in which they left each job.

This approach will help you assess how the individual responded to various stages in their life and how they navigated their career path.

And regarding future plans:

1. What are you seeking in your next job?

2. How does this opportunity align with your ideal position? What do you perceive as the opportunities and advantages as well as the risks and disadvantages of joining us?

Hi, Login Chandru,

I support Sam Dave's thoughts. What he is trying to explain is that if you need to check the person's attitude in addition to his knowledge, you need to conduct Behavioral Interviewing Questions (BEI). In BEI, you raise hypothetical and real questions to understand his behavior in past similar situations. Furthermore, you add some questions to check his knowledge and skills.

You can search this site to find a lot of interviewing questions to start as a base, and then top it up later with your creativity.

In connection with login_chandru's question, I would like to ask for what level of employees should a psychometric test be conducted? Should it be conducted for junior-level clerical staff also? Do you think a behavioral interview test or a personality test would be helpful for somebody like, say a B.Com fresher applying for a post in the accounts department?

It's as rightly said by Mr. Sam, the candidate can be interviewed more on behavioral patterns, wherein he is put into real situations where his reactions are to be noted. His reactions reflect the behavior in his work, and even if he pretends, his actions will determine the outcome.

Dear Participants,

Thank you for considering this discussion and for your valuable inputs.

Dear All,

Pertaining to the above discussions, in today's scenario, candidates are smart enough to conceal certain information relating to their higher studies, ideas of relocating to their own native place, plans to start their own business, just to gain experience, and such other critical information relating to their tenure in the company, despite the interviewer's subtle efforts to extract such information from them.

Now, my question to you all is, "how can we determine if a candidate intends not to stay in the organization for long but still makes a strong impression that they wouldn't leave the company within a short span during the interview?" Please suggest and guide me on the same.

Thank you.

Dear Chandru,

I don't know if you have read my previous posts:

About future plans:

1. What are you looking for in your next job?

2. How does this opportunity align with your ideal position? What do you view as opportunities and advantages, as well as risks and disadvantages, in joining us?

Probing on the above is one of the best ways to learn more from the person - what would make them stay for another couple of years - or what would make them leave.

Also, any candidate's "intention" is to stay for a good period, provided there is a good career path, opportunity to earn, be recognized, and reach higher positions with greater responsibilities.

I never deny that (do you?)

Now, you will have a fair amount of information on what the candidate is looking for, like their dream organization. The rest is left to how you treat them and keep up with the promises. The candidate can, in turn, ask you, "Hey, it's a perfect match of position and what I am looking for in terms of monetary aspects. Now tell me, how do I gauge that your definition of an excellent work environment is really what I am looking for?"

Do you have the right answer for that? So, I crawl back again to the statement "Treat them the right way to ensure that whatever the candidate mentioned during the interview remains true."

Find out about the future plans and goals during the interview discussion; you will get to know more. Learn the art of probing, see their past experiences, question them about why they left each organization... Learn the ART OF PROBING!

Good luck!

When you talk about the relevant organizational planning, the candidate expresses his analytical, grasping, and adopting capability. He will tell you how he will incorporate the changes and who he will plan training. Added qualifications also give you a fair idea about his interest to learn more.