Case interview. Get ready for the cases that will help you get into your dream job. How to come up with the perfect case interview case

Dozens of articles and books have been written about the assessment of a candidate for selection, various seminars and trainings are held, which bring together numerous groups of managers and HR specialists. The topic is well developed, what can you add?

In my opinion, the most important issues remain the problem area in the selection of candidates: the accuracy of the selection of the candidate, the validity of his assessment and a clear forecast of the success of his work in the company.

It's no secret: many HR specialists say that the assessment of the candidate's competencies in the selection was high, but during the trial period, he showed low efficiency, and they had to part with him. It also happens that having received a positive assessment on the selection with a good offer, the candidate does not come to the company on the set day and does not answer calls. Great difficulties also arise when, after a high assessment in the selection and passing the probationary period, new employee begins to manifest himself as a conflicted person, totally critical of everything.

Selection errors are often explained by external reasons: low wages, for which it is difficult to find a competent applicant, insufficient time allotted to evaluate a candidate, fatigue of a recruiter, when up to 15-17 candidates have to be interviewed per day, lack of a clear adaptation program in the company, etc.

And yet I am sure that a strong professional works quickly and efficiently in any conditions: with a shortage of interesting candidates in the recruiting market, who can be bought inexpensively, with a large number of interviews during the working day, and also with an unfinished adaptation program in the company.

How to improve the quality of selection without increasing the time and labor input of the assessment? I propose a three-step technology that I have been using for more than fifteen years in the implementation of corporate orders for evaluating candidates for top and key vacancies. The technology includes three stages: preparation for the selection and analysis of a resume, an appraisal interview, and, finally, the implementation of "spot" adaptation of a new employee.

FIRST STEP: PREPARATION FOR SELECTION

Preparation for the selection consists of three tasks: compiling a profile of a vacancy, determining the competencies that a candidate should have to fulfill the profile of a position in a given workplace, and highlighting categories of candidates that are interesting and not interesting to the company.

The job profile reflects the working functionality of this vacancy, which will actually be performed by a new employee after he is admitted to the company. It is no secret that each business has its own specifics, and, in addition, the tasks that a new employee will solve may be more varied and voluminous than the functionality that is spelled out in the job description in the Handbook.

Of course, job descriptions are present in every company, but in those companies that still have a job profile, a recruiter evaluates candidates, focusing specifically on the job profile of a given vacancy. Of course, there are companies that have job descriptions and no job profiles, and then the hiring manager works on the basis of the job description and adds an assessment of those competencies of the candidate that will allow him to perform more diverse tasks than the tasks listed in the job description.

The structure of the position profile consists of listing the key tasks that a new employee will perform in this position on a regular basis, periodic tasks that he will implement on behalf of the manager and new tasks that will be assigned to him in the near future (within a year).

The position profile indicates the status of the employee in the management system hierarchy: manager, subordinate, or relatively independent expert (for example, a lawyer in a company who works singularly with a wide range of communications, from the CEO to the heads of departments).

It will not be superfluous if the profile contains information about the work schedule of a new employee - a regulated (or unregulated) working day, a remote office, home office, the frequency of business trips per month, etc.

The job profile is completed by a list of competencies required from the specialist working in this position.

The article is based on the case - the admission of a candidate for the vacancy of the head of the advertising department. Therefore, I will give an example of the profile of the position of the head of the advertising department, taken from a successful Russian manufacturing company, operating in the market for a long time and dynamically developing.

KEY INSTRUCTIONS, RULES, GUIDELINES, POLICIES AND STRATEGIES IN THE FRAMEWORK OF WHAT THE WORK IS RELATED TO:

Legislation Russian Federation and other laws in force and applicable to the field of trade.
Labor contract, current requirements for this kind activities.
Internal policy and guidelines of the Company.
Commercial policy of the Company, various agreements between the Company and its customers.

Directive on company management and other internal documents, oral or written directives for the management of departments and directly by managers.

INTERACTION:

Other divisions of the marketing department, trade marketing department, sales department, accounting department, IT department.

MAIN FIELDS OF ACTIVITY:

Branding

Analysis of available market data (including data from research agencies, media monitoring, expert opinions) and selection, based on the results of this analysis, of the most effective strategies for positioning and promoting the Company's brand.
Development of all the necessary creative (advertising and image) materials for the company, including writing technical specifications, briefs and holding tenders for the selection of contractors.
Creation and regulation of corporate standards for the use of the brand name and creative materials (brand book, advertising policies, etc.).

Planning and budgeting for current advertising campaigns in Russia, the CIS and the Baltic states.
Writing technical specifications, briefs, holding tenders among potential contractors and choosing contractors for organizing advertising events in Russian cities.
Organization, control of the conduct and analysis of effectiveness advertising campaigns.

Preparation of interviews, answers to questions and comments on editorial materials of various print and online media.
Participation in conferences, round tables and other open events with reports / messages related to the advertising and marketing activities of the company.
Preparation of presentations and other materials about the company's activities.

Planning and organization of offsite and internal events (event direction)

Corporate events (together with the trade marketing department).
Dealer and VIP conferences (together with the trade marketing department).
Sponsorship.

APPROVED

HR Director:

With the present Job description I have read and undertake to comply with all its provisions:

Full Name:

Signature: Date:

List of competencies, which a candidate going to a vacancy should have, should be drawn up at the stage of preparing for the interview. It is logical that we choose competencies taking into account the tasks highlighted in the profile of the position for which the candidate is going. On the one hand, there should not be too many competencies, so as not to make the assessment of the candidate at the interview difficult and unnecessarily time-consuming. On the other hand, there should not be too few competencies in order to conduct a sufficiently detailed assessment at the interview and be sure that our candidate will be successful as the head of the advertising department. You can also add two or three more wishes of the company to the personal effectiveness of the candidate (see below).

Let's single out six competencies that should be formed in the head of the advertising department, whose position profile I have given above.

As managerial competencies I propose to single out two competencies for evaluating a candidate:

Leadership qualities, the ability to lead employees.
Regular management skills - the ability to set tasks for your subordinates, motivate them to complete assigned tasks and monitor performance.

As professional competencies there are four skills of organizing processes according to the functional of the position:

Ability to conduct market analysis and choose effective strategies for positioning and promoting the company's brand, as well as develop advertising and image materials for the company.
Skills in creating and regulating corporate standards for the use of the brand name and creative materials, planning and budgeting for ongoing advertising campaigns.
Skills in writing technical specifications, briefs, holding tenders among potential contractors and choosing contractors for organizing advertising events in Russian cities, as well as the skill of external PR of the company.
Organization skill corporate events(together with the trade marketing department).

In addition to the six managerial and professional competencies, it is possible to add wishes to the personal effectiveness of the head of the advertising department, namely: he has developed skills in planning and structuring the working time of his own and subordinates.

At the stage of preparation, it remains to decide which candidates will be interesting to us and which ones will not be interesting (based on the financial capabilities of the company). For this purpose, I propose to divide all the resumes that we have for choosing a candidate for an open vacancy into three categories. These will be category A candidates, which are of interest to us in the first place, candidates of category B, which will be of interest to us in the second place, and candidates of category C, which we will not be interested in.

Category A candidates have formed competencies and ready-made work skills, they are able to immediately join the work functionality and get specific results. There are few such candidates (up to 10-15% of the total number of CVs), and you will need to meet with them as soon as possible: on the same day as we received their CVs, or the next day. Otherwise, the “warm” candidate will be “intercepted” by another company, offering him interesting working conditions.

In our example, it would be good if the candidate had up to two to three years of experience in the position of the head of the advertising department and has been engaged in professional advertising tasks for at least three years. It will be great if, despite the fact that he is a creative person, our candidate arrives for an interview on time, his documents are in order, and he himself is dressed in accordance with the office dress code.

Category B candidates do not have ready-made skills at the level required in our company (usually up to 25-30% of the total number of resumes). We will need to finish their education, so they will interest us in the event that we cannot agree on the money and other conditions of work with category A candidates.

In our example, when looking for the head of the advertising department, we can hire a young advertising specialist with good professional skills, expressed leadership potential, but without experience in the position of a manager. During the trial period, we will organize the managerial adaptation of such a candidate, and if he is a leader by nature, it is quite possible that he will show excellent results in the position of the head of the advertising department.

It is desirable that the category B candidate has good learning ability and strives to develop his vertical career.

Category C candidates do not have formed competencies and ready-made skills (they are usually the majority, up to 60% of the total number of resumes, if not more). Many of them are in search and send out their resumes in a "wide fan". If the company does not have the time and funds to train a “zero” candidate, he should not be invited for an interview, he will find himself in another business and, possibly, in a different position.

In addition, it makes sense to pay attention to the fact if the candidate has changed jobs every six months or a year over the past 3-5 years. There may be risks that our candidate is deliberately building an “accelerated career”, moving from company to company with higher wages and no concrete results. In this case, our company can act for him as another alternate airfield, from which he will soon "fly away" to another business.

It may also be the case that a candidate who often changes companies is a quarrelsome and conflicted person with whom they quickly part. If there is such doubt, it is advisable to call the company in which the candidate previously worked and inquire in detail with the employee of the personnel service of this company. If an HR specialist shares such information, it will be our professional success. If he refuses to talk on this topic, for us this is also information indicating that it is better not to waste time with such a candidate for an interview.

So, we thoroughly prepared for the interview: we formed the profile of the position according to the vacancy, made a list of competencies that we will evaluate when meeting with the candidate, and, finally, chose the candidates with whom we will meet in the first and second turn, and also "weeded out" the candidates , with whom we will not meet, so as not to waste our work time... Let's get down to the interview now!

SECOND STEP: EVALUATION INTERVIEW IN 30 MIN

In order to conduct an interview with a candidate quickly, efficiently and with high validity, it is necessary to clearly choose the interview style and make a list of questions that we will ask the candidate.

Interview style

I am convinced that if a recruiter seeks valid answers from a candidate, he will choose a contact interview style so that the candidate can open up and openly answer questions. Of course, we always take into account the fact that the candidate is “selling” himself, and we double-check his answers with the help of additional open questions, clarifications, questions “for understanding” like “Did I understand you correctly ...?”, As well as questions on precedents: "Give specific examples ...". We will also include in the interview case questions like "How will you act in this situation ..."? or "How will you solve this problem ..." ?.

I would like to protect the reader from two interview mistakes that reduce the validity of the candidate's assessment and improperly increase the interview time. As the first mistake, I single out an unjustifiably harsh top-down stress interview with a manifestation of mistrust in the candidate and humiliating his human dignity. The job seeker is often worried during the interview, and it is not profitable for the hiring manager to increase his stress level. First, the recruiter himself will be under pressure when conducting such interviews. By the end of the working day, he is exhausted, and his eyes are blurred, as a result, all candidates begin to seem incompetent and unsuitable for work in the company.

Secondly, in a stress interview, the candidate closes down, which is a natural reaction of a normal person. So, a strong candidate will respond with a reflexive game, in other words, he will tell a lie that is difficult to verify. A sensitive candidate will receive a negative impression from the interview and when he receives an offer from the staff, he will not come to work in the company, he may not pick up the phone if the HR manager calls him. He will decide this: “If an HR specialist behaves so tough on recruiting, then what will happen when I come to work in this company? They probably "torture" people there! I'd rather look for a job in another company. "

In any case, by practicing tough stress interviews with candidates at the recruiting stage, a company risks its HR brand as an attractive employer, and as a result, capable, in-demand candidates will avoid working in such a business.

Another important tip for shortening interview time.

Many hiring managers present their company at the beginning of the interview. competitive advantages and only then do competency interviews begin. The presentation of the company's advantages can take two to three minutes, and if the candidate begins to ask clarifying questions at this moment, then all five minutes. As a result, it may turn out that it is not the personnel service employee who evaluates the candidate, but the candidate evaluates him and the company.

Perhaps, if the interview is a unique specialist, and the company has long sought to invite him to work, in order to increase the loyalty and motivation of such a candidate, you can present the company from the side of its advantages. However, this situation is quite rare, and, in my opinion, it is better to present the advantages of the company at the end of the interview, and specifically for a candidate who is clearly interested in the hiring manager.

Moreover, in this case, the presentation of the company's advantages will not be general, but targeted, "point", only from the side of needs and motivators that the candidate found during the interview. So, if he wants to develop professionally, then it is necessary to say that the company conducts scheduled personnel training, if the candidate is interested in an additional bonus, it is important to list the "goodies" that the company offers to its employees. Finally, if the candidate is sensitive to the company's atmosphere, it must be said that the company has a positive climate and employees help each other.

I can add one more recommendation to reduce interview time. To more accurately assess the candidate, it makes sense to invite him to ask questions about the working conditions that interest him. For this, you can allocate 5-10 minutes of time at the end of the interview. As a rule, the candidate asks questions on the motivators that interest him in the first place: how the salary is formed, whether there are any delays in payment, how often professional training of personnel is carried out, what is the composition of the team in which the candidate will work, what corporate events are held in the company and others. Based on how the candidate will react to the recruiting manager's answers, it is possible to assess how loyal the candidate is to the company and is motivated to work in it.

Now let's talk about the dynamics of the interview and the questions we ask.

The dynamics of the interview consists of five stages:

The beginning of the interview, the formation of contact with the candidate.
HR manager questions and job seeker answers.
Presentation of the company's competitive advantages.
Candidate questions and HR specialist answers.
Completion of the interview and informing the candidate on the feedback on the results of the assessment.

Beginning of the interview

The beginning of the interview is about establishing positive contact with the candidate. It will be great if the recruiting manager greets the candidate amiably and says briefly about himself, for example, “Good afternoon! My name is Natalya, I am a recruiting manager. "

Further, it is necessary to say about the purpose of the interview and the time that the employee of the personnel service has: “We will hold negotiations with you about the possibilities and conditions of your work in our company. I will ask you some questions, you can also formulate questions for me. We have about an hour with you (or about 45 minutes). "

I wrote “or about 45 minutes” because in many cases it is better to have an extra buffer time (15 minutes) in case the candidate turns out to be interesting and the need arises for additional questions. If the candidate does not interest the hiring manager, the interview can take up to 30 minutes. It should be borne in mind that according to the rules of business etiquette, the duration of the interview should not be less than 15 minutes, even if the candidate seemed completely uninteresting to the company.

HR Manager Questions & Job Seeker Answers

For example, I will take our case for the selection of an employee for the position of the head of the advertising department. Here are two reference tables for building an interview. In the first table on the left scale - the questions asked by the HR manager, on the right scale - the candidate's competencies, which are assessed at the interview. In the second table - on the left scale, competencies for assessing a candidate for the position of the head of the advertising department are indicated, on the right scale - the questions of the recruiting manager.

At the beginning of the interview, typical (general) questions are usually asked in order to assess the values, loyalty and motivation of the candidate (see Table 1 (2). In addition, with the help of general questions, the candidate's ability to educate himself and accumulate professional experience, his attitude to achievements and failures, as well as the skill of timely correction of mistakes.

Tab. 1. Typical (general) questions on the selection.

Typical (general) questions of the sourcing manager
Tell us about yourself, about your career.	Self-presentation skill Motivation for a vertical career
What have you heard about our company? What attracts you to work in our company?
Have you received offers from other companies?	Awareness of the candidate about the company, readiness for an interview Potential loyalty of the candidate to the company Interests and motivators of the candidate
Who can I contact for feedback on your work? The question is asked if the candidate is a free applicant.	Clarification of the circumstances under which the candidate left the company in which he worked The degree of loyalty of the candidate to the company in which he previously worked
Tell us about your current responsibilities... The question is asked if the candidate is working and at the same time is looking for a new job.	Assessment of the professional knowledge and skills of the candidate If the candidate is a manager, an assessment of his managerial competencies (management skills of subordinates) Assessment of the content of the candidate's work, tactical and strategic tasks in its functionality
Tell us about your successes and achievements.	Assessment of your own achievements Assessment of the candidate's personal effectiveness (self-confidence, focus on high results)
Tell us about your failures. What experience have you been able to gain? What conclusions have you made?	Assessment of the analytical competence of the candidate Assessment of the candidate's desire to work to improve the level of his professional competence
Describe your strengths and benefits.	Professional self-assessment of the candidate Assessment of the candidate's ability for introspection and reflection
What qualities do you develop in yourself? How do you work on yourself?	Assessment of the skill of self-education and self-development Assessment of the candidate's motivation to gain new experience and new knowledge
How do you improve your qualifications?	Identification of specific skills for self-education (reading special literature, using Internet resources, communicating with internal experts of the company, attending trainings and seminars, participating in new projects)
How do you spend your free time? What are your hobbies and interests?	Assessment of the candidate's interests Assessment of the candidate's anti-stress skills, his ability to recover from workloads
What are the views of your parents? What did they teach you? How are you different from them?	Assessing the Values of a Candidate Assessment of a candidate's respect for authoritative, significant people
	Assessment of candidate communication skills Assessing a candidate's ability to maintain long-term business relationship
In what time frame can you start working?	Candidate Responsibility Assessment Assessment of the candidate's situation in which he leaves (left) the previous company

In the main part of the interview, the recruiting manager asks questions in order to assess the managerial and professional competencies of the candidate. Table 2 provides a fairly extensive list of questions from which the reader will be able to choose those that, in his opinion, will be most effective during the interview.

In addition, if the company employs advertising professionals, it will be helpful to invite them for an interview in order to obtain their expert opinion on the candidate. I know from experience that hiring managers are versed in various professional areas, often far from their basic education, but participating in an interview with an expert from the field to which the candidate is invited can significantly reduce the interview time. An expert can ask three or four key questions and, after listening to the candidate's answers, quickly formulate a fairly accurate opinion about him as a professional.

I offer questions for interviews on competencies in our case - the selection of a candidate for the position of the head of the advertising department.

Tab. 2. Questions to the candidate when recruiting the head of the advertising department for the vacancy (assessment of managerial and professional competencies, as well as time management skills).

What competencies are assessed	Sourcing Manager Questions
Managerial competencies of the candidate
Leadership qualities, the ability to lead.	What can you say about your organizational skills? As a child, did you strive for leadership or were you involved in children's games as a team member? Describe the benefits and risks of being a leader. Describe the benefits and risks of a subordinate employee. In your opinion, what qualities should a team leader have? Give examples of when you made important decisions. Give examples of your leadership of people. Tell us about your subordinates who have grown professionally under your leadership. Which people are the easiest for you to work with? Which employees were difficult for you to work with and why? Give specific examples. Share your understanding of feedback from subordinates. How should you communicate with employees? Tell us about your experience in coordinating and coordinating activities within a team between different subordinates. Tell us about your experience in coordinating actions between different departments in the process of performing joint tasks.
Regular management skills.	Describe your understanding of the corporate value of teamwork. What factors contribute to the development of teamwork? What factors hinder the development of teamwork? Is it easy for you to delegate? Are you experiencing barriers to delegation? Give examples when you refused delegation. Give an example of setting a task to a subordinate. Describe the technology for setting a problem using SMART technology. How do you motivate a subordinate to complete the task? Give examples. How do you control the execution of the task by subordinates? Give examples. What kind of control do you prefer - result control or current control?
Professional competence of the candidate
Ability to conduct market analysis and select effective strategies for positioning and promoting the company's brand.	Formulate the concept of effective advertising. Describe goals and objectives promotions taking into account the specifics of our company's business. Give your definition of a corporate brand. You are familiar with the website of our company. What characteristics of our company's website do you rate highly? What recommendations could you give to improve the corporate branding of our company? Give examples of specific tools for positioning and promoting brands of Russian companies, incl. data from research agencies, media monitoring, expert opinions. Give examples of your successful developments company materials (advertising and image), including writing technical specifications, briefs and holding tenders for the selection of contractors.
Skill in creating and regulating corporate standards for the use of brand name and creative materials, planning and budgeting for current advertising companies.	Please provide examples of how you have created corporate standards for the use of the brand name and creative materials (brand book, advertising policies, etc.) Give examples from your planning and budgeting work for current advertising campaigns in Russia. Which advertising budget minimal, in your opinion? Describe ways to optimize your ad budget.
Skill in writing technical specifications, briefs, holding tenders among potential contractors and choosing contractors for organizing advertising events in Russian cities, external PR of the company.	Give examples of your successful writing of technical specifications and briefs. Give examples successful holding with your participation in tenders among potential contractors and selection of contractors for organizing advertising events in Russian cities. What tools do you use in your work to control the conduct and analysis of the effectiveness of advertising campaigns? Do you have experience in preparing interviews, answering questions and commenting on editorial materials of various print and online media? Give specific examples. Give examples of your participation in conferences, round tables and other open events with reports / messages related to the advertising and marketing activities of the company. Give examples of your presentations at conferences and round tables.
The skill of organizing corporate events.	Give examples of your participation in the organization and conduct of corporate events of your company. What were your functions? Have you held dealer and VIP conferences? Did you participate in sponsorship organization? Give examples.
Candidate Personal Performance Competencies
Time management skills.	How do you plan your working day? A week? Month? Year? What part of your working time (in percentage) does the following tasks take: planning (long-term, short-term), business meetings and conferences, work with people, phone calls, work with documents and business correspondence. development and decision making Give a definition to the term "time sinks". What are some typical time sinks that you can name? How did you fight your own time wasters? Do you use a Stephen Covey matrix? What are your priorities in your work? How do you work with priorities? What small tasks could you highlight in your work? How do you work with small tasks? What is the Eat a Raw Frog Principle? What is the Slice Elephant Principle?

During the general and professional interview the following characteristics of the candidate's answers are positively assessed:

Professional confidence of the candidate.
Openness, communication skills of the candidate.
Detailed answers with accurate and consistent information.
Reduction of the set concrete examples from the professional experience of the candidate.
Analysis by the candidate of the benefits and risks in assessing the situation.
The candidate's analysis of his achievements, taking into account his role in obtaining these results.
The aspiration of the candidate for self-education and self-development.
The desire of the candidate to correct mistakes made, as well as to train in competencies, the insufficient development of which has led to failures and mistakes.

Presentation of the competitive advantages of the company, questions of the candidate and answers of the recruiting manager

Here is a list of questions candidates usually ask during interviews. It is important for the HR manager to prepare in advance to answer these questions in order to appear competent and loyal to his company in the eyes of the candidate.

These are the questions:

Questions about the company's prospects

Briefly tell about the prospects and main directions of the company's activities.

Questions about the company's solvency

“It is clear that I cannot give exact figures, I will only indicate their order. So, over the past six months, the turnover has been growing by an average of 15% per month ”.

Questions about the reliability of the company

Yes, the company is licensed and accredited. The company is a member of the "..." association.

Questions about company visibility

Mention in the media, participation in professional competitions, rating lists.

Questions about the scope of the company

The number of personnel, the number of clients, the largest clients, branches in the regions, the vehicle fleet, etc.

Questions about company policies and payment terms

Does it exist probation? How long does it last?
How does the trial period end?
Do you need to work overtime?
Is overtime paid?
Is it ok to work on Saturday?
Is there a working schedule for all employees?
When does the working day start and when does it end?
When are wages paid?
Is it accepted to pay an advance?
Is there an official lunch break? Where is it customary to dine?
Is it customary to drink tea? Where is this happening?
Is smoking accepted in the company? Where are the smoking areas?
Are common holidays and birthdays celebrated?
What additional benefits do employees have?
Does the company conduct regular staff training?

Questions about people working for the company

What is the average age of employees?
Female or male team?
Who are the leaders of the company? Subdivisions?
Who are my potential subordinates?

Questions about the position

Is this a full-time position?
How many subordinates does this position involve?
What are the main job duties by position?
What are the company's success criteria?

Completion of the interview

At the conclusion of the interview, the HR manager speaks of feedback from the assessment. Since I am in favor of a contact interview, I suggest a positive end to the interview in any case: both when the candidate received high marks in the eyes of the recruiter, and when the candidate seemed uninteresting to the company.

The formula for a positive ending phrase might be: “Thank you for your interest in our company. Our negotiations were meaningful. As part of the corporate policy of our company, it is customary for us to provide feedback to each candidate within three working (banking) days. An employee of the personnel service will call you or write a message to your address. Goodbye!".

If the HR manager has practically no time for feedback to each candidate, then the final phrase may be: “Thank you for your interest in our company. Our negotiations were meaningful. As part of the corporate policy of our company, it is customary for us that if you have not received feedback from our company within three working (banking) work, you can continue to search for work in the market. Goodbye!".

If a candidate has to refuse, then it is better to do it politely. I propose this formulation for telephone conversation or an email: “Thank you for taking the time to negotiate with our company. We have made a decision on the selection of a candidate, and you can continue your search in the market. We are sure that you will find a vacancy for successful work! ".

The market has also adopted a neutral form of refusal, which can be applied if the company employs specialists of the profile for which the candidates were evaluated. The refusal formula then looks like this: “Thank you for taking the time to negotiate with our company. We made a decision to select an internal candidate from among the employees working for our company. We are sure you will find a vacancy for successful work! ".

STEP THREE: ADAPTING A NEW EMPLOYEE

A new employee goes through three forms of adaptation: social (gets used to the team), managerial and disciplinary (gets used to office requirements and the management style of the immediate supervisor) and professional, if necessary (undergoing training in order to form the necessary work skills).

Let's outline the main steps in the development of the Adaptation program of our newcomer, the head of the advertising department, which can be called "induction".

The first day of work of the new the employee should be quite eventful. After completing the documents in the HR Department (in accordance with the Regulations on hiring a company), the first day begins with a conversation with the HR director, who hands the new employee a brochure about the company (corporate book, employee handbook or newbie folder). This folder contains materials on the history of the company (when it was founded, who are the founders, who are the main shareholders), the goals and prospects for the development of the company, as well as the Regulations on the company (statutory fund, company services, licenses, areas of activity, with which companies it interacts, staffing table).

The HR director acquaints the newcomer with the structure of the company, with the procedures and traditions of the company, with the current documents, orders and orders. He transmits a list of phone numbers of employees who can be contacted for information. In conclusion, the HR director explains his main functions and how he can help in adapting and supporting a new employee. It will also be useful to present information about future colleagues, their interests, communication features, birthdays, etc.

After familiarizing the new employee with general issues of his work in the company, a conversation is organized with the head (or deputy head) of the company. The latter acquaints him with the range of tasks according to the position, describes the functions of other employees of the department, describes the procedure for interaction (office hours, a range of issues), talks about the methods of planning, reporting and control adopted in the department.

In some companies, a new employee is introduced to a colleague who will help him "get used to the team." Such a “social mentor” acts in the form of soft, non-intrusive care: he will show you where you can dine, where the smoking area is located, how to dress, what unspoken customs and traditions are adopted in the unit, etc.

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of corporate rituals aimed at introducing the new head of the advertising department to the employees of the division, his future colleagues. A few days before he comes to the company, it is necessary to place his photo and information about him ( professional affiliation, marital status, zodiac sign, interests and hobbies) in the company network. It's great if the manager announces the news of the arrival of a new employee. It will not be bad at all if the newcomer receives a business card (badge) with a photo so that he can be addressed by name.

Of course, on the first day of work of a new employee, it is necessary to organize his acquaintance with colleagues (mutual introduction of employees, description of the duties of a new employee, presentation of a new employee). Employee initiation rituals have been adopted in many Russian companies: they are greeted with a bouquet of flowers, or any sign that attracts attention (a flag, balloons, tea at the end of the working day, etc.).

A separate issue of adaptation of a new employee is to familiarize him with his workplace, where installed necessary equipment and office equipment.

And of course, support from the immediate supervisor is very important for a new employee. It will be nice if, when meeting with the new head of the advertising department in the corridor or on the stairs in the office, the head (or deputy) of the company says positive phrases: “Glad to see you! How are you doing? Are there any difficulties? Do you need help? "

Bibliography

Mornel P. Technology of effective recruitment. New system of assessment and selection of personnel. M .: Good book, 2005.
Polyakov V., Yanovskaya Yu. Five steps to a worthy career. SPb .: Peter, 2013.
Samoukina N. Handbook of the personnel manager. Complete practical guide. Rostov-on-Don: Phoenix, 2015.

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The best employers from a wide variety of industries from retail to oil production have recently been trying to hire only candidates with high potential - and in order to identify it, they drive applicants through multi-stage selection procedures. As a result, not only those who want to get into management consulting will have to face case interviews. We have collected information on how the case interviews work and what needs to be done to prepare for them.

If you want to work in a well-known company and in a good position, you need to understand that sooner or later you will come across a case interview - if not during the selection, then at the stage of promotion in the company.
In the case interview, everything becomes clear: the interviewer sees how you know the industry, how you are able to search for information and analyze what experience you have, what you are in general.
It is really necessary to prepare for solving cases: this type of task can easily unsettle the uninitiated person. A business case is a real situation in the life of a certain company, which needs to be comprehensively analyzed in order to offer your own effective and, preferably, original way to improve the situation. Moreover, recruiters will expect that you will deal with the entire mass of information received, penetrate the very essence of the problem and find the right path as quickly and confidently as possible.
All types of selection, during which cases are used, can be roughly divided into five types: 1) online tests based on cases, 2) brainteasers, 3) individual cases, 4) team tasks that are given at assessment centers, 5) case - championships. All of them are designed to test you in practice, and you need to prepare for each of them responsibly.

Are you planning to participate in the selection in top company this year? Please note: preparation should begin at least 3 months in advance. You will spend a week or two studying theory, searching and reading books, spending another couple of weeks doing test interviews, and then you should practice like interviews in companies that you really don't really want to get a job.

Theory

3. Learn to decompose the complex into simple parts... The interviewer will closely follow the course of your thoughts, and success here depends precisely on how you know how to break the most complex case into simple components.

5. Have a broad outlook... You can understand all the principles of solving cases, but without great erudition - nowhere. You must have a good understanding of geography, the economic situation in the world and individual states, correctly assess demographic characteristics different countries and regions. This is perhaps the most difficult thing: you will not remember such a volume of information even in a couple of weeks. Follow the news of politics and economics, play quizzes on your smartphone, flip through school geography textbooks, watch documentaries, and most importantly, read more. This is the only way to become a real polymath.

6. Be able to count quickly in your head... To solve a case effectively, you need to develop good math skills. At an interview, you will have to think very quickly, you may not be given a calculator, and counting in a column on a piece of paper will look unprofessional. For training, you can use any free minute - for example, add car numbers in your mind when you walk down the street, or solve problems in convenient mobile applications like Elevate.

7. Read the best literature about cases... First, take advantage of the Preplonge.com site we linked to above. The Consulting Skills tab contains all the information about the case interviews: in BootCamp you will find articles, and in the Media Library you will find videos. Also, be sure to read:

Kenichi Omaye. “Thinking of a strategist. The Art of Japanese Business ”(Kenichi Ohmae, The Mind of the Strategist: The Art of Japanese Business)
Meister D., Galford R., Green C. David H. Maister, Charles H. Green, Robert M. Galford, The Trusted Advisor
Minto B. Barbara Minto, The Minto Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing, Thinking, & Problem Solving
Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pignet. “Building business models. The Strategic and Innovator's Handbook (Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers)
Mark Cosentino. "About cases" (Marc Cosentino. "Case In Point")
Karl Stern, Michael Daimler. "The BCG Approach to Strategy" (Carl W. Stern, Michael S. Deimler. "The Boston Consulting Group on Strategy")
Ethan Rasiel, Paul Friga. McKinsey Tools. Best Practice for Solving Business Problems "(Ethan Rasiel, Paul N. Friga, The McKinsey Mind: Understanding and Implementing the Problem-Solving Tools and Management Techniques of the World's Top Strategic Consulting Firm)
Victor Cheng. Repeat After Me (Victor Cheng, Look Over My Shoulder)

Practice

Practice. Practice. Practice! Having mastered the whole theory, you should definitely devote the next couple of weeks to solving cases and test interviews, including quite real ones - however, in those companies where you really do not really want to. The latter is important, because not everyone succeeds in successfully passing a case interview the first time, and in some companies, such as McKinsey or BCG, this chance occurs only a couple of times in life. It is better to fill all the bumps in advance, when selecting a completely different company, in order to be as confident as possible in your abilities during the decisive interview.

1. Independent solution of cases... Be sure to look at examples of cases on the websites of the companies themselves - for example, BCG cases with their analysis can be found here: http://careers.bcg.com/join/practice_cases.aspx. There are also independent collections - for example, from Wharton and Kellogg business schools, in addition, student clubs of Harvard and Stanford publish their own case books every year with real examples. In no case should your practice be based on memorizing cases. Be sure to write down your solution, give it to a knowledgeable person for verification and get detailed comments from him.

2. Mock interviews... For the most stubborn candidates, there are special services that allow you to train under the guidance of a real consultant, for example, it is paid, but you have the right to take advantage of a discount from Changellenge >>. In the Case Practice> Meet Candidates section, you can meet experienced consultants, choose a mentor for yourself, contact him via Skype and try to solve the case. Only in this case can we say that you have really moved from theory to practice - but most importantly, you will receive detailed feedback and will be able to take into account all your weaknesses and strengths during further preparation.

3. Interviews in lower priority companies... Apply for all possible development programs, for getting into which you need to go through several stages - test, assessment center, individual interview... What doesn't kill makes us stronger, and the interviews that we couldn't get through prepare us for the next successful interview. You will not lose anything except time, but you will gain invaluable experience and will panic much less before the most important interview for you and the decision of the case.

If you dream of a major consulting league (BCG or McKinsey, for example), then there is a high probability that you will not have time to prepare even in three months. Remember that in fact, you can get into such companies only as a student of the last years, a completely fresh graduate, or already a person who has received an MBA. In order not to miss your chance, start serious preparation in 2-3 years. Immerse yourself in business, learn about different industries, learn to be a team player and speak to top managers at case championships - like those that you conduct yourself consulting companies and independent. This practice is generally very effective, because it helps to learn everything in advance and not fail the most important interview in life.

And, of course, take part in case championships. They will teach you how to solve cases, and the cost of a mistake is very small. It is generally useful to make mistakes in the championship - they will point out to you a flaw and explain in which direction you should develop. And if you show an excellent result, the company whose case is being solved at the championship can immediately invite you to the case interview stage, without wasting time on other selection stages.

Case-based online tests

The Problem Solving Test (PST) and its analogs are a kind of correspondence case interviews with multiple answers. PST allows the recruiter to know in advance to what extent the candidate is ready to deal with real business situations, while at the same time it allows you to see if the participant is good at reading information in writing and in large quantities. Such tests are conducted in different ways - for example, during selection at McKinsey, you will need to come to the office and answer the test questions there, and BCG sometimes arranges online testing for candidates right at universities.

How to Prepare? Applicants with experience in passing are advised, first of all, to practice their calculation skills and be sure to pass a couple mock tests... You can find them on the pages of the companies themselves - for example, from the McKinsey website you can download a document with a detailed description of the Problem Solving Test and trial problems (), an example of the BCG Potential Test can also be found in the public domain (link >>). Trial options will help you understand the basic principles of this stage and will not let you get confused during the testing itself. Other tips for preparation can hardly be expected, since all tests are different, and they first of all check the general business outlook, the ability to count and draw conclusions from the data.

Braintezers

Braintezers are small tasks related to non-standard calculations. For example, in ordinary life, it would never occur to anyone to count how many ping-pong balls will fit into a Boeing 787 - that is, a candidate will certainly face an unfamiliar problem. When you are given a brain teaser during an interview, it will not be more accurate. crucial... The main thing is to demonstrate several atypical approaches to solving the problem, impeccable logic of reasoning, the ability to think in non-standard situation and count quickly in your head. The same problem about Boeing and tennis balls can be solved, and without knowing the exact figures about the dimensions of the aircraft and the diameter of the balls - it is enough to estimate everything well and do all the necessary calculations, and out loud so that the interviewer hears you reasoning: “The width of the cabin is say, 6 meters, that is, the section radius is 3 meters, and the area is 3 * 3 * 3.14 - about 28 meters. The length of the cabin is 60 meters, which means that its volume is approximately equal to 1,700 cubic meters, or 1,700,000,000 cubic centimeters. The radius of a tennis ball is 2 centimeters, which means that the volume is approximately 33 cubic centimeters. It turns out that the cabin can fit about 50 million balls - and let's remove 15%, since there will be empty space between them. I think the answer is 38 million balls. "

Individual cases

Individual cases- this is perhaps the most difficult thing. There are many varieties of them: Profitability Case, Growth Strategy, Market Sizing, Pricing - and this is not a complete list (see information at the link >>).
All individual cases can be conventionally divided into two subtypes. In the first case, the entire task of the case and related information is issued by the interviewer immediately, all that remains is to analyze everything and offer your informed decision. Often such cases are given in a written format - as, for example, they do at BCG. You will receive a couple of A4 sheets containing all the information you need about the company and the industry. When it comes to increasing the profitability of the retail segment commercial bank, you may have in your hands financial indicators over the past few years, basic information about products, facts about the number of branches and employees in different cities, and, of course, the task of the case itself. All you need to do is do the situational analysis.
In the second case, you have to play with questions and answers: the interviewer gives only the most common task, and the candidate needs to find out all the details important for the decision. It is important to ask the right questions here - the interviewer will assess how well your research skills and communication skills are.
80% of companies testing applicants using case studies offer tasks related to their field of activity. If you are interviewing at FMCG, then we will talk about the production and sale of goods popular consumption If you want to get into a bank, you will need to think about the realities of banking. But there are also companies that like to give cases on an abstract topic - during the selection for an internship at one investment bank, they often give cases that are not related to the banking sector at all.

How to Prepare? Explore the universal schemes that consulting companies recommend to solve cases. For example, the McKinsey website has examples of cases with detailed analysis of solutions - http://www.mckinsey.com/careers/join_us/interview_prep. It is recommended to start by clarifying the necessary details - it is at this stage that you will ask the interviewer questions about the industry, the company itself, and also clarify whether you have understood the task correctly. Training with a real partner, ideally with someone who has already passed the case interview and saw everything with his own eyes, will help to prepare for this stage. It is also very important to be in the role of an interviewer and see how peers will cope with the same task. An outside perspective will help you understand exactly what will be expected of you.
After finding out the details you need to get started, you should announce a plan for a future decision and determine whether you will use a known method or go on your own path. For 80% of cases, you can apply common consulting frameworks that will help structure your thinking and come to the right decision. However, no one bothers you to find your own original method - if everything works out well, your ingenuity will make an excellent impression on the interviewer. Read the book "Case Interview Secrets" by Victor Cheng - it will teach you how to think outside the box (link >>).
Having voiced the solution plan, you need to proceed to the actual analysis and assessment of the situation. Trial cases, which can be found in the public domain, will help to fill your hand.
Finally, all you have to do is take stock and formulate your own recommendations. You will have to tell everything about how you understood the situation, what you see as the problem, suggest several ways to solve it and highlight the most effective one. It is important not only not to make a mistake, but also to speak convincingly and clearly - all the same trainings with a live partner will help to confidently approach this stage. Better - with an experienced interviewer s.

Team cases

Team cases will meet you during the selection stage at the assessment center. You will analyze the problem together with complete strangers, who are also your competitors. Here, first of all, attention is paid to your ability to work in a team, the ability to lead it to a unified solution in a difficult situation and to defend your position reasonably. At the same time, you can neither be a passive link in the team, nor an upstart, which prevents everyone from working productively.
In general, there is no universal role: different companies require different types employees. For example, consulting requires executive, competent team players and leaders, while FMCG is looking for people who come up with a non-standard solution and are able to convince others of it. Case topics for team decision are similar to individual interview topics.

How to Prepare? The chances that you will come across the perfect team are very few. You need to learn to work with by different people, and in especially severe cases - to fight with your own shyness. Most The best way training is practice. Firstly, it is worth submitting a resume to the maximum number of companies that are used by assessment centers at the selection stages. In addition, you can take part in case championships. An additional plus of such competitions is the opportunity to get feedback on your skills in solving cases and team playing from judges, who are usually top managers. largest companies from Alfa-Bank to Unilever.
To be continued!

The 21-day MBA-based educational intensive will build you up for a cool career. Four cases from different industries are waiting for you: banking, consulting, IT, FMCG, 20 experts with MBA degrees and more than 100 useful contacts. Hurry up to apply!

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If you do not know where to start your career, are at a dead end or think that you have made some mistakes, ask the experts for advice. Fill out the application and the Changellenge consultants >> will help you. This is a great chance, together with an expert, to work out problematic issues and draw up a career plan.

Andrey Alyasov

Founder of the National Case League Changellenge

If you want to work for a well-known company and in a good position (for example, in Alfa-Bank, EY, KPMG, McKinsey, PwC or Unilever), sooner or later you will come across a case interview. Employers use case interviews because everything is clearly visible during it: how do you know the industry, how do you know how to search for information, what experience do you have, what you are in general.

What is a case interview

A business case is a real situation in the life of a certain company that needs to be analyzed in order to offer your own effective and, preferably, original way to improve the situation. Moreover, recruiters will expect you to get to the heart of the problem and find the right path as quickly and confidently as possible.

The solution of cases can easily unsettle the uninitiated person. It is impossible to prepare for them in one day. I advise you to start training at least three months in advance: spend a week or two studying theory, searching and reading books, spend another couple of weeks doing test interviews, and then go for a month or two to practice interviews in a company that you are less interested in. All types of selection, during which cases are used, can be conditionally divided into four types.

Case-based online tests

This is the Problem Solving Test (PST) and its analogs - a kind of correspondence case interviews with answer options that allow the recruiter to assess the ability to make decisions and the ability to perceive large amounts of information.

To get ready, it's worth practicing your calculating skills and passing a couple of practice tests (on the McKinsey website you can find a document detailing the Problem Solving Test, the same example is available from BCG).

Braintezers

Small tasks associated with non-standard calculations. For example, the classic one: how many ping-pong balls fit into the Boeing 787. Great accuracy is not critical here. The main thing is to demonstrate an atypical approach to solving a problem, the logic of reasoning, the ability to make decisions in a non-standard situation and quickly calculate in your mind.

The same problem about Boeing and tennis balls can be solved without knowing the exact figures for the dimensions of the aircraft and the diameter of the balls. It is enough to estimate everything well and make all the necessary calculations, and out loud so that the interviewer hears you reasoning: “The width of the cabin is, say, six meters, that is, the radius of the section is three meters, and the area is 3 * 3 * 3.14 - approximately 28 meters. The length of the cabin is 60 meters, which means that its volume is approximately equal to 1,700 cubic meters, or 1,700,000,000 cubic centimeters. The radius of a tennis ball is two centimeters, which means that the volume is approximately 33 cubic centimeters. It turns out that the salon can fit about 50,000,000 balls - and let's remove
15%, since there will be white space between them. I think the answer is 38 million balls. "

You can search for brain teasers on the Internet - selections with some of them wander around from year to year social networks... And you also need to do the training of your oral counting skill. At the interview, you will have to think very quickly, the calculator may not be given to you, and the calculations in a column on a piece of paper will look unprofessional. For training, you can use any free minute - for example, add car numbers in your mind when you walk down the street, or solve problems in convenient mobile applications like Elevate.

Individual cases

Cases of this type are perhaps the most difficult. Here you will have to not only think, count, demonstrate your knowledge of the industry and analytical skills. Sometimes the task of the case and related information are issued immediately, then the candidate only needs to do a situational analysis. In other cases, the interviewer gives only a general picture (for example, asks to tell you how to increase the profitability of the retail segment of a commercial bank), and you need to find out the details using the right questions.

Basically, such cases are related to the activities of the company. But there are also those who like to give tasks on an abstract topic. The interviewer can move away from the prepared case and give an original one - for example, ask how to increase the competitiveness of the Russian army or the average USE score in the region, ask to calculate the minimum required population of the country, or suggest thinking about how to reduce carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere.

Trial cases will help you prepare for such a test. Look at the examples on the websites of the companies themselves - BCG cases with their analysis can be found For the most stubborn candidates there are special services (including paid ones) that allow you to train under the guidance of a real consultant - for example, preplounge.com.

Team case

If, during the selection process, you are invited to the assessment center, be prepared to solve the team case. You will have to analyze the problem together with complete strangers and in combination with your competitors. Moreover, they will look not so much at the quality of the solution, as at your ability to work in a team, the ability to lead it to a single solution in a difficult situation and to defend your position reasonably. You need to understand that the team does not need people who are silently waiting for a common decision, and upstarts who are constantly pulling the blanket over themselves.

Pay attention to the fact that different companies are interested in different types: in consulting they are looking for competent team players, in FMCG - people who are able to show the most creative approach and lead others.

In order to practice properly, it is worth submitting your resume to the maximum number of companies that conduct assessment centers - even if you are not interested in working for them. In addition, you can take part in case championships that have been held in recent years by the companies themselves, as well as by independent case associations - for example, the National League of Changellenge cases.

Case interview

Recently, a technique for evaluating candidates, known as case interviews, has become widespread.

You may be asked to prove yourself in a hypothetical situation, evaluate it, describe your behavior and effective solutions. Case interviews have a number of features and advantages over traditional methods of assessing candidates, the main one of which is to reduce the risk of getting a socially desirable answer. In addition, case studies help to demonstrate not only your important professional skills, but also motivation, honesty, and responsibility. The point of the case interview is that the employer understands to what extent the decisions that the candidate gives coincide with those that they made.

Case example: “You are a sales manager, you made a million dollar deal with post factum payment, and the goods are not in stock. What will you do?"

The candidate begins to talk about how he would behave. Perhaps he would start looking for a product from competitors? Would you agree on payment by installments? Would you take a prepayment? Would you go to the logistics department to swear? Would you take a loan to buy a product?

The employer at this time understands whether the person suits him or not.

There is no one-size-fits-all answer, that's the beauty of a case interview. There may be an answer that suits the company or not. You cannot sell yourself to a company if your behavior does not match what the employer wants. You do not need to sell yourself to the employer for whom your decisions will be unacceptable, you need to find the employer who suits your experience, your examples and who likes what you do.

Candidate for the position of HR Director, for wages 200 thousand rubles. General manager says: “The situation is this: we are ready to receive you, you go out on Monday, but on Monday I am leaving for two weeks on a business trip. What will you do these two weeks? " This is also a case.

The candidate said that on the first day he will get acquainted with the documents that are in the HR department, get to know his employees, then he will begin to audit the situation and communicate with key top managers to understand what personnel problems or tasks arise, what happens and that does not work. Prepare a work plan, send by e-mail general. He will receive confirmation that this plan can be acted upon and will begin to implement it. Moreover, he painted his plan in detail. He was hired and is working successfully.

During the interview, you may be asked open-ended questions, that is, those that involve a detailed answer. For example, talk about your successes in your previous job. In order to correctly answer this question, you need to understand what constitutes success for this company. If the company works with, say, foreign clients, then it is better to give examples of how you worked with foreign companies.

Sometimes the HR says: “I will not ask you any questions, just tell us what you think is necessary about yourself. Complete freedom for you, wherever you want, start from there. "

This waste of time, testifies to the unprofessionalism of the HR. Nevertheless, it happens. If the candidate was given such an opportunity, you need to tell just about examples that are close and interesting to the employer.

One of key mistakes, which top managers do at the interview, after the HR's offer “Tell about yourself,” they talk about themselves, starting with the school family, with their parents, with their native factory of the Order of the Red Banner of Labor ... Oddly enough, but sales consultants when hiring shop in mall don't make this mistake because they don't have it colossal experience... And the director is used to being always listened to. But the interview is a different situation, you need to be able to switch and focus on the main thing.

The right candidate should tell exactly what the employer needs.

Once we were looking for the head of the personnel department. 144 thousand rubles for wages. This is above the market, the head of the personnel department is usually not paid such salaries, but here they were offered.

Candidates are encouraged to talk about themselves. Some remember how they organized the holidays, others - how they did office work, and still others - how they settled labor disputes and the dismissal of employees. The employer, meanwhile, is interested in the experience of working with labor disputes, complex layoffs, staff reductions. It is clear that only those who focus on what the employer needs have a chance ... Moreover, the paradox is that each of them has approximately the same experience. Not because the first one organizes the holidays poorly, but because the employer needs the third experience.

This text is an introductory fragment.

If the HR manager starts the conversation with the words: "Imagine the situation ...", then you are in a situational interview ...

This type of interview differs from others in that it is almost impossible to prepare for it. Even if you thoroughly studied the weaknesses of the "enemy" - found out everything possible about the employer, job and recruiting specialists, "unearthed" the secret problems of the company, and are even ready to explain that you are able to solve such problems - you still cannot be sure. that you are 100% ready for such an interview. What if you have a situational interview? Relax! - advise ejchary.

A bit of history: first there was a teaching technique

The case method or the method of cases as a teaching method originated at Harvard Business School back in 1924. Students were offered a description of any real (or close to real) economic, social or business situation, taken from the experience of leading business practitioners. The task is to understand the essence of the problem and propose the best solution.

Since then, the case method has begun a triumphant march across the planet. This technique came to our country in the late 90s. The case method began to be used not only for business training, but also during job interviews. In 2007, the first business case-solving championship in the history of Russia, MindWrestling, was held.

We simulate the situation

Thanks to the Internet, modern candidates are showing miracles of knowledge in everything related to interviewing. They know how to answer the question about the reasons for leaving previous place work, about why they want to work in specific company, about who they see themselves in five years, etc. Obviously, in a traditional interview, a recruiting manager runs the risk of getting socially desirable answers to almost all of his questions! And this is often what happens.

Therefore, in order to assess the real skills of the applicant (the ability to solve problems, manage people, reaction speed, etc.), individual and personal qualities, values and attitudes, behavior models, and not only his ability to speak beautifully, HRs use situational interviews. Typically, candidates are asked to resolve some typical situation that a specialist may face in their work.

This is a universal method that is used to assess the professional and personal competencies of a candidate. As an example: remember a situation when you had to work with a very large amount of information. How did you behave, what did you do?

A situational interview allows you to reveal those deep points that can be hidden in a traditional interview due to the ability of candidates to predict which answer will be liked by the employer. For example, if you need to check what a person considers more important, commercial benefit or preservation of reputation, you need to build a situational problem in which these two interests will come into conflict, and offer the applicant to find a solution.

A big plus of a case interview is that it allows you to evaluate a specialist in several parameters at once.

A situational interview is an operational test of professionalism, light in form and deep in content ... When you simulate a certain situation for an applicant, for example, to sell a new type of cream from a not the most popular cosmetic brand or new IT equipment for corporate clients, many professional nuances.

In a short period of time, a hiring specialist or HR manager can immediately understand a number of key competencies of a candidate: independence of decision making, the ability to use sales tools, the level of working with objections, the degree of communication skills, responsiveness to a request, knowledge of the client's psychology and many others.

Ode to creativity

A situational interview is a laborious process that requires a creative approach. This fact is illustrated by the quote: “100 days of creative torment, followed by a quiet feeling of professional happiness ...” Due to this feature, not all HR professionals recognize the expediency of this recruiting methodology.

Situational interviews, due to their complexity and laboriousness, are used recruiting agencies rarely enough. Indeed, HR specialists are not always ready to come up with their own case-tasks: on the Internet you can find a lot of standard cases and keys to them. If you can't get rid of the thought “I've already seen this somewhere” or “Do all companies have problems selling ballpoint pens now?”, Know that HR has formally approached the preparation of a case study for a situational interview.

Where does the recruiting manager get the material to create their own exclusive cases? These are forums of specialists, the professional experience of candidates, which they share with HRCs - here it is important to completely revise the material in order to comply with professional ethics... Examples of cases from handbook a recruiter who came from the pen of the coach-consultant Svetlana Ivanova. In large Western companies, which are focused on ensuring that a specialist is ideally suited to his place, they devote a lot of time to compiling their own cases.

The laboriousness of the process is partly paid off by saving time in another aspect. Based on the results of such an interview, the decision to admit a candidate is made very quickly, and this is also the plus of this method.

And I will ask you to stay!

You are most likely not in danger of a situational interview if:

you are a young specialist - in the absence of experience, it is difficult to imagine a work situation simulated by an HR person;
you are looking for a job in a company that practices mass recruitment of employees.

You can expect a situational interview if:

in the course of your work you need not only professional competence, but also the skills of communicating with people (these are positions in the field of consulting, business analysis and marketing);
you are looking for a job in a campaign with a strong corporate culture;
you are a manager.

The situational interview method is especially effective when recruiting sales managers and sales leaders.

Knowledge is power!

You are alerted by your HR manager that you are about to go through a situational interview. Don't panic! Interview interview - strife. You can prepare for a formal case interview by studying the Internet and studying special literature. If the case is specifically tailored to the job you are applying for, just relax. Remember that answering a question is a three-step process: Pause - Think - Speak. Think about how to structure your response and then talk. Important: the correct line of thought, which you will voice at a well-prepared situational interview, is more important for the employer than the correct answer, which, moreover, in many cases simply does not exist.

The story of a trucker

Andrei K. told us about his experience in the situational interview. “I can be said to be a hereditary trucker. I have always believed that the main thing in my work is to be able to make quick decisions. Anything can happen on the road, an unforeseen situation can lie in wait at every step, ”he says. At an interview in a large Western company with strong corporate values, where it is important to follow the letter of the instruction, Andrey, like other applicants, was asked to present the following situation: “On the road you see a car of our company with the emergency headlights on. Your actions?".

“The answers were different: stop and help, drive by, contact the dispatcher, etc. Nobody answered correctly, neither did I. The correct answer came as a shock to us - look at the instructions: it says how to act in this situation, ”says Andrey.

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