The Art of Discovery: 20 questions designed to build rapport with employers
Editorial by Christian Saint Cyr
National Director / Canadian Job Development Network
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Let's start off with a fundamental question. When you meet an employer for the first time -- what is your approach? Do you talk about your organization, your programs or your clients or do you ask questions about the employer and their organizational needs?
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All great salespeople will say the latter. It's called 'discovery' and it's the way salespeople learn about their prospect (employer) so they can suggest products or services (clients or students) that will address those needs.
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Everyone is resistant to a sales pitch and if the first thing you're doing is pitching your clients, all the employer will be thinking about is what they can say in response to get you out the door.
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Discovery is a delicate process and while I'm going to be talking about 20 questions, you may only get to ask one or two. Essentially, you want to know three things:
- What makes them great?
- What are their processes?
- What are their challenges?
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Everyone thinks their organization is great -- certainly leaders think their organization is great and so you want to understand this so you can suggest potential candidates that will be a good fit.
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Understanding 'process' is critical to advising job seekers about how best to apply, when to apply and what they can expect in the hiring process.
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Challenges are more complex. In the 20 questions, I don't specifically suggest asking 'what are your organizational challenges' because I don't believe you'll get a helpful answer. It would likely leave the employer defensive.
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Instead, by asking about their ideal employee, their competition and which roles are the hardest to fill, employers will choose on their own to discuss where they are challenged, which employees won't work out and how competition is a challenge.
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These are 20 questions I've developed, having interviewed hundreds of employers, but they certainly aren't the only option. I've tried to avoid duplication and been specific enough that employers won't offer platitudes or generic answers.
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20 Questions for Employer Discovery
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- What roles do you typically hire for?
- What roles are the hardest to fill?
- Where do you have locations?
- How do you promote positions with the company?
- Why should some seek out a position with your organization?
- What does your hiring process look like?
- What should someone know before they even consider applying to work at your company?
- What distinguishes your organization?
- Who is your major competition?
- Where does your major competition fall short?
- What do your customers most like about your business?
- When you look at a resume for the first time, what are you looking for?
- What qualities do you look for when looking to promote a leader within the organization?
- What are you most proud of in your organization?
- What motivates your staff?
- Why do long-term employees stay with your company?
- What do you value more -- loyalty or hard work?
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Why do you do the work you do?
- Who inspires you?
- Where do you see your organization in the years to come?
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In developing these questions, we've stuck with the reporter's credo: 'Just ask where, what, when, who and why'. Our goal is to develop a genuine understanding of the employer's circumstances, with as much specificity as possible.
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The questions aren't necessarily in order, but there is a logic to the order. We start off with really tangible questions about roles and processes and conclude with more philosophical questions about values, goals and ambition.
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This way you start off with questions that draw on the left-side of the brain with logical, pragmatic answers and move on to questions which draw on the right-side of the brain where answers need to be more creative, emotional and thoughtful.
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This is a subtle way of building rapport with the employer while simultaneously gathering information.
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The first question is one of the most essential. Asking what roles an employer employs people in, allows you to slowly build a NOC Code database of all of the employers in town and the roles they hire for so when you have candidates, you can direct them to suitable employers.
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Beyond this, you want to use discretion about what to ask. If you invite an employer to lunch and they are present and engaged, you might be able to ask all of the questions, plus follow-up.
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If you catch an employer at an awkward time, you might only get in one or two questions. This said, you probably want to use that precious opportunity just to find a time that would be better to speak.
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The most important thing to consider when you ask these questions is to remember and use the answers. If you speak with an employer and they keep talking about punctuality, loyalty or accountability, look for candidates that embody these qualities. Make sure your clients speak to these qualities in their application, their resume and in an interview.
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Some employers may be resistant to these questions and simply want you to 'get to the point', in which case respect their time and pitch your services.
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Other employers will be appreciative that you are interested and readily share this information. These are the employers who will likely be most ready and willing to work with you when the time comes.
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Promoting clients and services can raise anxiety in the best of us. We're quick to pitch clients and services because we want the conversation to be over as quickly as possible but it's like shooting an arrow with your eyes closed. It'll be fast, but rarely on target.
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We’ll be discussing these 20 questions and how to build employer rapport at our #MotivatingMondays meeting of the Canadian Job Development Network, Monday Jan. 13th at 8:30am Pacific; 9:30am Mountain; 10:30am Central; 11:30am Eastern; 12:30pm Atlantic and at 1pm in Newfoundland.
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On the morning of Monday January 13th, 'Click this Link' to join the session LIVE.
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