Over the years, I've been involved in a lot of interview situations, both as the one conducting the interview and as the one being interviewed. I've made a lot of mistakes on both sides. Based on that experience, I believe the following five questions are essential in an interview.

1. What do you know about this organization?

Typically, my first question. In this information-driven world we live in, it amazes me how very little job applicants know about the companies with which they're interviewing. For me, this is an early test as to how interested the candidate truly is in the available job. Can you imagine interviewing for a position and not doing your due diligence ahead of time to understand what the company does? This happens far too frequently.

2. Behavioral Interviewing questions.

Perhaps the most valuable questions you can ask in a job interview. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior under similar circumstances. These questions focus on past behavior. Almost all Fortune 1000 companies use behavioral interviewing questions and likewise, very few small businesses do. As an example, imagine you're looking for a customer service representative who is good at dealing with difficult questions. An example of a behavioral interviewing question would be the following:

“Share the most recent example of a time you had to deal with a difficult customer. What did you do? What was the result of your actions?”

Experts suggest that at least 50% of a job interview should be spent asking these questions. The key is to direct these questions at each of the key job characteristics you are most interested in. These are difficult questions to ask and even more difficult questions to answer. They will also provide you with much of the data you'll need to make a good hiring decision.

Humanocracy by Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini

When I think of bureaucracy, I think of big business and large government agencies. I think of stagnation and bloated payrolls. I think of too many rules and not enough innovation. I rarely think of small business. At least not before reading this book.

In Humanocracy, co-authors Hamel and Zanini make a passionate, data-driven argument for excising bureaucracy within your organization and replacing it with something much better. They provide a blueprint for creating organizations, big and small, that are as inspired and ingenious as the human beings that work for them.

The authors found through their research that once a company hits a certain threshold of complexity - around two hundred to three hundred employees - bureaucracy starts growing faster than the organization itself. That’s why big companies have more bureaucracy per capita than small businesses. Yet, as I read this book and the description of bureaucratic practices, I found myself recognizing many of the same practices in small companies, just in a reduced form.

contact Tim Fulton at tim@smallbusinessmattersonline.com.

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