The Regenerate Web

Grind It Out!

How do you assess a candidate's attitude toward work during an interview.  Once on the job, and employee may exhibit an eagerness to deliver value, or a sense of urgency.  He or she may may get bogged down in details or decisions.  He may have expectations that he will be provided with tools, and have questions answered satisfactorily, in short, that he will be spoon fed.  She may have a tendency schedule more meetings than are necessary.  

What you want is someone who will turn the handle and GRIND IT OUT!  You want someone who pulls out a machete and hacks his way out of the details and decisions to a solution!  You want someone who makes his own tools, proposes answers to his own questions, and rips raw meat off the bone!  You want someone who schedules a meeting to start the project and another to plan migration when it is complete!

In my experience, most contract employees get this.  They are mercenaries, hired guns who may have high opinions of themselves, lots of pride, arrogance, and swagger, but in general, they know they have to show value, fast!  Full-time Employees may need to be reminded of this expectation, and when we hire them, we need to assess whether they have this expectation of themself.  

How can we assess this aspect of a candidate during an interview?  How fast do they like to go?  Are they able to handle a sting of 60 hour weeks?  Can they dig in and get started without direction?  Are they like a tire with a slow leak - you have to keep pumping them up to keep going?

Ask them to describe their experience in situations where these tendencies would come out.  

"Can you tell me about a time when you were on a project that was behind schedule?"
"How did the team handle it?"  
"How well did that work?"  
"Given what you know now, what would you do differently?"  
What you are looking for along this path is a response that shows the candidate wants to focus, work and deliver.  


"Tell me about a time when you had to start working with little or no direction?"
"How did you approach this?"
"How successful were you - did you get the job done?"
"If you had to do that over, what would you do differently?"
What you are looking for along this path is a response that shows internal leadership, bootstrapping, and digging in, not asking for help.

"Can you tell me about a time about a time when you were on a project where team motivation or morale was low?"
"what did you personally do to overcome this?"
"How well did that work?"
What you are looking for is a response that indicates that this person takes responsibility for their own motivation, morale, and drive...