Automotive Personnel, LLC

We find the people who drive THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY

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Tough Interviewing Questions Part 2

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 Different positions need different traits to succeed .  For some positions personnel need to be creative to look for opportunities and resolve problems. Some positions it is more following policies and procedures diligently with little room for creativity.

All positions need personnel with determination !

Here are several tough questions to help you better determine the makeup of candidates you are interviewing.

 

Determination

  • We all run into obstacles. Obstacles  re-route a lot of people who lack determination.  Tell me about obstacles you had to overcome in your career .
  • If I said “you may not be ready for this job” Help me understand why I would be wrong.
  • If I asked you if you would work for less money here than in current (or other ) position, what would you tell me and why?
  • Tell me about the biggest mistake you made in your career and how you prospered from it.
  • What do you do – beyond what the company requires you to do – to further your skills / abilities / knowledge?

 

  • The best indicator of future performance is often past performance. If I said your work performance / career success doesn’t  seem to match  the talent and ability you talked about in this interview,  what  could you tell me to help me understand that?
  • Tell me about the last time your manager criticized your work.
  • No one is perfect, tell me about your weaknesses and what coping strategies do you have to overcome them.

 

Creative Thinking

  • If you could change anything about your current position to significantly improve it, what would that be? (look for depth here)
  • No one is perfect, what do you have to change about yourself to reach your goals ?
  • What will I not like about you during your 1st 6 months here?
  • No job is perfect, what part of this job do you think you will like the least?
  • If you were brought into the board room to meet the Board of Directors and asked to give a 3 minute impromptu due speech, what are you qualified to talk about ? What are several points you would cover?
  • What should we expect you to accomplish your first 90 days here?

 

Thinker Doer

Donald Jasensky

CEO / Automotive Personnel, LLC

216-226-8190

don@automotivepersonnel.co

www.automotivepersonnel.co

Twitter : @DonJasensky

 

“We Find The People Who Drive The Automotive Industry ”

 

 

Tough Interviewing Questions

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We do not ask tough questions for the sake of asking tough questions.  Trying to “stump a candidate” is amateur hour .  Our focus is  about determining a candidate’s past job performance with –  the philosophy of : “past performance is the best indicator of future performance”.   Over the years I have seen some specific questions be very helpful in learning more about a candidate, which is what an interviewing is about.   

 Tough questions can give an added dimension to your interviewing and give a candidate an opportunity to hit a home run or strike out.  But you are putting them up to bat and allowing them to swing . 

Depending on the position and its needs, here are some very good questions that may help you learn more about your candidate’s career focus .  Next article will cover questions to help determine a candidate’s determination and creative thinking .

How Career Focused

 

  • I read about an executive who would say “1st you make your habits, then your habits make you” . Tell me about some success habits you have formed .  (Such as reading a book per month about your field, or reflecting back each night on your day and see what you learned from that day). 
  • Good decision making is very important to this position. Tell me your strategy when making an important decision.  (Such as separating  Major Factors, Minor Factors, Unimportant Factors  to bring clarity when making a decision).
  • Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
  • What are you doing – outside of your work place – to get there?  (Online classes, reading books to become better at their work,  Toastmasters, etc.)
  • Is that enough?
  • What industry related periodicals do you  personally subscribe to?

 

Creative Thinking

  • If you could change anything about your current position to significantly improve it, what would that be? (look for depth here)
  • No one is perfect, what do you have to change about yourself to reach your goals ?
  • What will I not like about you during your 1st 6 months here?
  • No job is perfect, what part of this job do you think you will like the least?
  • If you were brought into the board room to meet the Board of Directors and asked to give a 3 minute impromptu due speech, what are you qualified to talk about ? What are several points you would cover?
  • What should we expect you to accomplish your first 90 days here?

 

Determination

  • We all run into obstacles. Obstacles  re-route a lot of people who lack determination.  Tell me about obstacles you had to overcome in your career .
  • If I said “you may not be ready for this job” Help me understand why I would be wrong.
  • If I asked you if you would work for less money here than in current (or other ) position, what would you tell me and why?
  • Tell me about the biggest mistake you made in your career and how you prospered from it.
  • What do you do – beyond what the company requires you to do – to further your skills / abilities / knowledge?
  • The best indicator of future performance is often past performance. If I said your work performance / career success doesn’t  seem to match  the talent and ability you talked about in this interview,  what  could you tell me to help me understand that?
  • Tell me about the last time your manager criticized your work.
  • No one is perfect, tell me about your weaknesses and what coping strategies do you have to overcome them.

Donald Jasensky

CEO / Automotive Personnel, LLC

216-226-8190

don@automotivepersonnel.co

www.automotivepersonnel.co

Twitter : @DonJasensky

 

“We Find The People Who Drive The Automotive Industry”

 

Communicating your position and attracting the right candidates!

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If you watched MADMEN, you heard Don Draper talk about advertising fundamentals  Attention – Interest – Desire – Action.  When I studied advertising  we called it AIDA.  AIDA is the fundamental of most advertising.

1 – get  readers  Attention  – (often through a headline or picture)

2 – generate Interest  – (talking about what is important to your reader)

3 – build Desire  – (telling readers “what is in it for them”)

4 – tell them what Action you want ( call, send a resume,  stop in, go to a website, etc.)

When posting your position on your website or job boards keep these points in mind.

If you are a well know company  you have a great advantage in name recognition.  This is also true of a very desirable industry.   Example if DJ Auto  Leasing is looking to hire several sales personnel VS  FORD MOTORS is opening an office and looking for several outstanding sales representatives to join the FORD CORPORATION.    

Of course FORD would get way more calls due to name recognition and expectations of joining a known and  desirable company. This means you may need to take an extra step to get your readers to take an Action step.

Tell the readers of your posting :

– who you are

– why you are a terrific company to work for

– the benefits of your industry  ( Example: As a professional  Leasing Representative you can build a portfolio of loyal clients, grow it yearly,  and allow your income to truly meet your potential!)

Case Study:

Here is an actual headline we used on our website for a leasing client:

“If you are seeking an exciting career for 2016 with  a growing company
and booming industry then we may have your dream position!”

Here is the sub-headline:
“This is a unique career opportunity to build a portfolio of clients who will provide repeat business and the security that goes with it.”

Make sure your readers understand what’s in it for them regarding :

  • Your company – (Why is it a great career choice for someone? A short narrative about your company,  philosophy  and  devotion to serving your customers ).
  • Your industry –  (Remember the reader may not know much about your industry)
  • Your position –  ( Day to day work content,  income  and career potential , etc.)

Don Draper  was correct, get their Attention, generate Interest, build Desire and lead them to the Action you want!

Continued success,

Donald Jasensky

CEO / Automotive Personnel, LLC

216-226-8190

don@automotivepersonnel.co

www.automotivepersonnel.co

Twitter : @DonJasensky

“We Find The People Who Drive The Automotive Industry Since 1989”

 

 

This is an honor …..

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For the second year in a row we are very proud to be nominated to The Subprime Auto Finance News

“Subprime 125 Heavy Hitters”.   For 27 years we have been devoted to helping our clients find the very best candidates for their key positions.   We are proud to be a part of this $1 trillion industry and I want to thank our clients for the opportunity to work with them.  I also want to thank  my fellow team members here who work so hard every day devoted to our clients’ needs.

 

Thank you,

Don Jasensky

CEO / Automotive Personnel, LLC

216-226-8190

don@automotivepersonnel.co

www.automotivepersonnel.co

TWITTER@ DonJasensky

Practitioner  Vs Theorist  and how (and why) to tell the difference

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You have been here many times.  You interview several candidates and each sounds terrific.  Your gut tells you that each wouldn’t thrive in your position but you are confused as to who would and who wouldn’t thrive.

Allow me to share a recruiting secret that has helped our firm successfully place several thousand candidates with our clients over the  last quarter century. It is a simple  mental paradigm that helps us weed through a group of great sounding candidates and get to the winning hires for our clients.

When several   candidates  interview well and sound great  we ask : “Who are the Practitioners and who are the Theorists ?”  

Characteristics of Theorists:

  • Openly very knowledgeable – you likely won’t need to prompt them for information
  • Quick on their feet, verbally intelligent . Sound very smart  (and usually are)
  • In-charge of facts and statistics
  • Probably enjoys the interview process and talking shop
  • Superficial on details of their specific role and what they accomplished
  • They know how to tell you “what you want to hear”
  • References are usually co-workers

Characteristics of the Practitioner:

  • Very knowledgeable – however you may need to prompt them during interview for information
  • Sound smart and are smart
  • Can talk easily about challenges, how they overcame them and results . Frequently do not have statistics committed to memory
  • Probably do not enjoy the interviewing process and talking shop
  • Precise on their specific role of what they accomplished
  • They will tell you how things really are
  • References are usually their past managers and bosses

Why is this critical to the hiring process ?

 

The Theorists can talk the talk – and talk it very well but come up short on walking the walk.   The Practitioner  may come up a little short on talking the talk  (without some prompting),  but will walk the walk for you.  This is why knowing what to look for is so important!

Here is our formula

  • It is very important to learn and talk about their specific accomplishments
  • Drill down on the specifics such as sales went from ________ to ______X 2. Ask for some verification.  Talk is cheap , facts are not!
  • Drill down on their specific role
  • Ask about what issues that they ran into
  • Ask how they overcame the issues
  • Ask for specifics, engage in a discussion on details
  • Spend time with references learning about candidate’s actual accomplishments and does it match candidate’s claims

 

Theorists are often  “corporate survivors”  not the true “organizational drivers” . They have hung around for years and learned a lot.  They are great at articulating facts but lack the ability to make the crucial decisions that lead to success. Usually they lack leadership skills. 

Practitioners are the “organizational drivers”.    They are the employees who get things done.  They take action.    In football analogy think of  Bill Belichick as a role model for Practitioner  and think of  TV football analyst  or sports writer as a role model Theorist.   I would hire Bill Belichick to run my team even though Peter King of Sports Illustrated may do a better job of articulating a team’s history.

Take Away:  Hire the Practitioner – they have made the successful decisions, built the  well-run departments and can tell you how if you know how to ask them.

Donald Jasensky

CEO / Automotive Personnel, LLC

216-226-8190

don@automotivepersonnel.co

www.automotivepersonnel.co

Twitter : @DonJasensky

Automotive Personnel, LLC is in its 26th year finding the people who drive the automotive industry !

 

What employees look for when changing positions & how this can benefit you

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In the past quarter of a century that I have been recruiting for automotive dealerships, here are the 5 points that are brought up the most often by employees looking for a job change:

  • Day to day work content
  • Career visibility / opportunity
  • Location
  • Compensation
  • Security

So how can you use this to your advantage?

Find out what is most important to your top candidates and appeal to those needs where reasonable. 

 Case Study: We were helping an auto dealer with a very large Ford store.  He needed a Rock Star Service Director.   We found 3 great candidates.  Two were out of town and need to relocate and were willing to do so.  The dealer was willing to cover relo expenses. One lived across town, about an hour commute each way and did not like the long drive and did not want to move closer to dealership.  

 We suggested to the Dealer that he offers the candidate with the 1 hour commute the following:

  • Salary that was agreeable
  • Flexible hours – knowing the Service Director needed to be there 6:30am to open up but allow the flexibility of leaving early in afternoon sometimes to see in kids baseball games, dance recitals, etc. All the things he has been missing his entire career.   Keep in mind, “Rock Star “employees are very hard workers by nature and not likely to take advantage of this benefit. 
  • Company car and gas. Let the Service Director take a nice used car and drive for a week or two then change for another one.  (In the grand scheme of things what is the cost to use a company car and gas compared to the revenue from a huge Ford service center?) 

 Results:  Win-Win for the auto dealer and the Service Director.  The ability to occasionally see his daughter’s dance and piano recitals and his sons’ sports events made him feel so respected and made him the most dedicated employee you could imagine!  

 Lesson learned: Ask candidates what are the factors that they are considering in making a job change and appeal to these factors when /where it is reasonable.

 Donald Jasensky

CEO / Automotive Personnel, LLC

216-226-8190

don@automotivepersonnel.co

www.automotivepersonnel.co

Twitter : @DonJasensky

“We Find The People Who Drive The Automotive Industry Since 1989 ”

© 2019 Automotive Personnel, LLC