A great way to hire for personality is through Behavioral Based Interviewing. During the interview, instead of asking questions like, “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” you ask the candidate about specific work-related situations and how they behaved in the past. You want to know how they managed the situation, and if that matches how you want employees to act and react.

A few of these questions include:

  • “Tell me about a time that you worked effectively under pressure.”
  • “Have you handled a difficult situation with a co-worker? How?”
  • “Have you gone above and beyond for a customer? How and when?”
  • “Give me an example of a goal you reached and how you got there.”

and one of our favorites…

  • “Tell me about an exceptional customer service experience you had. What made it so great?”

Hearing an employee share stories about him or herself will allow you to see more of their personality, and give you a better indicator of how they will act in these situations in the future.

That concludes our focus on hiring strategy; there are plenty of great resources available if you want more information on sourcing, hiring and training employees.

Now onto Part 2: Do The Right Thing. This section focuses on the behaviors, actions, and policy you should be following to ensure your right people are doing the right things to create an experience that delights your customers.