I’m recruiting for several portfolio clients at the moment covering sales and customer service roles. I thought I’d share a little checklist of questions that I’m using on the phone to establish fit. Once I have a quality resume in front of me I immediately start worrying about the fit. There are no good or bad candidates just good and bad fits! So I take 20 minutes to interview on the phone to establish fit. Here are my questions:

  1. Why are you moving from your curent position?
  2. Why would you want to join [x] and what do you think the role covers?
  3. Could you describe a typical week for me?
  4. How big is your current employer, your division, your team?
  5. What is the average deal value your are closing (or size and complexity of project if non sales)?
  6. Do you think there is a fit between you and [x] and explain why?
  7. Test your assumption of who you think she is eg I’m sensing you are a product manager not a sales professional, am I right?
This seems to help me really understand:
  • their most recent roles v the words in their resume, who they really are
  • the environment they are used to including travel, team work, accountability
  • their knowledge of my company
  • why they think there is a fit
  • their level of curiosity
Hope it helps