Companies want to hire people who know how to work well with others. It has become more imperative than ever because teamwork is necessary today for companies to innovate and stay competitive.
How do you find people who are good working in a team setting? During the interview, you can learn a lot about what the candidate is like in a professional setting. The key to this process is to phrase the question in the most effective way to elicit the kind of information you want.
Keep Your Interview Questions Open-Ended
Asking about someone’s ability to work on a team, or whether they find it more challenging to work on a team or independently, or to describe a disappointing experience while working on a team, really does not get at the kind of information you want.
Instead, a more simple, open-ended question would work much better – can you describe a time when you worked on a team? That’s it. It will be much easier to judge a person’s teamwork proclivities with this more general question.
Before asking such a question, however, you need to be clear what you mean by the term teamwork, and communicate your idea of what it means to the job candidate. Employees will need to use their teamwork and communication skills in different ways depending on the job and the work setting.
How Do Teamwork Skills Complement Experience?
Some candidates will say they have worked on teams, but may not have much to say about the experience, and this will be a cue that they may not be right for your company. Others may talk about the work they did as a part of a team, but they can’t demonstrate how their efforts contributed to the overall success of their project.
The top candidates will be prepared for the interview and can talk about their past experiences, how the teams were formed, what the goals were, how they worked toward the goal, what they accomplished and what they contributed.
Build Your Business with Excellent Team Players
Finding the best person for your team begins by knowing the role teamwork plays at your company and then giving job candidates the opportunity to talk about their definition of teamwork and how they put that concept into practice.
If your company is looking for people who will make an impact, Opti Staffing can help. We take the time to learn about your company, your culture and your needs, and then we work to make the best match between the worker and the company. Contact us today.
