Human Resources is accountable not only for keeping the top talent in an organization, but also for finding it.  So how do you know it when you see it? 

Back in the days of the command and control hierarchy the definition of a great hire was probably someone who paid attention, followed directions well, understood the position, and had the background to jump in and do the job.  The interviews you conducted probably reflected this by you asking questions that revolved around past experience and job duties.   

Business has changed.   Job evolution has created a need for talent that is creative, adaptable and free thinking.  Employees need to be able to add new responsibilities that may be outside of their specific knowledge base as well as having the power to extrapolate their experience to address the responsibility at hand.  Great hires need to be quick learners, problem solvers and most importantly, ambitious. 

To bottom line it, before you can determine if someone is a great hire, you have to understand how the candidate thinks.  You have to be able to tell if they will learn quickly and enthusiastically and whether they have the ambition to want to.

So how do you do this?

Behavioral interviewing can be very effective at ferreting out those personality traits and lines of thought that will demonstrate adaptability, creativity, and ambition.  There are great lists available of example interview questions.  

Describe a problem you are really encountering and ask for thoughts on a solution.  Pay attention to how many questions the candidate asks, whether they think outside the box, and if they commit to a solution without enough background.  Those that ask questions and offer insights without a set solution are probably creative thinkers.  Those that bail out by saying they don’t know the job yet or don’t connect with the problem are not creative.

Ask them to explain how a past role grew during their tenure.  Those that didn’t experience growth are not as ambitious as those who explain the way they grew their role into one with increasing responsibility.

Give them some crazy exercise to do, like a puzzle or a word problem.  Watch how they approach it and ask them to communicate their thought process.  If they are irritated by the request or think it’s silly, they are probably not very adaptable and will become disturbed by things going differently than expected.  This will also give you some insight into their communication skills, which is very important in a world that increasingly requires collaboration. 

What interview techniques do you use?  Have you adapted them to find the new type of talent your organization requires?  Do you have any tricks you use to dig deeper in an interview?