Pharmacy Directors: A New Way to Interview

Do you ever get tired of asking the same interview questions and wish they were more insightful? Often when interviewing a new candidate the same type of answers are given over and over again: “I’m a good team player,” “I work hard,” etc. Sound familiar? Do you often think to yourself, “I’ve heard all this before.” It can be difficult getting people to truthfully talk about their weaknesses. What if you could find out things that were more revealing about who you are considering?

A friend of mine who runs a successful business kept telling me I need to check out the book, “Who.” At first I thought to myself, “I’ve heard lots of other interview questions before, so what could be so helpful about these?” After checking out the book I was pleasantly surprised and am now using some of these interview questions myself when interviewing people.

Here are a couple of the interview questions adapted from the book for you to get started with:

1. During the actual interview, ask this multi-part question, “What are the names of the last three people who supervised you?
When I call them, what are they going to say about your performance?
How would they rate it on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest?
What would cause them to give you that rating?
What would they say about the areas you needed improvement in back then?”

These questions put them on the spot and get them answering from the perspective of honesty because it tells them that you are going to be contacting them and that their answers will be verified.

2. Later, when you talk to the actual references, ask questions like, “What were the person’s biggest areas of improvement back then?” Framing the question that way takes the guard down and encourages the person to open up about things they probably would be more hesitant to answer.

Another question to ask would be, “XXXX mentioned they struggled with XXXX during their time there. What can you tell me about that?”

I encourage you to read the rest of this book. You’ll get other great tips and interview questions to ask for getting more honest answers from your candidates and their references.

Comment below on what you think about these interview/reference questions. Share the most effective interview question that you ask below.