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More than 30 years ago, frustrated that most job applicants seemed to have a pitiful lack of curiosity… engaged in few, if any, new learning endeavors… and had basically stagnated since school ended…
… and needing a way to identify them and stop them at the door, so to speak, before they became employees in my company…
…I came up with 3 interview questions — still today my favorite 3 — to flush out those folks who probably wouldn’t fit, wouldn’t flourish, and wouldn’t enjoy working with my team.
I seek lifelong learners. Trouble is, most people aren’t. Still aren’t — even today.
Seems the vast majority of 2-legged, upright Homo sapiens are quite content with whatever level of knowledge they acquired from their last class in college or high school — and haven't attended a workshop or seminar, haven’t cracked a self-help book, peeled the shrink-wrap off an educational CD, or even listened to a learning download, podcast, or webinar — since their final school bell rang way back when.
And it baffles me.
I have no empirical data on what percent of people willingly and routinely self-engage in new learning tools after leaving school, but I'm certain it's a discouragingly small number.
Has to be. The visible evidence surrounds us daily.
Just look at the staggeringly high number of people who have lousy people skills. No leadership ability. Weak managerial competence. No business acumen. Little common sense. An inability to negotiate effectively. Little drive, determination, or tenacity. Scant self-esteem or confidence. Don't communicate well. Can't manage their own money.
…and are taking no action to acquire the skills or obtain the knowledge on these topics that could turn their life around, advance their job status, and increase their financial well-being.
When lo and behold, it's all immediately available to them — from a vast range of sources. In multiple learning media formats. On most any topic of interest. Compiled by experts with hands-on experience. At very reasonable costs, quite often free.
In short, it's plentiful in supply, easy to get, cheap to buy.
Yet they don't seek it out. Won't buy it. Or choose not to use it.
Instead, too much precious time is spent thumbing video games, texting, immersed in social media, surfing the net, watching mindless TV, buying online, playing fantasy sports, drinking at bars, being disorganized, having unclear goals … well, you get the point.
From all this visible data, it seems a majority of people — once school gets out — let go of continuous, intentional, methodical learning — that could dramatically improve their life.
They’re treading water.
And sooner or later — whether at age 18 or 23 or 41 or 56 or older — DING DONG! — they show up at your company's door looking for a job.
Some of them interview like a champ, mask their lack of personal growth, and get the job.
Then suddenly, their lifelong lack of self-initiative for new learning becomes your new performance problem.
So…
I decided to do something about it.
In the late 1980s, I overhauled my entire interview style, format, and questions. To flush out who is — and who isn't — a lifelong learner and self-starter.
It's too long to tell the whole story here, but I do want to share 3 killer interview questions I concocted that helped me avoid this epidemic problem.
They worked back then. They work now.
And you need them. Because the ‘dearth of new learning’ epidemic is worse today.
Actions For You:
As company president — and the final authority and chief steward for making sure we invited only high-flying eagles into our nest — I started asking job candidates this question:
"Tell me the names of your 5 favorite self-improvement authors."
Yeah, you guessed it. I wanted to know if a candidate freely engaged — on her own nickel — in her own time — in ongoing, repetitive self-education.
Frankly, I didn't give a horse's hind end if the authors they named wrote books on blindfolded basket weaving, paper training puppies, or building paper mache doll houses in your basement — as long as they could name 5.
I just wanted tangible proof they were constant seekers of new learning.
I figured 5 was enough. That if they could easily name 5 — off the top of their head — they probably knew a lot more.
Sure, I admit, I was most impressed if — and was hoping — their choices revolved around subjects that were applicable in the workplace.
But I would accept it if not, because the HABITUAL BEHAVIOR OF LEARNING was there.
The result of asking this question was downright frightening. Mind-boggling actually.
Even today, I shudder remembering the early days of asking — and seeing blank stares, glazed eyes, and speechless mouths.
Stutter. Stammer. Stumped.
Most knew none.
After enough rejections, I realized most people had never before put the two words "self" and "improvement" together in the same sentence — let alone next to each other.
To be fair, I did get a rare few who rattled off names like Napoleon Hill, Dennis Waitley, Les Brown, Zig Ziglar, Stephen Covey, Jim Rohn, Brian Tracy, Earl Nightingale, Ken Blanchard, Deepak Chopra, Roger Dawson, Paul Meyer, and more.
Not many, but some. These were the learning-minded zealots I was searching desperately for. The cream.
But then, I realized the flaw in my own question: Even of those who do read, few actually apply.
I needed to go deeper.
So I expanded my favorite 1 question… to 3 questions.
In addition, I changed the first question — expanding it beyond just authors.
So, here they are — my favorite 3 interview questions — in the sequence I ask them:
(1) "Tell me the names of 5 people in your life from whom you learned the most valuable life lessons." (Acceptable answers: relatives, teachers, coaches, clergy, authors, historical figures, fictional characters, virtually anyone.)
Allow them to answer, then ask…
(2) "Tell me 1 life lesson you learned from each one — 5 in total."
Allow them to answer, then ask…
(3) "Please give me 1 recent example — 5 in total — demonstrating your use or application of each of the 5 lessons."
Then sit back, shut up, and watch 'em squirm.
And now I'll reveal a secret:
Their answer to THAT question — the last one — Question 3 — is the only answer that matters. Ignore the first 2.
Why?
Because the first answer shows only that they listened.
The second demonstrates only that they remembered.
But the third… it shows they applied.
And that pattern of behavior — applying what's learned — is worth gold to you as a leader.
Those people are the rare gems you seek.
By the way, as you may have surmised, if you get no answer to Q1, nix the next 2. They become pointless.
Likewise, if you get no answer to Q2, nix the last one. Again, pointless.
Would you be surprised to learn that I actually terminated interviews if they had no answer? It's true. Politely, of course. And not immediately, but very soon thereafter.
Think about it. Why would I want someone whose daily efforts would directly or indirectly impact our valuable clients… who has to be told to learn new things?
I didn't.
I wanted people for whom taking the initiative to learn was already an integral part of their everyday behavior — already hard-wired in their DNA — even outside the workplace — at their own expense — on their own time — with no nudging, prodding, coercing, begging, or forcing.
It was already who they were. It oozed from their pores.
Isn't that what you want too? If not, shouldn’t it be? A pre-established pattern of, and passion for, self-learning?
Well then…
Stop settling for mediocre. Why not give the 3 questions a shot? Just be prepared for disappointment in a high percentage of candidates.
Remember, eagles don't flock. You find them one at a time.
Power Thought: "It is not enough to have knowledge. One must apply it. It is not enough to have wishes. One must also accomplish.” Johann Wolfgang van Goethe, German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman.
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