As the old adage goes…
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HIRE slow, fire fast.
There’s nothing worse than hiring the wrong people to your team, regardless if they are interns or employees. They look great on paper, you take a gamble, only to find a few weeks in to the job, they just aren’t the right fit.
You’ve wasted time, resources and mental energy as a mentor, trying to turn the situation around.
But alas, it’s no good. That ship has sailed.
Want to avoid this tricky situation from the get-go?
Time to upgrade your interview process.
Here are 3 easy tips that’ll help you identify the very best superheroes to hire. First step, optimize your interviewing process. That means you’ve got to be a better interviewer. When you do that, you’ll improve your efficiency and effectiveness to spot a diamond in the rough faster than ever before. 
Trust us…this is one of the very first undercover superhero powers you’ll need to cultivate for success…here’s how:
1. save time
So, you’ve put the call out for your upcoming internship program opportunity. You received a stack of resumes. You’ve done the due diligence to weed through them and only selected 6-10 people to interview for your 3-5 internship spots.
Well done, you!
Now comes the fun part…the in-person interview. As you know, the interviewing process tends to be very repetitive. But there’s an easy way to avoid that – create an email template that outlines all the pertinent details (where the office is located, what they are expected to bring, what the dress attire is, how long is the interview session, etc, etc) and send it out in advance BEFORE the interview.
Also include any essential info about your company and the role they are applying for. That way, you can get straight into the questions when you meet. By creating an email template in Google docs, you simply cut/paste every time you set up an interview. BOOM, done. Make life easy on yourself.
BONUS: this gives you the opportunity to test candidates and see if they are prepared and can follow instructions…did they arrive 5-10 minutes early or did they get lost? Did they do their homework on you and your company?
2. on-the-spot thinking
One of the most essential traits you need, in order to work in the event industry, is the ability to think fast on your feet and show initiative. How do you test this in an interview?
Simple.
TIP: give the candidate a real-life event situation/challenge and ask them how they would handle it as an event planner…and (more importantly) why.
For example, use this sample think fast scenario:
Your bride rips a tiny hole in her lace dress 20 minutes before the ceremony and starts to have a full-on panic attack. As her wedding planner, how would you handle this situation?
Try to ask questions that’ll tap into any customer service experience they may have had working in retail or as a waitress/bartender in a high-stress situation. See if they get flustered or not. Very telling.
These types of questions help you see if a candidate can think for themselves or if they need babysitting. Plus you find out if they know how to behave appropriately.
Even if they get the answer wrong, the why part of the question gives them an opportunity to show their thought process which may reveal more than you expected.
If they have intelligence and can show initiative, you can teach them the rest.
3. test commitment
So, you’ve interviewed the lot and have narrowed it down to a handful of the very best. Great. Give them a writing task as the final stage of the interviewing process.. Nothing that’s going to take a whole day to complete – just something straightforward like:
- design an imaginary event based in specific parameters (example: 100 person outdoor cinema party for software company as a team building event, budget $30k USD – where would you have it? what would you serve? what does it look/feel like?)
- short example blog post (see how they write…can they write in your brand’s tone of voice and style?)
Candidates get to show you their creative thinking skills and how committed they are.
If they don’t complete the task by the deadline, they’re not serious about working with you.
You want only the finest people on the team…no paper pushers allowed. Follow these 3 easy steps and you’ll be well on your way to hiring the right people, the first time, every time.
Join us tomorrow for our next Facebook LIVE superhero webinar series, all about:
10 very BEST questions to ask when interviewing interns
WEDNESDAY, June 29, 2016
11:30a-12noon CST
(psst, that’s during these TIMEZONES = 11:30a-12n CST / 12:30p-1pm EST / 5:30-6pm BST)
CLICK HERE TO WATCH
this time, we’ll cover:
->the 10 very BEST questions to ask when interviewing interns
These are SURE-FIRE questions that will:
-help them to open up and reveal their personality (and quirks)
-uncover if they can think fast on their feet (or not)
-show you what they REALLY mean by what they said on their resume (and cover letter)
…and most importantly, help you determine if they are teachable (or not) and whether or not you should hire them.
So tune in here, next Wednesday, June 29th at 11:30am central time and I will share all the very best tips in nailing this crucial part of your internship program!
(Tuning in overseas? Here’s a handy dandy time converstion tool: http://
Also bring any questions or challenges you might have when it comes to mentoring or working with interns and I’ll answer them on the spot!
What do you look out for in interviews? Have you got any interviewing hacks? Leave a comment below and share your best practices.
Save time and minimize stress by training your interns to become superhero apprentices.
The Apprentice Program includes:
weekly “spark” training videos
intern homework missions
intern report cards
intern pop quizzes
mentor support and advice
Just $75/intern USD per semester for our custom-crafted training, guaranteed to get your interns up to speed with the way your firm plans and produces events.
