The ANSWER to "The Most Important Interview Question of All Time" Part 2

In a lively blog post last week, I suggested that the following was the most important interview question (MIQ) of all time:

What single project or task would you consider the most significant accomplishment in your career, so far?

So far over 300,000 people attempted to answer the question following the set of follow-up questions provided. It takes about 15 minutes to fully understand the accomplishment. When you try it out, you'll be amazed at how much you've revealed about yourself and your abilities. You'll also discover the answers can't be faked, unless you take a shortcut.

From a practical strandpoint, without knowing what job is being filled, there's really no correct answer to this MIQ. To get part of the correct answer, you need to ask the hiring manager this first: What's the most important project or task this person needs to handle in order to be considered successful?

You need specific details to fully understand the scope of the job, but at least now you can compare the person's biggest accomplishment to this benchmark to determine if the person is too heavy, too light, or a possible fit. Now we're getting close to the correct answer. You can then dig deeper with those who are possible hires by asking the candidate the same MIQ question for 3-4 different accomplishments spaced out over the past 3-10 years. This reveals the person's long term trend line of growth and performance.

Repeating the MIQ is why it's the MIQ of all time.
A full assessment is made by comparing the scope and consistency of these accomplishments to the complete set of performance objectives for the job. As part of this consideration must be given to the hiring manager’s leadership style, the company culture, the local environment, and any unusual job circumstances, like lack of resources, a tight schedule, or some critical technical need.

The objective I had when I started this whole process was to find a practical way to counter hiring managers who made incorrect assessments based on a narrow set of technical requirements, overvaling first impressions, lack of insight regarding real job needs, or those who put too much trust in their gut. It turned out that the tangible evidence gained from the MIQ and the trend line was all that was needed. From this I discovered that "out-facting" a hiring manager was far more effective than bullheadedness.

As many readers commented, the form of the MIQ is a bit different for entry-level and less-experienced candidates. In this case I ask where they went the extra mile or have them describe smaller projects or tasks that they were excited about, received formal recognition for, or about work that made them proud. Talented youngsters have a bunch of things to brag about, so this is a good way to pull this out. As examples, we helped the YMCA hire a 100,000 15-16 year old camp counselors one summer using this question, and worked with a well-known hamburger chain using a similar process. The big benefit: the kids were hired because of their work-ethic and sense of responsibilty, not on their appearance or affability. The same technique works for non-kids, too.

Bottom line: there's more to determining if a candidate is a good fit for a job than the MIQ, but this is a critical part of it. The bigger part is first defining real job requirements in the form of 5-6 critical performance objectives. Collectively, this will help minimize the most common of all hiring mistakes – hiring a great person for the wrong job, or not hiring the right one.

http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130121233555-15454-the-short-answer-to-the-most-important-interview-question-of-all-time