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    Getting the Most from Your Graphic Designer
    A well-designed document is an effective document. It gets your message across to your intended audience—whether your aim is to give information, sell a widget, or help someone grasp a concept.I have graphic design software on my computer, and I think I have a pretty good eye. Why do I need a graphic designer? Strictly speaking, you don’t—any more than you need a hairstylist, a mechanic, or a lawyer. You could cut your own hair, fix your own car, and represent yourself in court. Most of us, though, recognize that we can’t be experts at everything, and that an amateur job will generally look…well, amateur. The music is not in the violin—and great designs aren’t guaranteed by even the most sophisticated software. Even if you have an innately good design sense, getting up to speed on everything a graphic designer needs to know takes time and effort that might be better spent on whatever it is that you do best.Isn’t it expensive?The total cost of a project will depend on a number of factors:• what you want—just as it costs more to p
    t is important that you as interviewer don’t:

    • Ask leading questions: Leading questions give you exactly what you want to hear. And they typically result in inaccurate data.

    • Accept generalizations: Generalizations don’t tell you what the candidate did. Target data must be specific.

    • Accept collectivisms: Collectivisms are the use of we, the group, my team, etc. They don’t tell us what this individual -- the candidate -- did. Again, target data must be specific.

    • Assess the candidate before hearing all: Prejudging a candidate before the data is heard is a serious mistake. The brain can easily “find” data to support its prejudgment. Therefore, stick to the script; write down what you hear as the interviewer. The time for assessment comes later.

    How To Get Back On Track

    Because HPI is a dialogue, it is sometimes easy for the candidate to digress. It is your responsibility as interviewer to pull the candidate’s discussion into more relevant and appropriate direction. Here are some pithy phrases that will rein in or focus the digresser:

    • “If I was there, what would I see?”

    • “You said there were meetings. Could you tell me about one?”

    • “Can you give me the details?”

    • “Let’s backtrack a bit.”

    • “Who do you mean by ‘we’?”

    When you’ve gathered an appropriate amount of data for a particular skill, repeat the HPI technique until you are satisfied with the results. Then close the interview.

    Terence R. Traut is the president of Entelechy, Inc., a company that helps organizations unlock the potential of their people through customized training programs in the areas of sales, management, customer s

    When Dramatic Revenue Gains are the Goal, Follow These Tips to Get the Best from Your Advertising
    Doing advertising well is more challenging than ever before. There are thousands of ways to target consumers, and the choices can be confusing and hard to navigate. Done properly, advertising has a powerful impact on your top line, and it leaves distinct marketplace impressions with your most important audiences. Done improperly, advertising can drain away valuable resources and make a questionable contribution to a company’s success.If dramatic revenue gains are at stake, consider these five tips for doing the very best that you can with your advertising investment:•Know you competitors, especially those who have a head start in your marketplace. Most companies do a poor job of tracking their competitors’ strategies and how they change over time. Take advantage of all their knowledge by tracking their programs and budgets. If your competitor is repeating a campaign, you can bet it is working for them. Learn from their success.•Start every year by planning ahead. Challenge every assumption. Simply doing what was done last year and adding 5% leads t
    In today’s competitive environment, hiring has increasingly become a key link in establishing and maintaining your company’s edge. By attracting and hiring the best people, your company can move quickly and grow steadily. On the flip side, however, poor hires cost you precious time, money, and opportunity. Poor hiring could cost you your company.

    Unfortunately, hiring candidates who can do what they say they can do is getting tougher. A whole industry has sprung up in the past ten years helping job seekers land a job — sometimes at all costs. You can’t afford to hire someone who can’t do the job, do it with minimal direction, or do it quickly. Fortunately, there are techniques that you can use to ensure that the candidate you select can do the job. We will examine four techniques here — demonstrations, simulations, problem solving, and testing — and introduce a powerful interviewing technique — High Performance Interviewing — that we will cover in more detail in the next issue of Performance News.

    Demonstrations

    Ideally, the best way to see if a candidate is able to do the job is to have them actually do the job. To have them, in other words, demonstrate their ability to do the work. Sales representatives can sell something; software engineers can code something; machine operators can operate a machine; secretaries can answer phones or type a memo; etc.

    Simulation

    Sometimes demonstrations are not possible or appropriate. The next best thing to a demonstration is a simulation. A simulation is like a demonstration except that the situation is not real. In sales or customer service, for example, you can role play an angry customer and have the candidate respond to your anger. Another example of a simulation is having a telesales representative call you (the “customer”) to sell you something. Or, if you’re interviewing for a training position, you could have the candidate teach you something.

    Problem Solving

    Sometimes demonstrations and simulations are not feasible. Then problem solving might provide you with confidence in the person’s ability. Problem solving is a technique many interviewers use to see how adept the candidate is in addressing real or hypothetical problems and challenges. It is one step removed from simulation because in problem solving the candidate describes what s/he would do rather than simulating what s/he would do. A cautionary note: problem solving by itself may only indicate what a person SAYS s/he will do in a given situation, not how they actually will or did behave. Still, problem solving is a good way to check a critical skill.

    Test

    Tests are also sometimes helpful as part of the hiring process. Psychological tests provide a way for some companies to identify key characteristics in an individual. Other ways of testing include asking specific knowledge questions such as “What commands might you use to initiate a subroutine?” or “What are the advantages and disadvantages of common network protocols?”

    Interview

    However, sometimes demonstrations, simulations, problem solving, or testing might not be feasible; at the very least they -- by themselves -- are inadequate. Interviewing is required. Effective interviewing requires that you have sharp probing and listening skills to get the candidate to describe or explain relevant experiences from which you can draw highly predictive information. We call this type of interviewing High Performance Interviewing.

    Can we maximize the traditional method of hiring candidates — the interview — to hire more effectively? The answer is, “YES!”

    Many interviews result in a mutual exchange of meaningless information and a “gut feeling.” The process we call High Performance Interviewing (HPI) helps you gather meaningful, predictive information and substantiates your “gut feeling.” HPI is based on the premise that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. HPI is designed to extract highly predictive, accurate target data from candidates. Target data is:

    • Behavioral: The data must be about what the candidate did, said, thought, or felt. We do not consider what the person “was responsible for” as target data since it doesn’t tell what the person actually did. The data must be about the candidate. We do not consider “we” data target data since we don’t know what the candidate did.

    • Volunteered by the candidate: Target data comes from the candidate’s memory, not the interviewer’s suggestions or prompting.

    • About a specific past situation: Focused on what actually happened, not on what might have happened, or what generally happens. Having the candidate state what they would do in specific scenarios may point out problem solving and quick thinking but may not predict what the person actually has done in similar situations. Only data based on past situations is considered target data.

    Step 1: General Opening Statement or Question

    Begin gathering target data with general opening questions or statements. The purpose of this step is to get the candidate to talk about what we want them to talk about. Here are examples of general openings. (The phrases in parentheses are examples of specific skills I might be looking for in a candidate.):

    • “I’m looking for (examples of when you managed multiple priorities).”

    • “I’d like to hear more about (your experiences in delegating).”

    • “I’d like to find out how (you respond to autonomy and little direction).”

    • “Can you think of a time when (you had a difficult deadline to meet)?”

    • “Do you recall an instance where (you were aware that another member of the team was not pulling his or her own weight)?”

    • “Is there an example of (a challenge you faced in coding a new module)?”

    Step 2: Get Deeper

    The next step in gathering target data is to get deeper in those areas important to the job. Questions that help you get deeper include:

    • “How did it start?”

    • “What were the key points in the situation?”

    • “What were the results?”

    • “What happened first/then/next?”

    • “What did you do/say/feel/think?”

    • “How did you prepare/follow-up?”

    • “What do you believe was the most important event/decision/activity during that time?”

    Here are several guidelines for getting deeper:

    • Ask what the candidate did, said, felt, thought.

    • Separate the candidate’s actions from others’ actions.

    • Ask “who”, “what”, “when”, “where”, and “how”.

    What is your role throughout this questioning? Take notes to help you guide the conversation. Listen. Ask for clarity when necessary. Remember, we cannot assess a candidate’s qualifications if WE do all the talking!

    What You Don’t Do

    It is important that you as interviewer don’t:

    • Ask leading questions: Leading questions give you exactly what you want to hear. And they typically result in inaccurate data.

    • Accept generalizations: Generalizations don’t tell you what the candidate did. Target data must be specific.

    • Accept collectivisms: Collectivisms are the use of we, the group, my team, etc. They don’t tell us what this individual -- the candidate -- did. Again, target data must be specific.

    • Assess the candidate before hearing all: Prejudging a candidate before the data is heard is a serious mistake. The brain can easily “find” data to support its prejudgment. Therefore, stick to the script; write down what you hear as the interviewer. The time for assessment comes later.

    How To Get Back On Track

    Because HPI is a dialogue, it is sometimes easy for the candidate to digress. It is your responsibility as interviewer to pull the candidate’s discussion into more relevant and appropriate direction. Here are some pithy phrases that will rein in or focus the digresser:

    • “If I was there, what would I see?”

    • “You said there were meetings. Could you tell me about one?”

    • “Can you give me the details?”

    • “Let’s backtrack a bit.”

    • “Who do you mean by ‘we’?”

    When you’ve gathered an appropriate amount of data for a particular skill, repeat the HPI technique until you are satisfied with the results. Then close the interview.

    Terence R. Traut is the president of Entelechy, Inc., a company that helps organizations unlock the potential of their people through customized training programs in the areas of sales, management, customer se

    Procurement Contracts
    Procurement refers to the acquisition of goods or commodities by an individual, organization, company, or institution. Most companies have a procurement process in place on a contractual basis. The majority of these contracts specify the lease and time for which these companies will work for a particular client. They are a great assistance to associations that cannot set up their own e-procurement services without delay.A procurement contract is suitable when the primary intention of the transaction is the acquisition of goods or services for the direct benefit or use of the federal government or any buyer. A procurement contract is a joint obligatory legal relationship where the seller is under obligation to provide supplies or services that the buyer pays for. In contrast, an assistance agreement can be either a cooperative agreement or a grant. FHWA Order 4410.1 provides further details and examples that explain the differences between a procurement contract and an assistance agreement.A procurement contract is an instrument used when the government or
    candidate respond to your anger. Another example of a simulation is having a telesales representative call you (the “customer”) to sell you something. Or, if you’re interviewing for a training position, you could have the candidate teach you something.

    Problem Solving

    Sometimes demonstrations and simulations are not feasible. Then problem solving might provide you with confidence in the person’s ability. Problem solving is a technique many interviewers use to see how adept the candidate is in addressing real or hypothetical problems and challenges. It is one step removed from simulation because in problem solving the candidate describes what s/he would do rather than simulating what s/he would do. A cautionary note: problem solving by itself may only indicate what a person SAYS s/he will do in a given situation, not how they actually will or did behave. Still, problem solving is a good way to check a critical skill.

    Test

    Tests are also sometimes helpful as part of the hiring process. Psychological tests provide a way for some companies to identify key characteristics in an individual. Other ways of testing include asking specific knowledge questions such as “What commands might you use to initiate a subroutine?” or “What are the advantages and disadvantages of common network protocols?”

    Interview

    However, sometimes demonstrations, simulations, problem solving, or testing might not be feasible; at the very least they -- by themselves -- are inadequate. Interviewing is required. Effective interviewing requires that you have sharp probing and listening skills to get the candidate to describe or explain relevant experiences from which you can draw highly predictive information. We call this type of interviewing High Performance Interviewing.

    Can we maximize the traditional method of hiring candidates — the interview — to hire more effectively? The answer is, “YES!”

    Many interviews result in a mutual exchange of meaningless information and a “gut feeling.” The process we call High Performance Interviewing (HPI) helps you gather meaningful, predictive information and substantiates your “gut feeling.” HPI is based on the premise that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. HPI is designed to extract highly predictive, accurate target data from candidates. Target data is:

    • Behavioral: The data must be about what the candidate did, said, thought, or felt. We do not consider what the person “was responsible for” as target data since it doesn’t tell what the person actually did. The data must be about the candidate. We do not consider “we” data target data since we don’t know what the candidate did.

    • Volunteered by the candidate: Target data comes from the candidate’s memory, not the interviewer’s suggestions or prompting.

    • About a specific past situation: Focused on what actually happened, not on what might have happened, or what generally happens. Having the candidate state what they would do in specific scenarios may point out problem solving and quick thinking but may not predict what the person actually has done in similar situations. Only data based on past situations is considered target data.

    Step 1: General Opening Statement or Question

    Begin gathering target data with general opening questions or statements. The purpose of this step is to get the candidate to talk about what we want them to talk about. Here are examples of general openings. (The phrases in parentheses are examples of specific skills I might be looking for in a candidate.):

    • “I’m looking for (examples of when you managed multiple priorities).”

    • “I’d like to hear more about (your experiences in delegating).”

    • “I’d like to find out how (you respond to autonomy and little direction).”

    • “Can you think of a time when (you had a difficult deadline to meet)?”

    • “Do you recall an instance where (you were aware that another member of the team was not pulling his or her own weight)?”

    • “Is there an example of (a challenge you faced in coding a new module)?”

    Step 2: Get Deeper

    The next step in gathering target data is to get deeper in those areas important to the job. Questions that help you get deeper include:

    • “How did it start?”

    • “What were the key points in the situation?”

    • “What were the results?”

    • “What happened first/then/next?”

    • “What did you do/say/feel/think?”

    • “How did you prepare/follow-up?”

    • “What do you believe was the most important event/decision/activity during that time?”

    Here are several guidelines for getting deeper:

    • Ask what the candidate did, said, felt, thought.

    • Separate the candidate’s actions from others’ actions.

    • Ask “who”, “what”, “when”, “where”, and “how”.

    What is your role throughout this questioning? Take notes to help you guide the conversation. Listen. Ask for clarity when necessary. Remember, we cannot assess a candidate’s qualifications if WE do all the talking!

    What You Don’t Do

    It is important that you as interviewer don’t:

    • Ask leading questions: Leading questions give you exactly what you want to hear. And they typically result in inaccurate data.

    • Accept generalizations: Generalizations don’t tell you what the candidate did. Target data must be specific.

    • Accept collectivisms: Collectivisms are the use of we, the group, my team, etc. They don’t tell us what this individual -- the candidate -- did. Again, target data must be specific.

    • Assess the candidate before hearing all: Prejudging a candidate before the data is heard is a serious mistake. The brain can easily “find” data to support its prejudgment. Therefore, stick to the script; write down what you hear as the interviewer. The time for assessment comes later.

    How To Get Back On Track

    Because HPI is a dialogue, it is sometimes easy for the candidate to digress. It is your responsibility as interviewer to pull the candidate’s discussion into more relevant and appropriate direction. Here are some pithy phrases that will rein in or focus the digresser:

    • “If I was there, what would I see?”

    • “You said there were meetings. Could you tell me about one?”

    • “Can you give me the details?”

    • “Let’s backtrack a bit.”

    • “Who do you mean by ‘we’?”

    When you’ve gathered an appropriate amount of data for a particular skill, repeat the HPI technique until you are satisfied with the results. Then close the interview.

    Terence R. Traut is the president of Entelechy, Inc., a company that helps organizations unlock the potential of their people through customized training programs in the areas of sales, management, customer s

    UPS vs. USPS
    1) UPS provides $100.00 of FREE insurance on every package. You may purchase additional insurance for higher value items. You pay for ANY insurance at the post office, and the rate STARTS at $1.35.2) UPS services are GUARANTEED! If the package does not arrive on time (unless weather affected the shipment), even on a ground shipment (except from 12/12 through 12/24 of any year due to the volume of air packages that in the system for the Christmas rush), you get a FULL REFUND of your shipping charges, usually within 2 weeks of filing. Try and get a refund from the post office, even for Express Mail.3) UPS packages are trackable. The post office charges you for the "privilege" of tracking your package. There is no need to pay for certified mail and/or return receipt requested when you have UPS as the alternative. The UPS driver normally obtains a signature for shipments to commercial establishments. Even for residential deliveries, the driver has the option to require a signature or just leave the package out of sight, but the tracking system does tell you wh
    n draw highly predictive information. We call this type of interviewing High Performance Interviewing.

    Can we maximize the traditional method of hiring candidates — the interview — to hire more effectively? The answer is, “YES!”

    Many interviews result in a mutual exchange of meaningless information and a “gut feeling.” The process we call High Performance Interviewing (HPI) helps you gather meaningful, predictive information and substantiates your “gut feeling.” HPI is based on the premise that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. HPI is designed to extract highly predictive, accurate target data from candidates. Target data is:

    • Behavioral: The data must be about what the candidate did, said, thought, or felt. We do not consider what the person “was responsible for” as target data since it doesn’t tell what the person actually did. The data must be about the candidate. We do not consider “we” data target data since we don’t know what the candidate did.

    • Volunteered by the candidate: Target data comes from the candidate’s memory, not the interviewer’s suggestions or prompting.

    • About a specific past situation: Focused on what actually happened, not on what might have happened, or what generally happens. Having the candidate state what they would do in specific scenarios may point out problem solving and quick thinking but may not predict what the person actually has done in similar situations. Only data based on past situations is considered target data.

    Step 1: General Opening Statement or Question

    Begin gathering target data with general opening questions or statements. The purpose of this step is to get the candidate to talk about what we want them to talk about. Here are examples of general openings. (The phrases in parentheses are examples of specific skills I might be looking for in a candidate.):

    • “I’m looking for (examples of when you managed multiple priorities).”

    • “I’d like to hear more about (your experiences in delegating).”

    • “I’d like to find out how (you respond to autonomy and little direction).”

    • “Can you think of a time when (you had a difficult deadline to meet)?”

    • “Do you recall an instance where (you were aware that another member of the team was not pulling his or her own weight)?”

    • “Is there an example of (a challenge you faced in coding a new module)?”

    Step 2: Get Deeper

    The next step in gathering target data is to get deeper in those areas important to the job. Questions that help you get deeper include:

    • “How did it start?”

    • “What were the key points in the situation?”

    • “What were the results?”

    • “What happened first/then/next?”

    • “What did you do/say/feel/think?”

    • “How did you prepare/follow-up?”

    • “What do you believe was the most important event/decision/activity during that time?”

    Here are several guidelines for getting deeper:

    • Ask what the candidate did, said, felt, thought.

    • Separate the candidate’s actions from others’ actions.

    • Ask “who”, “what”, “when”, “where”, and “how”.

    What is your role throughout this questioning? Take notes to help you guide the conversation. Listen. Ask for clarity when necessary. Remember, we cannot assess a candidate’s qualifications if WE do all the talking!

    What You Don’t Do

    It is important that you as interviewer don’t:

    • Ask leading questions: Leading questions give you exactly what you want to hear. And they typically result in inaccurate data.

    • Accept generalizations: Generalizations don’t tell you what the candidate did. Target data must be specific.

    • Accept collectivisms: Collectivisms are the use of we, the group, my team, etc. They don’t tell us what this individual -- the candidate -- did. Again, target data must be specific.

    • Assess the candidate before hearing all: Prejudging a candidate before the data is heard is a serious mistake. The brain can easily “find” data to support its prejudgment. Therefore, stick to the script; write down what you hear as the interviewer. The time for assessment comes later.

    How To Get Back On Track

    Because HPI is a dialogue, it is sometimes easy for the candidate to digress. It is your responsibility as interviewer to pull the candidate’s discussion into more relevant and appropriate direction. Here are some pithy phrases that will rein in or focus the digresser:

    • “If I was there, what would I see?”

    • “You said there were meetings. Could you tell me about one?”

    • “Can you give me the details?”

    • “Let’s backtrack a bit.”

    • “Who do you mean by ‘we’?”

    When you’ve gathered an appropriate amount of data for a particular skill, repeat the HPI technique until you are satisfied with the results. Then close the interview.

    Terence R. Traut is the president of Entelechy, Inc., a company that helps organizations unlock the potential of their people through customized training programs in the areas of sales, management, customer s

    Corporate Gifts with Logo is Mileage for Money
    Corporate gifts with logo are perhaps the most popular and widely used of all corporate gift ideas. Of course, it makes perfect sense. If your company wants to give its employees or customers a gift, then obviously you want them to remember you. What better way to make your company stand out in your customers' memories than to give them a corporate gift sporting your company's logo? Corporate gifts with logos are an excellent idea for almost any occasion, because almost any corporate gift you can think of can be imprinted with your company's logo.Common Corporate Gifts With Logo Some of the most popular corporate gifts with a company logo include pens, note pads, caps, and key chains. But, there are a lot of other great corporate gifts available such as mugs, t-shirts, flashlights, office supplies of all kinds, and even computer accessories like mouse pads. All of these are items that can easily be produced with a company logo, so get creative! What are some items that people need and use daily? These are the best option
    candidate to talk about what we want them to talk about. Here are examples of general openings. (The phrases in parentheses are examples of specific skills I might be looking for in a candidate.):

    • “I’m looking for (examples of when you managed multiple priorities).”

    • “I’d like to hear more about (your experiences in delegating).”

    • “I’d like to find out how (you respond to autonomy and little direction).”

    • “Can you think of a time when (you had a difficult deadline to meet)?”

    • “Do you recall an instance where (you were aware that another member of the team was not pulling his or her own weight)?”

    • “Is there an example of (a challenge you faced in coding a new module)?”

    Step 2: Get Deeper

    The next step in gathering target data is to get deeper in those areas important to the job. Questions that help you get deeper include:

    • “How did it start?”

    • “What were the key points in the situation?”

    • “What were the results?”

    • “What happened first/then/next?”

    • “What did you do/say/feel/think?”

    • “How did you prepare/follow-up?”

    • “What do you believe was the most important event/decision/activity during that time?”

    Here are several guidelines for getting deeper:

    • Ask what the candidate did, said, felt, thought.

    • Separate the candidate’s actions from others’ actions.

    • Ask “who”, “what”, “when”, “where”, and “how”.

    What is your role throughout this questioning? Take notes to help you guide the conversation. Listen. Ask for clarity when necessary. Remember, we cannot assess a candidate’s qualifications if WE do all the talking!

    What You Don’t Do

    It is important that you as interviewer don’t:

    • Ask leading questions: Leading questions give you exactly what you want to hear. And they typically result in inaccurate data.

    • Accept generalizations: Generalizations don’t tell you what the candidate did. Target data must be specific.

    • Accept collectivisms: Collectivisms are the use of we, the group, my team, etc. They don’t tell us what this individual -- the candidate -- did. Again, target data must be specific.

    • Assess the candidate before hearing all: Prejudging a candidate before the data is heard is a serious mistake. The brain can easily “find” data to support its prejudgment. Therefore, stick to the script; write down what you hear as the interviewer. The time for assessment comes later.

    How To Get Back On Track

    Because HPI is a dialogue, it is sometimes easy for the candidate to digress. It is your responsibility as interviewer to pull the candidate’s discussion into more relevant and appropriate direction. Here are some pithy phrases that will rein in or focus the digresser:

    • “If I was there, what would I see?”

    • “You said there were meetings. Could you tell me about one?”

    • “Can you give me the details?”

    • “Let’s backtrack a bit.”

    • “Who do you mean by ‘we’?”

    When you’ve gathered an appropriate amount of data for a particular skill, repeat the HPI technique until you are satisfied with the results. Then close the interview.

    Terence R. Traut is the president of Entelechy, Inc., a company that helps organizations unlock the potential of their people through customized training programs in the areas of sales, management, customer s

    Managing with Variations in Measures
    Though measuring results and procedures is extremely important to the proper functioning of any business, there is a problem presented by the common habit of managers to focus on only the most recent results that have been achieved, instead of patterns and trends that explain outcomes over time. There is a great deal of risk involved in centering on only on the most recent measures that have been obtained.This risk is easy to recognize by anybody who has had to work with statistical process control, as there are always occurrences of error and sudden variation. These errors and variations are the result of having applied a measurement system to the same single item over and over and obtaining different results. Consider testing the acidity level of water, or the voltage of a wire several times in a row, and receiving different readings every time. The same goes for business management.From improvement and quality strategies such as Six Sigma, managers and other businesspeople can learn to accept the latest measures and results only as the latest piece o
    t is important that you as interviewer don’t:

    • Ask leading questions: Leading questions give you exactly what you want to hear. And they typically result in inaccurate data.

    • Accept generalizations: Generalizations don’t tell you what the candidate did. Target data must be specific.

    • Accept collectivisms: Collectivisms are the use of we, the group, my team, etc. They don’t tell us what this individual -- the candidate -- did. Again, target data must be specific.

    • Assess the candidate before hearing all: Prejudging a candidate before the data is heard is a serious mistake. The brain can easily “find” data to support its prejudgment. Therefore, stick to the script; write down what you hear as the interviewer. The time for assessment comes later.

    How To Get Back On Track

    Because HPI is a dialogue, it is sometimes easy for the candidate to digress. It is your responsibility as interviewer to pull the candidate’s discussion into more relevant and appropriate direction. Here are some pithy phrases that will rein in or focus the digresser:

    • “If I was there, what would I see?”

    • “You said there were meetings. Could you tell me about one?”

    • “Can you give me the details?”

    • “Let’s backtrack a bit.”

    • “Who do you mean by ‘we’?”

    When you’ve gathered an appropriate amount of data for a particular skill, repeat the HPI technique until you are satisfied with the results. Then close the interview.

    Terence R. Traut is the president of Entelechy, Inc., a company that helps organizations unlock the potential of their people through customized training programs in the areas of sales, management, customer service, and training. Terence can be reached at 603-424-1237 or ttraut@unlockit.com. Check out Entelechy's website at www.unlockit.com.

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