The word crisis conjures up pictures of earthquakes or floods or an armed individual threatening one’s life.
And each of these are certainly possible while one is at work. But perhaps not likely and we hope not ever, but there are other types of crises that come to the workplace.
- A crisis of economics. Perhaps the company is undergoing a very rough financial patch. A competitive company opened up across the street and many of your customers are ending up over there. The financial stress is palpable and employees are beginning to wonder how secure their job is.
- A crisis in employee morale. Instead of cooperation ruling the day, employees are frequently arguing, frequently criticizing each other. This of course affects productivity and if it gets too rough, some of your best staff may decide to work elsewhere.
- A crisis in public relations. Something occurred that brought bad press to the company. This is showing up with angry calls and angry visits to your front door. The event causing the bad press may not even have a legitimate source.
I’m sure you could come up with other examples of a crisis that might hit your company.
When these highly negative situations occur, the stress can be considerable. Management may take the brunt here, but you can be sure, employees will also be adversely affected.
How will your applicant hold up in these situations?
Let’s find out.
Ask your applicant:
“What is the most challenging, the most difficult situation you have encountered as an employee?”
After you hear what that is, ask how your applicant dealt with it.
Let’s see if the future can tell us anything:
“If a crisis occurred at work, how would you deal with it?”
We’ll likely find out two things with this question:
1) What your applicant considers is a crisis.
2) How they believe they would deal with it.
I realize talking about a crisis in the past or even in the future may not be the easiest thing for an applicant to discuss, but it may be worth considering this tip.
It may give you an insight into how prepared or courageous or considerate they are.
And of course, our motto is and always will be:
The more we know, the better.
To see how our employee test can help you bring better people on board watch this three minute video.
If you have ever interviewed someone and later discovered a "different" person is working for you, check out our new book How To Hire The Right People.
