Answering Stupid Questions

A friend of mine recently made a post in their blog about the stupid questions that high school students sometimes ask. The truth as (as is shown by some of the questions the students ask) is that yes, there is such a thing as a stupid question. We only tell people who ask stupid questions that there aren't stupid questions to make them feel better.

As a manager, have you been asked a stupid question? Of course you have. We all have. At a recent position, there was one member of the sales team that routinely asked stupid questions, usually asking me to explain something that I had just spent the last hour training her on.

She definitely got on my last nerve, and though I thought that I his it, everyone around me knew when I was training her just from my change of demeanor. The only saving grace in this was that it wasn't just me...she was this way with everyone, to the point where people cringed at the very mention of her name. She was, without a doubt, in the category of stupid.

And it was my fault.

It wasn't my fault that she was not a relatively intelligent human being; it was my fault that she got a job with this company. It was my fault for not screening her more thoroughly.

In the words of the immortal Mr. Miyagi, "Best way to block punch: no be there." The best way to stop performance issues is to not hire people who are going to be problematic. Simple enough, but rarely followed.

Most managers rely on the time-honored approach of the interview process. This usually begins with screening some resumes. This is followed by a phone interview, and then a face-to-face interview with one or more managers. Sometimes, there will be a second interview. A hiring decision is made, the new hire comes on board, and within six months, the hiring manager knows regret that can only be equated with eating bad Mexican food from a shady sidewalk vendor.

Other businesses rely strictly on testing to make hiring decision. This is excellent for determining a candidate's skill set, but does little in determining a candidate's fit with the company and the team.

The real way to weed out the, oh, let's call them "weird" ones, is to not only use a combination approach (both behavioral-based interview questions and objective testing), but include a sample of their work. For example, in a sales position, ask them for a sample proposal, a demonstration their cold-calling technique, and references from their customers. Any salesperson worth their salt will be able to cold call you, show you their boilerplate proposal, and offer a list of customers who are happily satisfied.

We (one of the other managers and I) did not do this last step. We had the aforementioned candidate interview with both of us and take a test, but did not ask for other proof of her accomplishments. Turns out that she was nothing but a performance issue from the start, one that not only monopolized our time, but did not sell much of anything for 6 months. Had we been more thorough in the interview process using the above techniques, we could have avoided the entire mess, and who knows, hired a salesperson that could...well, you know, sell.