Considering Strengths When Designing the Interview Process

A good friend of mine has a second interview today. It's her dream job with a local nonprofit, and I'm really excited for her...but the organization did something that surprised me. 🤔

My friend stopped by yesterday to share with me the interview questions they're going to ask her. Yes, she got them in advance. They will ask her the 10 questions today that they sent her last week.

Their only request was that she not read from written responses during the interview.

When I told her how surprised I was that they did this, she shared that it's becoming more common in the nonprofit sector. Providing questions in advance can help address a number social inequities that are inherent in the traditional interviewing process.

As we discussed the (many) inequities this practice addresses, I realized it also tells you a lot about the culture of an organization:

"We want to help you be successful. We want to be transparent. We want you to feel prepared for your interview. We want it to be a win-win experience." 👏

Providing questions in advance of the interview would also be a great help for folks high in Deliberative, Intellection, Discipline, and a number of other CliftonStrengths that value time to think before responding. We get the best of them when we give them time to contemplate their answers.

My friend is high in Communication and Woo, so she could have easily answered “on the fly.”

But she also knows she tends to be an “external processor,” so she really appreciated the opportunity to organize her thoughts prior to her interview. 😉

This nonprofit is going to get the very best of her today.