Tribe Series: How to find your Tribe: The Interview

I know you will have time to get to know your new tribe member once you’ve hired them. I love what Heather Yurko, owner of PIP University, calls this; your dating period. I want to make sure you get a real feel or vision for your potential tribe member before you start dating. Let’s face it, most blind dates don’t end well! You want to have some information before you enter into a dating relationship. How can you do this? The interview.

Interviews are tricky because, like a date, they generally show up with their best possible self or in some cases; their false selves. This is why it is important that you do multiple interviews, yes, multiple. Take the time to do three or four interviews, this will give you opportunity to get to know your potential tribe member.

The first interview is the most important. This interview should be all about them and their personality. We all know skill can be taught but a tribe member is more than the job, more than how well someone can cut or color hair. If they are weak in an area it will be easy to teach them, personality cannot be taught. We really want to get as much information as we can from them; ask unique questions and lots of questions to better understand their mindset. Most importantly – you must answer the questions for yourself. Your answers will help your intuition and you will know how like minded they are to you and your tribe.

 

First Interview: Let them know this interview is strictly for you get to know them better and to please answer as honestly and accurately as they can. Some of these questions are light and fun, some are more thoughtful but together they will help you better understand the person who wants to be apart of your tribe.

1. What’s your story?
2. What’s your why?
3. What are your values?
4. What’s your super power?
5. What’s your spirit animal?
6. How would your best friend describe you?
7. What do you want to be when you grow up?
8. If you had six months with no time or money constraints what would you do?
9. If you won $20 million tomorrow what would you do with it?
10. If you could have dinner with anyone who would it be?
11. What type of car are you?
12. What teams/groups/hobbies do you devote your time to outside of work?
13. Who is your role model and why?
14. Tell me about time when you were a leader.
15. How do you handle criticism?
16. What are the titles of the last three books you’ve read?
17. Would you rather be liked or respected?
18. What brand of shampoo and conditioner is in your shower right now? Brand of products?
19. What is your favorite song?
20. When you are alone in your car what do you think about?
21. What was the last gift you gave to someone?
22. What was the last thing you watched on TV? Why did you choose to watch that show?
23. Tell me about a time where you were a mentor.
24. If you were Shipwrecked on an island and you had plenty of food and water what two items would you want with you?
25. Rate your memory from 1 to 10.
26. What do you worry about and why?
27. Who has inspired you and why?
28. How do you define and measure success?
29. Tell me about a time when you worked as part of a team.
30. Tell me about a time where you worked as part of a team with an interpersonal conflict, how was it resolved?
31. Tell me about a time when things didn’t go the way that you hoped, promotion, a project, ect.
32. Explain a situation where you wish you would have handled things different.
33. Tell me about your most stressful situation and how you handled it.
34. When were you most satisfied in your life?
35. What impression did you get from walking into our salon?
36. Why do you want to join our salon?
37. What excites you most about working here?
38. What are your expectations of me?
39. How will you contribute to our goals and Mission (if stated on the website)
40. Why should I hire you?
41. If I hired you and granted you three promises – what would they be?
42. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
43. Do you have any questions for me?

I know this seems like a lot of questions but you need to invest some time into getting to know them. It will save you time in the long run and your tribe will be happier because of it.  Reflect on their answers, ask yourself if they fit into your vision. Do they have similar values and can you see them as part of the tribe? If the answer is yes, then on to the second interview.

 

Second Interview: is skill related, you want to find out their strengths and weaknesses and how they will grow and help grow the tribe. What can they bring to the salon? What level of skill are they at? Can you help them grow? Can they help you grow?  This is where you want to see their portfolio and resume.

1. Please tell me your strengths and weaknesses.
2. Would you rather improve your strength or weakness?
3. What is your specialty/What is your favorite thing?
4. What skill do you want to improve on, what is your plan to improve it?
5. To date; what professional achievement are you most proud of?
6. What don’t you like to do? Why?
7. What three attributes or skills will you bring to the tribe/salon?
8. What did you contribute to your last salon?
9. What, professionally, have you done that you would not want to repeat?
10. Tell me about a time you set a difficult goal.  Did you achieve it? How did you accomplish it?
11. Why did you leave your last salon?
12. What would your last tribe members say about you?
13. How do you plan on developing your skills and knowledge?
14. Give me three words that describe your ideal Salon environment.
15. A year from now what have we achieved together?
16. Do you have advice for your previous boss?
17. If you do not get this job what is your Back-up Plan?
18. What is your average retail and sales per guest?
19. Do you work well with a structured environment?
20. Why do you want to join our tribe?
21. Do you have any questions for me?

After this interview you should have a better understanding of them and their capabilities. If you think they are likely a good fit for you and your tribe there is at least one more interview to go, depending on you, maybe two.

 

Third Interview: this interview is for your tribe. Always involve your tribe in the hiring process, they have to accept this new member just as much as you do. Let them ask questions, they will surprise you and ask things you would never think of! Keep in mind this can be intimidating. Set it up as a friendly/ informal gathering, we do not want to scare them! You could have some snacks and drinks. For the first 15 minutes let the tribe mingle with them and eachother, watch how they interact. Then do an icebreaker – have some fun and break the tension! After that you can leave the rest of the interview up to your tribe! (Bonus! This is a fun team building excersice!)

 

Fourth Interview: (if you wish) this is where you can test their skills, if that is what makes you more comfortable with hiring.  Don’t forget, as I mentioned previously; skills can be taught. Ask them to bring in a model or mannequin and get them to show you their skills!

After the three to four interviews you should feel comfortable with the decision to hire them or not. However, most importantly trust your instincts, they will guide you to the right fit and most likely you won’t go wrong when you trust yourself and your tribe.

What questions would you add to this?

Angela