Governing Principles for Staffing the Team

The first step toward building a cohesive team is to recognize that you must evaluate a prospective team member in two areas. The first is to understand the candidate's attitude and disposition toward working on a team. The second is to evaluate the person's technical abilities for the role in question. This section considers the former.

When evaluating a candidate to join your team, focus first on attributes that give insight into the person's attitude and propensity for working on a team. Here are some suggestions and ideas for when you interview candidates:

• When discussing the candidate's accomplishments, pay attention to whether the candidate mentions other teams of which he was a part. For example, suppose the candidate says, "In my last position, I worked closely with two other developers on a project that was behind schedule. We worked many extra hours, and as a result, we caught up and delivered on time." Statements like this are a good sign. Notice the reference to other team members and the use of the word "we." This suggests that the candidate is team-oriented.

• Try to assess the candidate's ability to learn. Rarely can you find someone who has all the technical skills your team needs. In general, you are better off with someone who works well in a team culture and who can learn quickly than with someone who has technical skills but who doesn't work well on a team.

• Have several team members interview prospective candidates. This has four advantages:

  • It provides multiple perspectives on a candidate's suitability for the position. After several team members have interviewed the candidate, schedule a briefing to discuss each interviewer's impression. Try to achieve a team consensus. If the consensus is negative or an agreement cannot be reached, keep looking at other candidates.

  • When decisions are made as a team, the team feels ownership of the decisions. If the team decides to hire the person, they will work collectively to integrate that person into the team, making it more likely that the person will succeed as a team member.

  • It gives the candidate a better picture of the position and the other team members. This enables the candidate to make a more informed decision.

  • Having several team members interview the candidate separately shows that you value each team member's opinion.

• Try to assess how the candidate would respond to a recent challenge on your project. Describe a recent scenario, explain the problem, and ask how the candidate would respond to it. This gives you insight into the candidate's problem-solving ability. It also acquaints the candidate with actual issues that have affected the project recently.

The exact answers to these questions are not as important as how the candidate answers the questions.