In order to have a solid team you need to recruit the right people and the best way to do that is by ensuring you have a good interview process during recruitment. Job interviews are one of the best ways to see if people will be a proper fit for your colleagues and that’s why it’s so important to ask more than the standard questions. Include a practical exercise in an interview, which will help you not only gage who a person is, but how they are and what motivates them.

Fun Practical Job Interview Exercises

What are some great interview activities and job interview exercises? Try questions that speak to behavioral interviewing in order to draw on concrete examples from past experiences, which is more reliable than asking hypothetical questions such as: “What did you do?”, rather than “What would you do?” Some interview questions you can try include: “Tell me about a time you had to change your behavior to get things done in an organization or project,” or “describe a situation where you helped someone else become a better professional.”

A fun start into the job interview: Personal Maps

One of the best ways to better understand the people around you is by knowing what drives them and what’s important to them. One great practical exercise in a job interview is to get people to explain their Personal Maps. It’s a form of mind mapping where people choose a few areas in their lives, such as professional, personal, relationships and hobbies and branch off from each one delving into what they’re passionate about. During an interview this will help to better uncover their drivers.

Learn more about how to exercise with Personal Maps

STAR Behavioral Interview Questions

One way of overcoming the challenge of recruiting great people to your team is by thoroughly exploring their competencies and motivations during the interview stage. Some people put candidates through an interview skill’s test but we advocate for a different approach, the STAR method. While Management 3.0 didn’t invent this technique, STAR is widely recognized and proven to be effective. Check out the free download of STAR questions on our website (see below.)

What is STAR? In brief, it explores people’s previous experiences and allows interviewers to perform practical exercises during an interview by delving into four areas: Situation, Task, Action Results.

Read on about STAR Questions and download some example questions

A practical exercise to determine candidate fit: Moving Motivators

One great practical exercise in an interview, also one of Management 3.0’s favourite fun interview activities, is to play Moving Motivators. This uncovers how people make decisions and also explains a job candidate’s intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. It’s primarily an exercise to help people reflect on motivation.

Learn more about Moving Motivators

A Management 3.0 Module dedicated to Hiring

Forty percent of employers globally report talent shortages and find it hard to make the right hires, citing a lack of qualified applicants with the right skills. The question we want to answer is are you hiring the right way? Are you including a practical exercise in an interview, are you seeking to understand the core of the person you’re hiring and not just looking at their accolades. Find out more about the four steps of recruitment and what candidates are looking for in a job.

Learn more about the Management 3.0 Module Hiring Great People

What are you doing to hire the people? When was the last time you included fun interview activities during the recruitment process? If you want to find good people you have to get creative. By using practical exercises in an interview and trying games like Personal Maps and Moving Motivators and methods like STAR, you’re more likely to find the best fit for your team.