B6 W e d n e s day, n ov e m B e r 1 9, 2 0 1 4 e d m o n T o n J o U r n a L e dm o n t o n j o u r n a l . c om

What question do you always ask in a job interview?

UPCOMING:

Join our LinkedIn group: Capital Ideas at the Edmonton Journal. Follow us on Twitter: @capitalideasyeg

Glenda Polak, owner of CapriceWest (capricewest.com), lists some of her go-to questions that reveal both the character and priorities of potential hires. “ ’What interests you about working here? Why should we hire you? Can you give me an example of how you have dealt with difficult situations in the past? If you were working by yourself with a customer at the till, a ringing phone, and a consignor bringing in an armload of clothing, in which order would you proceed?’ Finally, ‘Do you have any questions for me?’ ”SUPPLIED PHOTO BY TRACY GRABOWSKI

“’Where do you see yourself in five years? If money were no obstacle, how would you spend your days?’”— Pardee Badyal, founder of Art Trends magazine — arttrends.ca

“I always ask if the potential employee plays video games. It’s a great test of technical competency and culture fit in a tech startup.” — Eric Warnke, CEO of Mover — mover.io

“ ‘What do you consider the biggest mistake you made at a position? How did you rectify it? What did you do to assure that it didn’t recur?’ It provides insight and sets the tone that I don’t expect people to be perfect, but I do expect them to fix their mistakes and improve.” — Gregg Weir, president of Capital Plumbing & Heating — capitalplumbing.ca

“We ask candidates to tell us about a mistake they’ve made and discuss the fix or fallout that resulted. It’s a huge red flag for us when someone says, ‘I can’t think of anything,’ because who hasn’t made a mistake?” — Jen Salamandick, partner at Kick Point — kickpoint.ca

“I like to ask questions that focus on positive employment experiences. Asking these questions quickly tells me if an employee is a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty kind of person.”— Eryne Sarabin, event planner at ComLinks Events — comlinks.ca

“My favourite is a question an interviewee asked back: ‘When did you first start working here and what inspires you to keep working at this organization?’ Great question to ask to determine culture and engagement from your future boss or HR people.” — Tracy Scanks, executive director at Pro Conference Advantage — proconadvantage.com

“ ’We are in a competitive market; if you had a choice between two offers for your next job, please list the top factors you would use to evaluate and accept the superior job opportunity.’ I like to ask this question near the end of the interview. It usually provides some great insight.”— Sara Tharakan, CEO of Strategic HR Services — strategichrservices.com

“I always ask: ‘What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? What motivates you? What did you learn about us on the web?’ They seem like easy questions, but you’d be amazed at how many people don’t practise the answers to them.” — Lori Thexton, loan portfolio manager at Alberta Women Entrepreneurs — awebusiness.com

“ ’Can you tell us what you know about our organization/business?’ This shows three things: how serious the candidate is about the job, how much initiative they possess, and how well they can synthesize information.” — Rich Horning, community liaison for On Site Placement — osp.ab.ca

“ ’What is the latest book you have read?’ I ask that question to begin to understand who the ‘person’ is that is across the table from me. I want to know what his/her interests are. We are going to spend a lot of time together; let’s begin the dance now!”— Shirley Leonard, owner of Pinnacle Organizational Performance Solutions — pinnacleperformance.ca

“I always ask the question, ‘What about our company makes you want to work for us?’ I want to know if the person is keen and has read our website! It shows desire and motivation if they can reiterate some facts that others wouldn’t know unless they looked us up online.” — Chelsea Krupa, owner of Rehab and Retreat — rehabandretreat.com

“ ’How well can you take a hit?’ In real estate you’ve got to have pretty thick skin or a healthy sense of self. So a litmus test for that is: ‘Thank you for sharing your background, but I’m just not getting the sense that you have what it takes to make it in this industry.’ It’s at that point that I will either get the answer I’m looking for or they walk themselves out the door.” — Jennifer Kennedy, owner of Kennedy Real Estate — kennedyrealestate.ca

“I have always believed choosing a job is dependent on alignment of values; therefore, my favourite questions are: ‘What one value is non-negotiable for you? What behaviours support “living that value” from your perspective?’ ” — Linda Maul, founding partner of Creating People Power Inc. — creatingpeoplepower.ca

“Skills can be taught. The questions we ask focus on understanding the person’s values, and how much of a fit they are to our culture. It’s important to build your questions to ensure the person isn’t intimidated so it feels more like a conversation than an interview.” — Ashif Mawji, CEO of NPO Zero — npozero.com

“Communication is equally important to working with teams and clients. We always ask, ‘What do you think makes a perfect team and why? How do you communicate the importance of your opinion to a group in a diplomatic fashion?’ The answers go beyond words. Through eye movement, body posture and voice, we can read between the lines and know if the candidate has the ability to be a team player.” — Chantal Beaulieu, director of marketing at ICS Engineering Inc. — icsenggroup.com

“In a job interview, I like to ask the candidate what they expect to get out of the position. Not just their monetary expectations, but where they’ll derive the most personal satisfaction from the opportunity.” — Jennifer Belik, national relationship manager at PayVida Solutions — payvida.ca

“ ’What excites you?’ I am interested in people’s passions and values. What fuels and drives them. Skills can be taught to almost anyone, so I want to be able to connect in terms of meaning and purpose. Once you have that connection, the rest is easy.”— Randy Brososky, chief rogue and bottle washer at the Group of Rogues — groupofrogues.com

“I always ask who their favourite author is and what are they currently reading…. It’s a non-traditional question that demonstrates we are interested in them as an individual, not just an employee.”— Don Crothers, partner at Tri-Global Solutions — tri-global.com

“ ‘What did you do to earn pocket money when you were a kid?’ I always liked the answers such as paper route, lawn mowing and snow shovelling.” — Bob Gaetz, president of Gaetz Realty Inc. — gaetzrealty.com

“When applicants answer the ‘What would you do if…’ questions, they say what they think is the best thing to do, but it may not be what they actually do under similar circumstances. So I ask how they have acted in such situations in the past. The answer offers an opportunity for coaching on the spot.” — Mary Lou Gutscher, business coach at Magnetic Business Solutions — MagneticBusinessSolutions.com

B U S I N E S S OW N E R S H E L P I N G B U S I N E S S OW N E R S

SIGN UP atcapitalideasedmonton.com

CAPITAL QUESTION:Impact 2015Edmonton Economic Development Corporation’s annual economic outlook luncheonWhere: Shaw Conference Centre Hall D (9797 Jasper Avenue)When: 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.Admission: $120. Tickets at eedc.ca/impact

JAN

13

JOIN US!

CAPITAL IDEAScapi ta l id easedmonton .com P R O J E C T L E A D E R : K A R E N U N L A N D, 7 8 0 - 4 2 9 - 5 2 6 0; k a r e n @ c a p i t a l i d e a s e d m o n t o n . c o m

CAPITAL IDEAS

“What will you do to contribute to the realization of our vision?” — Renata Herdzik, volunteer co-ordinator at Alberta AdaptAbilities Association — adaptabilities.ca

“ ’Where do you want to be in five years?’ You want to hire someone with the ambition and drive to make long-term goals and a plan to reach them. They are the people that will make a great addition to your team!” — Stacey Hogbin, owner of Wevive Fitness — wevivefitness.com

These answers are in response to a question posed by Wellington Holbrook, executive vice-president of ATB Business. Here’s his take:

“There is no easy answer in terms of what question ‘to always ask’ in a job interview. In many ways, interviewing a person has traditionally been more art than science. How does one get to the fundamental question of ‘Are you going to be a good fit for my business culture, or not?’ Well, the good news is that the science is growing in this area. Online services, among other things, are helping companies develop deeper thought into the science of getting a better match (even if they sometimes carry the eerie similarity to online dating). Nonetheless, this isn’t going to work for everyone and particularly in a small business, the key questions will always come down to the entrepreneurs’ gut instinct. From my personal experience, the best job interview question I ever received was from a nice man who looked at my resume and said, ‘OK, based on your resume, you are qualified. Now, tell me what kind of person you are.’ That is one question that gets to the heart of the person.”

Sustaining a successful free-lance career can be a challenge. That’s why Nicola Doherty, city director for Entrepreneur Mom Now Edmonton, wants to know what you’ve found to make freelance work manageable and profitable.

What resources do you recommend for freelancers?

You can answer the question in two ways:• Open today’s Capital Ideas email if you’re a member, or• Visit capitalideasedmonton.comWe’ll publish the best answers, along with your busi-

ness name and website address, on Nov. 26. For more information on Entrepreneur Mom Now Edmonton, visit entrepreneurmomnow.com/edmonton.

Here’s your chance to ask a question of Mayor Don Ive-son and Brad Ferguson, president and CEO of the Ed-monton Economic Development Corporation, at the Im-pact luncheon on Jan. 13 at the Shaw Conference Centre.

Visit capitalideasedmonton.com/impact to submit your question. The deadline is noon on Dec. 1.

Capital Ideas will video three members’ questions, which will be played and answered in front of about 1,000 Edmonton business leaders at the luncheon.

COMMUNITY QUESTION: What resources do you recommend for freelancers?

Ask a question, make an Impact