Let’s face it: choosing the right person to join your team is hard, and focusing on a candidate’s skills can make it even harder.

“THE MOST IMPORTANT SKILLS ARE CHARACTER BASED”
At Inspire Network, we’ve discovered that when we select primarily on character, and only secondarily on natural ability, we have the best chance of finding future “A Players”.
Often, the best candidates don’t come prepackaged with the skills they need to succeed on your team. Skills are useful but are the easiest to teach. The most important skills that inform our teams’ capabilities are those which are character-based.

THE FIRST INTERVIEW
At Inspire Network, candidates who pass the resume screening are invited to a group interview. Those who are interviewing candidates are encouraged to ask any questions they want. However, there is one “Heritage Question” that is always asked during the first interview. “Of all the characteristics that your parents have, which is the one you admire the most and would like to share with others?”
The candidate’s response to this question begins to paint a picture of their character and potential fit within our organization’s values. After the interview, the first line interviewers are asked only one thing – “Would you invite this person to Thanksgiving Dinner, or not?” If the answer is yes, the candidate is scheduled for a second interview with our Co-founder Sasa and his partner Derek.

THE SECOND INTERVIEW
I) Before the second interview begins, the candidate is asked to complete a values exercise in which they reflect on, and choose, their top five values. About a third of the interview is spent in discussing these values. Sasa and Derek want to have a lively conversation about personal values and the guiding principles that are important at Inspire Network.

II) During the second interview, the partners look for opportunities to ask deliberately “weird” questions. For example, “what’s 25×25?” The candidate is always given an explanation regarding these unusual questions. They are told that their answers reveal how they might perform when they are under stress or pressure— situations they are likely to encounter repeatedly if they are hired to work in our organization.

III) Between the first and second interviews the candidate is asked to complete a personal assessment tool called the Kolbe A Index. This assessment highlights instinctive strengths in areas such as how they process information and how they handle risk and uncertainty. Our interview team then addresses the candidate’s natural abilities by reviewing the results.

These three components in the second interview serve to clarify the candidate’s character and natural abilities. What is accomplished through this unconventional process? We have created conditions that allow the best candidates to decide if they want to be part of our team. And, at this point, we know if we want to make the candidate an offer to join Inspire Network.

Learn more about our integral onboarding interviewing process on our white paper.