Good morning. Again, welcome to another episode of always up to date. My name is Denise and this is [inaudible] and we are a coal owners of always Edmonton Bookkeeping. How are you doing today? [inaudible] good. It’s, it’s getting better out there. Yeah. Last time we did videos it was rainy and cloudy and uh, it’s kinda been that all week and like it’s starting to break, so that’s kinda nice. Welcome to Edmonton. Um, so today we’re going to be talking about interview questions. Um, and so the quote we have today is from Jim Collins, who’s the author of six books. Um, and his quote is those who build great companies understand that the ultimate throttle on growth for any great company is not markets or technology or competition or products. It is one thing above all others. The ability to get and keep them enough of the right people. Uh, so our stat is from industry Canada and um, we talked about this before.

50% of all Canadian businesses fail within five years and 23% of failed entrepreneurs will list not having the right team as a reason for failure. Making it the third highest reason that businesses fail. Um, and so, you know, it’s, it’s really hard to get good employees and to keep good employees. So we’re going to just talk a little bit today about the interview questions and, um, you know, what kind of questions you should ask in an interview. Yeah. So, um, the first thing you want to ask, is it more important to ask more questions or have more candidates to an interview? Yeah, lots of times we focus on the questions that we’re going to ask and, um, I’ve even heard people trying to come up with questions that are kind of bizarre to get people to think on their feet, right? How was this person gonna answer this question?

Or, um, you know, and coming from somebody that’s been interviewed, you kind of think, Oh, like kind of questions are they going to come up? But, you know, it’s actually more important to have more candidates than to ask more questions. Um, you know, you can ask all the questions you want, but if you, you’re not seeing a lot of candidates, you’re not always gonna get the right one. Yeah, absolutely. And as well the candidates and are there for an interview so they will have the mindset of what you want to hear as opposed to what the really want to do. So there’s always that disconnect. Um, there’s a lot of people that are more theoretical than doers, so it’s, that’s why I think it’s more important to see more candidates. So you have more options and you’re more, you have more, uh, comparisons to do other than just to focus on this one person who can give you what you want as far as, you know, like interview goes.

Yeah. Yeah. That’s right. Can a well written job ad eliminate a lot of questions you need to ask? Yeah, absolutely. Um, if you have a job ad that’s written well, um, the candidates are going to see that first of all and they’re gonna, you know, it’s gonna weed out the people that really aren’t interested before you even start the interview process. Yeah. Um, but what we do with our interviews too is that we, um, repeat the job ad in the interview so that, you know, candidates are, are applying for more than one job. They’re not just applying for your job. They’ve been looking at hundreds of ads. Probably this gives them a chance to make sure that they’re there. They’re at the right place, gives them another chance to decide if this is really what they want. Um, and then there’s, there’s no surprises, right, that people know what we’re looking for.

It says the expectation, what they’re gonna be expected to do when the, when they get hired in fired for the position. That’s right. Yeah. Uh, why do big businesses normally get better talent than a small business? So big businesses, it makes sense. They, most of them probably have an HR department that that’s their job. They can spend all day, everyday looking for the right person. We’re in a small business like we talked about before, you’re doing, um, the hiring, the firing, the like all the HR stuff, plus you’re doing the work that needs to get done to, um, for the supplies that you’re providing, the service or product that you’re supplying to your client, plus this going on top of that. That’s right. And if you don’t have bookkeepers, they, that you’re doing the Edmonton Bookkeeping yourself. So you’re doing all these other things. You just don’t have the time to look at the talent that you need for your business.

So that’s why big businesses normally, um, get better talents cause they just have the time to do it. They have a separate department to do it all the results or resources and all that. Exactly. Um, how many candidates should you aim to interview? To fill a position? Yeah. So this is a, a number that most people, especially small business owners will be shocked at. Um, but really you should try to interview at least a hundred people to fill it. Um, a position to get one good hire, one good hire. Yeah. Which is crazy when you think about it. Like how do you do that? You and I both have gone through the interview process and it takes a long time just to see eight people. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Especially if you’re feeling, feeling them one by one, two years schedule. And again, you still have a lot to do to get your business going.

So. Exactly. Yeah. So how can you avoid asking common interview questions in it or, sorry, how can a small business owner interview hundred people? Yeah, so exactly. Had, and we’ve had a video on this before about group interviews. We strongly recommend group interviews. You can, um, you can have more than enough people come in for a group interview and you can interview them all at one time. Maybe not a hundred at one time, but, um, you know, within a month you could easily get that many, if you, you know, just 25 people in a group interview. And we have had interviews where we’ve had 20, 25 people come in. Yeah,

yeah, yeah, absolutely. And, um, I know this is not people’s favorite way of, um, getting the interview, but this is the best way to interview or see more people for a small business owner of it with very limited time. Now that I think about it. Um, even some of the big retail stores are doing group interviews, so if they’re doing, if they’re doing it, why aren’t we doing it?

Yeah, that’s right. Yeah. And again, going back to being somebody that’s interviewed people before, way less stressed to do a group interview. Oh my goodness. It’s like it takes way less time. You again get to see more people and yeah, like you can still get your other work done without, you know, going without sleep for a couple of weeks. The thing I would say

people is that yes, like the first hires all with the hardest. Uh, sure. Right? So when you’ve seen this many people, if the first hire didn’t work out, you have the law, a long list of people you can call now that already went through that interview process, that will probably match your, uh, your categories for what you’re looking for. For the position. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Um, so how can you avoid asking common interview questions in a group setting? So, um,

we do and what we recommend is sending the questions to them beforehand. So we, um, send just a blanket email, um, and it just, you know, this is the time our group interviews are, here’s a list of questions we want you to answer and bring with you to the interview. Yeah. So this helps, um, first of all, it will help you by, um, not having to ask those questions in the interview. And second of all, it also helps to weed out those people that don’t follow instructions. Well, I know we’ve had it, we had people come to the interview. Well, I didn’t know you wanted me to bring those to the interview. Well, that’s what it says in our email. Bring these to the interview. So, um, you know, with, again, that helps to weed out those people that, you know, if they can’t follow simple instructions for the interview, are they gonna follow simple instructions when you hire them, chances are a little bit lower on them compared to the people that did bring all the information you asked them.

Yeah, absolutely. Um, what is a main question you should ask in group interview? Yeah. So I think this question is up for debate of what is the main question you want to ask. Um, but here it always Edmonton Bookkeeping. We would ask why do you want to work here? Um, you know, we don’t want to know why you want to be a bookkeeper. We don’t want to know, um, you know, how close our businesses to your home, how it’s going to be easier for the commute. We want to know why you want to work here. Yeah.

And I think that’s very important, especially if you’re trying to build a culture in your business. Now when, you know, um, what they actually are looking for in a, in your companies specifically, not just a general cause most of the time these questions are gonna be answered the same way by the same people. That’s right. They didn’t do research on your company. So, uh, they will have to come up with something that’s a little bit more basic. Right. So that, that shows you how much passion, um, someone has and working with you and also, um, yeah, it just, you can see the people that will stand out. That’s because that’s what you want, the one that you want the ones that will stay in your company because they want to work there, not necessarily because they need a job. Right? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Um, what types of answers are you looking for from the candidates?

Yeah, so we kind of just discussed that, but um, you know, we’re looking for the reason that they want to work at our firm. Not, you know, there’s so many Edmonton Bookkeeping firms out in Edmonton. I, they could work at any Edmonton Bookkeeping firm, but why ours? Why did you choose, choose ours? And again, we’re looking for those people that, um, stand out why they’ve chosen our firm. Not just because they, you know, have always wanted to be a bookkeeper since they were a kid. I don’t know. You know, they, there’s a reason that they’ve chosen our firm.

Um, what types of answers are you not looking for from the candidates?

Yeah, again, we’re not looking for, um, you know, my, my mom wants me to move out of the basement and so I need a job. You know, we don’t want people that, um, well I picked yours cause it’s closest to my house. You know, things like that. We want it to be well thought out. And um, you know, again, like we talked about before too, it kind of makes the people stand out when they come up with an answer, especially in a group interview. Because if your last, the what, the last one to answer the question, everybody else has already answered. So you need to come up with something that’s kind of fresh and new. That’s right. Yeah. So it also, um, is going to help to kind of weed out the people that way too.

Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, people who are just looking for a job, it’s not a, I mean everyone that goes into the interview wants a job of course. Right? So we want that actually goes above and beyond. So anyone who actually did a little bit of research of the company before they went in there, that’s, that’s a good sign that that person is very, um, very willing to go above and beyond of what expected of [inaudible].

Right. And remember, we’re looking for a team that’s gonna build our business, not just looking for a paycheck. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Do you read the resumes and answers to come any questions before the interview? Yeah, we don’t look at them at all before the interview. We actually get them to bring them into the interview with them. Um, if a candidate stands out in the interview, then after the interview is over, that’s when we look at the answers and the resumes and, and weed out more if we have to, uh, you know, anybody can say whatever they want in an interview. Um, we’ve had people come through that have done really well at the interview and then when they come in to do a shadow with us, it’s like, wow, they do not fit in this culture. So, um, same thing. We’ve had them, um, you know, do really good in the interview. Then we go and we look at their resume and their answers and we think, well, I don’t think this is going to be a right fit. Yeah.

Especially in the traditional way of doing interviews and, um, hiring people. We always look at the resumes spurts and we don’t think about is people will always make themselves look better than they are in the resume. People lie on the resume. So why, why would you spend that limited time? Just reading those, all those resumes that comes in when you know, at the end when they go to the interview, they’re not even going to fit. What do you need for that position? So I think it’s very important that you do the interview first and get to know the people before you read the resumes. Because at the end of the day, it’s the people that you’re going to be working at, the, the actual physical human being that’s going to be in your, in your, um, in your firm or your, your Edmonton Bookkeeping company and not the credentials, the credentials.

We have, um, training for that, right? And yes, you need some certification and all of that. And if you make that as a requirement and your add, that shouldn’t be a problem for you anymore. Yeah. So I think that’s all the questions we have for today. I hope you guys find it informative. We do some business, a small business boot camps. I think we’ll have another one in August, August 10th, August 10th. Um, so you might want to consider it going. We have real business owners that would be coming into that event. It will be hosted by, um, uh, Josh Burl, which is one of the best accountants in Canada. So, um, yeah, and if, if you like watching our videos, please click like and subscribe. And if you have any ideas on what we, you want us to talk about, please come in below and we’ll see you guys next time. Next time on our next episode of always up to date.