As a hiring manager, the interview process can be a daunting and time-consuming task. When you have a seemingly endless number of applicants to sift through, it can be difficult to know which questions to ask in order to find the most suitable candidate for the role. Though there is no magical solution to finding the perfect candidate, there are a few key questions that can help employers cut through the noise and find the ideal fit for a particular job. In this blog post, we will be discussing some of the best “magic wand” interview questions that hiring managers can use to discover a candidate’s true potential. These particular questions allow the interviewer to gain an insight into the applicant’s work ethic, problem-solving abilities, and overall personality. By focusing on these particular questions, employers can find the right candidate for the job more quickly and accurately.
- “If you could wave a magic wand and change one thing about your business or industry, what would it be? …
- “Is there anything that has been at the top of your to-do list forever?”
- “Is there anything about your business keeps you up at night?”
If You Had A Magic Wand, What Would You Wish For? | The Job Interview | CNBC Prime
How Past Experiences Can Change the Outlook for a High Drive Candidate
After conducting a phone interview with them and having them complete a sales personality assessment that specifically measures their Need for Achieving, Competitiveness, and Optimism, you will have a good idea of which candidates are most likely to succeed in your business.
These innate personality traits are essential for sales success, but they are insufficient to ensure that you have chosen the ideal salesperson for your business.
To make the hire a wise and profitable investment for your business, you must still ensure that he or she has the right temperament, objectives, and experience.
Even a candidate with a high sales test score may be written off after learning about their prior experiences. Someone with rigid perfectionist tendencies, a short fuse, or an unwillingness to compromise might not fit in with your workplace culture.
The person you ultimately choose for employment should have a high level of drive, as well as complementary professional experiences and personality traits that mesh well with your company’s culture. You might need to consider other high-scoring applicants if all of these criteria are missing.
By focusing on the candidates most likely to succeed, using a sales personality assessment can significantly reduce the time between posting a position and hiring. However, without full knowledge of prior experiences, the assessment alone is insufficient to guarantee a good fit. This is where a strong interview strategy comes into play.
The Power of The Magic Wand Question in a Sales Interview
Conducting a successful sales interview can be difficult.
You must convey assurance, competence, and control as a company representative while also making the interviewee feel at ease and relaxed.
To make a hiring decision that will benefit your business, you must ask the difficult questions in a way that will yield the truthful responses you need.
As a result of ongoing dissatisfaction with current sales representatives’ subpar performance or recent departures from the team, you might also be under extra pressure to find a top candidate.
For instance, you need to find out if a candidate has a history of getting into arguments with managers and leaving when things get heated. You might not want to take the chance of hiring someone who makes hasty decisions. No team benefits from the “bull in the China shop. Unfortunately, if the applicant is not forthcoming with this information, it will be even harder to make a hiring decision.
She might say things like, “There were some misunderstandings with my supervisor,” or “We had a few differences of opinion” in an effort to sound impartial. It is clear that the response’s passive and evasive tone conceals contextual information.
You might be able to elicit a more sincere response from that candidate by paying attention to the way you ask questions than they might have otherwise given you.
You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, according to the proverb. Start incorporating “The Magic Wand Question” into your interviews if you want to hire a candidate who would fit in well with your current sales team and has a high drive to succeed.
What is The Magic Wand Question?
What then is this “Magic Wand Question” that is so effective at spotting potential red flags?
By posing the question in this context, you are positively addressing a potential sensitive subject. You’re curious as to how she would have liked the situation with her former employer to go down.
The strategy is disarming, and a skilled candidate is much less likely to manipulate it. The applicant might say, “Well, my base salary would be three times higher, my three assistants would not have quit, and I would not have yelled at my manager when he asked me to put in more hours,” in response to this. ”.
Almost any response you receive in response to “The Magic Wand Question” will give you a wealth of knowledge to aid in your decision-making.
To delve a little bit deeper, you can also include additional iterations of this question.
For instance, you could elicit the traits a candidate would alter about herself or inquire as to what her ideal working environment would entail. Design the inquiries to focus on the information that will be most helpful to your decision-making process.
You might be able to tell from her responses whether she would make a high-maintenance salesperson or whether the culture was not the right fit for the candidate. These high maintenance sales candidates may prove to be too challenging for your team to work with despite being qualified for the position.
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Even though I’m only a college senior, I feel like I’ve been questioned about my goals and dreams a lot. What would you do with your life if you had a magic wand, you know, those kinds of questions? I usually respond to those with some variation of “I don’t know,” and the reason is that I really don’t know. The concept of dreaming is still relatively new to me because I was raised to think in a fiercely pragmatic manner. I really detest the interview query, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” I don’t know where I’ll be tomorrow, much less in five years. I realize that is not the question’s focus, but I digress
Despite the fact that I dislike planning and questions about the future, I will attempt to respond to a few of them today. These were recently put to me by a professor who claimed to be living out his responses to them in front of my class, so I figure trying to respond to them myself is worthwhile.
FAQ
What are the 10 most common interview questions and answers?
- Tell me about yourself.
- What attracted you to our company?
- Tell me about your strengths.
- What are your weaknesses?
- Where do you see yourself in five years?
- Please describe a time when you faced a business obstacle.
Is magic wand an interviewing technique?
The Magic Wand is essentially interview preparation with a twist because we will quiz you on a few issues to determine your readiness for the upcoming job interview.
What are the 5 hardest interview questions and answers?
- Tell Me About Yourself. …
- Tell me about a time when you failed or made a mistake, and how you handled it.
- Describe a time when you had to deal with a challenging coworker and what you did.
- Why did you leave your last job? …
- Why do you want this job?
What are the 5 unusual interview questions?
- How many basketballs can fit on a bus?
- Aside from food and water, what other two things would you want to have on a deserted island?
- How many pizzas are ordered in the US every night?
- What would you do if you won the lottery?
- Blue or green?
