How to Hire a Problem Solver

By: Harry Joiner, Management Recruiter
Ph. (678) 795-0900

As a management recruiter, I interview lots of people.  And though most candidates find a way to look good on paper, their resumes don't always reveal their problem-solving abilities.  Yet all of my management recruiting clients want to hire problem solvers — people who can walk into an operation and make the problems go away.

According to Scott Armstrong of The Wharton School, few MBA students — even at the top schools — know when and how to apply specific problem-solving techniques.  And all problems are contextual, which means they present difficulties relative to a given ideal solution.

A good hiring manager will start the requisition of a new employee by asking,

• "What business problems do I want this new hire to solve?
• What quantifiable improvements will this person deliver to specific areas of my business?
• Will this person be able to deliver these improvements in a way that meaningfully differentiates my business?"

The best resumes and cover letters demonstrate that the candidate has addressed similar problems before.  I recommend reading resumes in chronological order — from back to front — starting at the beginning of a career and ending with the most recent position.  Look for trends and patterns, and discount the style of the resume.

Ask yourself: "Is this job going to broaden the candidate?  How will this position add to where the candidate wants to go?"  Any candidate who interviews with you presumably will have researched your company and your industry, making it fair game for you to ask the candidate questions about the strengths and weaknesses of your company, as well as the opportunities and threats facing your business given its operating environment.

Finding problem solvers

How does one actually find a problem solver?  As a management recruiter, I make 75 to 100 calls every day, and my average daily connect time is almost four hours.  Having made thousands of cold calls in my life, I recommend finding problem solvers in the following way:

1.  Write down the primary area of responsibility for the new hire.  For example, if you're the CIO of a growth-oriented company that intends to expand primarily by solidifying customer relationships, you might want to hire someone with experience in CRM technology.

2.  Go to Yahoo Finance to peruse a list of target industries from which to recruit.  Click on any industry, and you'll see the Industry Center for that industry.  At the top left-hand side of the Industry Center page, you'll see "more on this industry."  Click on the company index for a list of target companies, complete with phone numbers, addresses, and a brief description for each.

3.  Call the candidate.  Often you'll need to leave a voicemail message.  That's fine.  Simply say "Hi, ______. My name is ______ and I'm with ______.  We're looking to hire an A-player for a high-growth position in our ______ area, and your name was given to me as someone we should be talking to.  It would be an outstanding career opportunity for you or someone you know.  Call me at (555) 555-1234.  Again, my name is ______ with ______, and I look forward to hearing from you soon."

When the candidate calls you, have a brief outline of the position, the compensation, the relocation-package details, the hiring process, and several selling points about why the candidate would want to tender a resume for your consideration.  If the candidate isn't interested in the position, always ask "Who's the best person you know at (name the key area of responsibility for which you'd like to hire)?"  Try to get referrals on every call.

A final suggestion:  For at least 30 days, add the following text to the signature file of all of your outgoing E-mails: "P.S.: "Who's the best person you know at (name the key area of responsibility for which you'd like to hire)?"  Most white-collar executives send between 15 and 30 outgoing E-mail messages each day.  You'll be amazed at the referrals you'll get.

Probing for problem solvers in interviews

After you've lined up several well-respected candidates to interview, it's time to ask them how they solve problems.  When someone solves a problem, it's important that they show they've followed a logical process.

Most business problems go unresolved because people don't clearly define the real problem. You can gauge the strength of a job applicant's problem-solving ability by walking him or her through the following seven-step framework while having the candidate describe how he or she solved a real-life problem in a previous job.  When discussing that scenario, the applicant should demonstrate the ability to:

Define the problem:  Have the candidate identify what went wrong by including both a cause and an effect in the definition of the problem he or she solved.

Define the objectives:  Have the candidate explain the outcome he or she wanted to achieve as a result of solving the problem.

Generate alternatives:  How many alternatives did the candidate generate?  Did the quality of the alternatives vary greatly?  Was there a significant difference in the hard — and soft — costs associated with each idea?  This is the area in which the candidate can demonstrate creativity and resourcefulness as a problem solver.

Develop an action plan:  Have the candidate recap a detailed action plan.  Most action plans for tough problems involve taking several steps over a period of time.  In his or her recap, does the candidate specify who did what?  And by what dates?  The devil is in the details, and detailed problem solvers are usually more effective than generalists.

Troubleshoot:  This is where the candidate can recap the worst-case scenarios.  What could have gone wrong in this plan?  What might have been the side effects?  How did the candidate ensure that this plan would work?  Were there unintended consequences?

Communicate:  Getting information to the right people is key in getting buy-in to make any change a success.  Have the candidate address which individuals or groups affected the success of his or her action plan.  Does the candidate explain who was impacted by it and who needed to be informed about it?  How did he or she communicate with relevant parties?

The most effective executives are those who can leverage their time and talents by getting things done through other people.  This is your opportunity to build your company's management bench.

Implement:  Have the candidate explain who carried out the plan and monitored its implementation.  Who was accountable for each part of the solution?  What were the consequences of failure to meet the plan?  Try to determine:  As a manager, will the candidate be hard on the issues and soft on the people?

Drilling down on how a candidate solved problems in the past will give you a good idea of how he or she will solve problems in the future.  Think in terms of the quality, consistency, and costs of these solutions.  During the interview, you must get the candidate to be specific about his or her problem-solving experience.  Minimize the chances of being duped by getting the candid to recap in vivid detail exactly what happened in a given situation.

Think like a little kid:  Ask "why" or "how" to everything the candidate says.  If you don't challenge the person during the interview process, you may pay a steep price later for your lack of persistence.