If I had the time during the interview process to take someone out and play 21 with them, shoot 9 holes of golf or insert favourite quick game of sport here, I would do that.
You learn so much in watching people play sports when they don’t feel like they have anything holding them back. In addition, you learn how they approach all those questions that you are really asking and whether it is for show or how they really behave.
- Are they really fair?
- Do they play with heart?
- Good loser/bad winner?
- What about the banter between the physical moments
I like sports, so that would work well for me, but take something completely different, like music. If that was their real passion in life, how would they approach teaching me, where would they start, would they be patient when I screw up or not listen to any of my concerns.
Really hard to do in an interview process, especially if you don’t ask them what they like to do out of work. And maybe if you can’t physically do the activity, getting them to speak about something not related to the interview that they will not be judged on, might yield further insight to their approaches here, there and everywhere.
