I have been recruiting for 20 years in the area of accounting and finance. One thing I can tell you for sure is that the hiring process is never easy. It’s hard. Interviewing well is probably one of the most critical skills in my profession as well as one of the factors that most deeply affects my clients.

Think, for a minute, about how absurd an interview can be. You have to sit down with a virtual stranger and be able to assess how a person will work and behave after spending only a brief time with them. Afterward, you must listen to what their references say about them and perceive what their references are not saying. Maybe you bring them back for a second interview, or have team members interview them as well. . .whatever you do, if you hire them, you will be spending about 2000 hours or more with them a year. You will trust the person you hire to perform well and bring results.

Jack Welch says, “…hiring great people is brutally hard. New managers are lucky to get it right half the time. And even executives with decades of experience will tell you that they make the right calls 75% of the time at best.” With that in mind, I decided to call some of the top financial managers in the DFW area to ask them what interview questions they considered to be the most critical. Their answers were telling. Although some of the interview questions they ask deal with the requisite skills provided for the position they are filling, the questions most of them considered vital had to do with a person’s attitude, character and work ethic. That being said, these questions could work in a variety of professions, and their answers could just bring the additional clarity you have been looking for in an interview.

1. Are you a leader or a follower?
-Rob Graham, Corporate Controller, Permian Tank and Manufacturing, Inc.

Whether the person is a leader or a follower, they should be a good team member. The manner in which they answer this question could be an indicator of how they will fit in with your department, your team and in the specific role they are applying for.

2. In five words or less, describe yourself.
-Rob Graham, Permian Tank and Manufacturing, Inc.

You can glean a lot from the way people describe themselves. Most interviews contain a sort of “tell me about yourself” question, but this question forces the applicant to be precise. Management style, personality type, leadership ability, work ethic, and even personal priorities can be discovered through this kind of question.

3. What do you do when you are not working?
-Jason Kulas, CFO, Santander Consumer USA

This is one of my favorite questions. When a candidate begins to talk about their hobbies and their interests, I get a better idea of who they are and what their priorities are. If someone has a hard time coming up with outside activities, it can be an indicator that their life is out of balance, or that they are not able to be transparent.

4. How do you build capacity in those you lead?
-Joe Christian, Director of Rates and Regulatory Affairs, Atmos Energy

Managers are a dime a dozen, but true leaders are worth their weight in gold. Organizations are more commonly looking for those individuals who can not only lead others, but build skills in others. For management positions, asking this question can help you determine if the candidate values mentoring and building capacity, which will raise the level of expertise in your organization.

5. Tell me how you successfully bridged the gap between your traditional finance/accounting skill set and company operations? How have you contributed to the company strategy or mission statement?
-Rick Nunnally, CFO, Cheldan Homes

Larry Winget, in his book, It’s Called Work for a Reason!, says that employees are not paid to work hard. Employees are paid for results. It’s important to know that the candidate sitting across from you in an interview has the ability to actually make a difference in your organization. In today’s market, employees need to be contributors in whatever role they are in and be responsible for value-added results. No one has the patience or the money for cubicle-fillers anymore. Candidates must be able to articulate how the organizational performance will be positively impacted as well as sell their expertise.

6. Tell me about one of your most significant accomplishments.
-Rick Nunnally, CFO, Cheldan Homes

This is a great question. With this question, not only will the candidate reveal a major accomplishment, but the interviewer will able to assess what the candidate perceives as significant.

7. Our company has a successful [accounting] team in place. How do you see yourself leading/interacting with an established group?
-Mark Gaddis, President, Dallas Door and Supply, Inc.

New employees sometimes struggle with integrating into a well-functioning team. New managers or team leaders sometimes struggle with established teams the most. It is imperative that the person you are hiring be a good match for your existing team. Relationships and teamwork are crucial in any organization. Be sure to enable your team with a new employee that will be able to join in on existing success as well as bring innovative ideas to the table.

8. Describe a conflict you were involved in at work and how it was resolved. How did the work continue after that?
-Mark Gaddis, President, Dallas Door and Supply, Inc.

Every employee experiences some level of conflict at some point in their career. As the candidate explains the conflict to you, you can assess their conflict-resolution skills, as well as how well they recover and move through sensitive situations.

In this economy it is more important than ever to make the right call when you are hiring. In the long run, retaining quality employees means finding the right individuals in the first place. Employee turnover takes resources away from your core business, costing up to 1.5% of the position’s annual salary. Take the time and make the effort to ask the right questions now, and you will be building a team that can affect your bottom line in this economy and the recovery to come.

An Interview with the Delta Dallas Accounting Team

We all love it when our home team makes a push to victory in the fourth quarter of a game. My personal favorite is in the movie Hoosiers when Jimmy Chitwood makes the final shot for victory. He didn’t get there by himself, however. He had a team. He had a strong coach and a full team behind him so that he could perform.

It’s the fourth quarter in corporate America right now. Accounting departments want to finish strong and position themselves for the next year. There are challenges, though. Most of us have been working for quite a while with reduced teams. During this final quarter of the year, it may be time to bring in additional team members to support the work that needs to be completed in Q4 and allow you and your team to look forward into Q1.

This week, I had the opportunity to sit down with Keith Beavers, CPC and Amanda Stark, members of the Delta Dallas accounting team, and ask them what trends they see at the beginning of this quarter.

Tabitha: Amanda, this is the final quarter of the year. What are you hearing from your clients as we approach the end of the year?

Amanda: Well, first of all, I have seen a lot more activity than in previous quarters. People are starting to pull in the end of year help they need in the areas of tax, accounts receivable, and collections, and they are hiring both contract and temp-to-hire.

Tabitha: Besides the volume that you have coming in, how does this differ from previous quarters?

Amanda: The primary difference that I am seeing is in the area of direct hires. Although contract employees are still the bulk of the job requests that we work on, the direct hire piece has definitely picked up. Employers are beginning to show signs of confidence when it comes to hiring full-time staff. They are being selective – and they can be with all of the great candidates that are on the market right now! The good news is that they are starting to re-hire some of the positions that had to be eliminated in 2008 and earlier in 2009.

Tabitha: Well, Keith, I know you hire at the senior level – what differences are you seeing this quarter?

Keith: This quarter has been really interesting. The clients that have had the most activity in my specialties this quarter have been wealth management companies, which to me is an indicator that the banks are starting to open up money.

Tabitha: So what does that mean in terms of fourth quarter hiring?

Keith: Well, I have seen more senior level VP positions right now than I have seen in the last 8 months. Senior level staff accountants are in more demand, and direct hires are more prevalent than they have been in quite a while.

Tabitha: How is the hiring dynamic different than it was before the recession?

Keith: In general, people are just running tighter operations. They are not going to over-staff. Here at the end of the year, they are feeling the need to re-hire some of the positions they had to eliminate, but they are not going to stretch the budget to fill positions that are not absolutely vital to operations.

The recession is beginning to ease. Recovery is ahead. Fourth quarter demands can press accounting departments to the brink of insanity, but they can also become an opportunity to focus with vision on the year ahead. You can finish strong by calling in the temporary teammates that you need to meet end of year demands and get ahead of the game by creating sound fiscal strategies for 2010. You can also position yourself for recovery by hiring top-tier employees that are available in this down economy. By the time the recovery is in full swing, these top-tier players can become part of your core group, allowing you to be ahead of the pack and prepared to support your company’s success in the new economy.