The Top Grading Interview

According to Brad Smart, Ph.D., an internationally known management psychologist and consultant, most of us are conducting superficial interviews – very short interviews typically focused on a half-dozen competencies – when we need to conduct more in-depth interviews.

Smart suggests using what he calls the top grading interview approach. Top grading, which means filling your workplace with A players, is a term coined by Smart. He uses top grading as a basis for all he does including hiring and recruiting. "Superficial interviews just don’t work," says Smart. "Many sales managers may believe that they are following best practices – conducting a telephone screen, then a face-to-face, and maybe a second interview. The average time spent on these [face-to-face] interviews is about 50 minutes and they end up with about 80 percent mis-hires."

Smart says that his chronological interview approach reveals strengths, weak points, values, motivations, and ambitions by asking candidates about every success, failure, key decision, important relationship, and job move. "Every question you ask is intended to generate clues about patterns of past performance," he says. "Why? Because past performance is the best predictor of future performance."

What makes this type of interview work is that each sales candidate is given a thorough interview and asked a minimum of 15 basic questions about every job. Questions include: "What were you hired to do? What talent did you inherit? What changes did you make to this talent mix, and what talent did you end up with? What were the people like that you worked for, and how would they rate you?" Most of the interviews are conducted with a tandem partner because two heads are better than one, says Smart. "A tandem interviewer can help you get more information," says Smart. "This person can also help you analyze patterns of performance that emerge."

Interviews can last up to four hours, but it’s time well spent. According to Smart, he averages about 90 percent hiring success. But that success also requires diligence in the form of reference checking, too. "Typically, very few reference checks are conducted and when they are done, there are so many laws preventing anyone from getting information except for name, rank, and serial number," says Smart. "Many sales candidates know that there will be very little, if any, reference checking so that’s an invitation to fake their way through the selection process."

According to Smart, top grading reference checking is different and it works. Why? "You decide whom you want to talk with," explains Smart. "The real beauty is that you get the candidate to set up the reference check interviews and provide you with names and phone numbers and times. You don’t have to go through an assistant, who might not let you through.

"The threat of reference checks will motivate candidates to be honest during the interview," Smart adds. "That means lousy sales reps won’t even apply for your position because they know that they will be very thoroughly interviewed and reference checked. Top grading is no threat to the sharp players."

The bottom line: "Never hire a salesperson without examining their previous performance," says Smart. "Understand their patterns of success and failure."

For more information on top grading tools, visit www.smartandassoc.com.