or me to seek?" I chose to meet with them in their offices so that they would be in their own territory and likely more relaxed during the conversation.
During this phase of the hiring process, my goals were to elicit the information needed from the managers so that the new person would match their expectations, assist the three of them in reaching agreement on these qualifications, and move along the interviewing and hiring process, so that the work could get done in a more expedient manner. My approach was very direct in terms of making appointments, asking the managers to meet with me and stay on the task of solving the problem at hand. If I would have waited for them to take the initiative, we would have never hired a new person.
My approach in actually interviewing them was more indirect. The open-ended questions and a certain subtle technique I have of reading between the lines was to elicit any important information that would help us hire the right kind of person for the job. In this part of my questioning, I often just waited quietly, but with complete attention on what the other person was saying, or about to say. Many people are starved for an attentive listener to pay attention to them. I know this from social situations, but it seems even to be true in professional situations.
My resources for interviewing the managers were professional books that I keep in my office, textbooks that I have purchased for social science classes at the college I attend, knowledge from studies in psychology, and my own internal intelligence and intuition. Various learnings from courses I have taken helped me to remain alert to differences between individuals, sensitive to various social issues, and still accomplish the task at hand.
My thinking processes during these interviews of the managers were varied. I tend to be well-organized and disciplined in order to get things done, but when it is required, I can be very creat...