In my years of interviewing and sitting with interviewers in the course of finding the right talent for the right job, one key area that is quite important to know is the problem solving area. After you’ve chosen several candidates to interview, it’s time to determine if these candidates have problem solving skills. When someone solves a problem, it’s important that they’ve follow a logical process.

You can use the following ways to find out how strong is your candidate in problem solving skills.

1. Candidate must be able to define the problem, i.e. he or she must be able to tell what was the root cause of the problem and and what happened due to that.

Example - our salary for engineers is not competitive in the market therefore we have a high attrition for engineers.

2. Candidate must be able to tell you what he or she wants to achieve by solving the problem.

Example - We do not just want to retain our engineers but also increase our attraction power to external candidates.

3. Can the candidate run through with you how he/she plans to actually solve it – is there an action plan. If yes, is the action plan long term or short term oriented.

4. Ask the candidate on worst case scenario that could happen on his/her action plan. Test the troubleshooting skills of this candidate.

5. Communicate skills is vital in hiring any candidates. Communication doesn’t mean just being able to talk well but it is more towards how the candidate addresses different types of employee level in his/her task of solving the problem. Find out if this is included in his/her action plan.

6. Finally, how does the candidate plan to execute the plan. Who will be involved, assigned etc.

In hiring key skilled employees whom are paid high, it is important to for these candidates to be able to bring over their value add in problem solving to their new company. It is the responsibility of the interviewer / recruiter to determine this.

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