b"THE CENTER FOR SALES STRATEGYBeth SunshinePartner, VP Talent Services The Center for Sales StrategyCENTER FOR SALES STRATEGY BLOG5 Biggest Interview PitfallsAnd How to Avoid ThemIand selecting top talent takes a lot ofthing that will help you to determine whether this nterviewing salespeople is tough! Screening, un-covering,candidate is likely to grow in their job, reach and practice and a reliable process. In order to betterexceed their goals, and consistently replicate their take advantage of every golden interview opportu- success over time are pretty slim. Dont waste their nity that comes your way, you need to know thetime or yours with questions like that. common pitfallsand then avoid them.We often work with our clients to help them im- 2. Failing to Spend Time Preparing for prove their interview techniques and become bet- the Interviewter at moving the right people forward in the fun- Evenwiththebestintentions,mosthiringman-nel. Those who are the very best at recruiting andagers dont take enough time to prepare for theselecting top talent know that strong screening ininterview!the beginning leads to a much more talented can-didate pool every time. Those that dont commit toInstead, they pull out the resume right before the that kind of consistent practice tend to get stuck incandidate arrives and proceed to fly by the seat of one of five common interviewing traps and oftentheir pants, asking questions about resume items findthemselvesdisappointedwiththeunderper- thatlookinteresting.Itsoftenalongtimelater formance of those theyve brought on board. when they realize their missed opportunity.The 5 Biggest Interview Pitfalls 3. Asking Questions for Which the 1. Asking Hokey Questions AboutRight Answer is Always YesRidiculous Topics Mostinterviewsthatwe'veobserved(outsideof the structured talent interviews we conduct) seem Which color would you be if you were an M&M?tofallintothispattern.Candidatesmightelabo-And why? might feel creative and even deep torate after each question, sharing a bit about the some.However,theoddsofyoulearningsome- why or the how, but they intuitively know that the 40"