We spend a lot of time interviewing for skills. And some time interviewing for values.
But what we absolutely need to spend more time on is pace. When we place candidates or fractional HR execs, pace is at the top of our list for calculating fit.
Why?
In over 15 years of this work, I’ve never had anyone tell me that they moved like a snail. Everyone is typically certain they are “so incredibly busy”.
I’m not saying here that fast is always better. In fact, in some institutions thinking and moving in years not weeks is important. (Good spot for a tortoise and the hare joke here right?)
It’s the general alignment on pace that is so critical.
So, how do we check for pace?
What has been your busiest/most chaotic day ever? (Listen for whether this sounds like your most boring day ever!)
Walk through one of your real projects in detail, i.e. “During our last two sprints, _____ with _____ being completed by X people in X time which is typical for us. Name was handling Z concurrently.” Listen for reactions ranging from excitement to horror.
Slice of work sample: Ideally this is paid or you could have someone walk you through an existing projects and that timeline and what constraints they were dealing with.
You mentioned (X, Y, Z projects they told you about), how were the deadlines set for each of those? What would you change knowing what you know now?