Top Grading Interview

[sdyson31]

Has anyone got any experience with Top Grading interview?

[rog007]

Have employed a type of; what's your query? Are you going to be subject to one or are you looking to use it to select?

[sdyson31]

rog007 said:

Have employed a type of; what's your query? Are you going to be subject to one or are you looking to use it to select?

subject to one next week.

Don't know if there is any difference b/w competency based and topgrading interview.

[rog007]

If they've signed up to the full process, it's more than just an interview.

Have they shared with you the entire selection process that they'll be using?

Regardless, it's just a process like all others designed to find the best candidate. What this process does is try to ensure that hiring managers use a more thorough process that is multi layered and not reliant upon only 2 or 3 shallow dives.

[sdyson31]

rog007 said:

If they've signed up to the full process, it's more than just an interview.

Have they shared with you the entire selection process that they'll be using?

Regardless, it's just a process like all others designed to find the best candidate. What this process does is try to ensure that hiring managers use a more thorough process that is multi layered and not reliant upon only 2 or 3 shallow dives.

I have been told that it would last 2 hours and i will be asked questions like;

· What were your goals?

· What were your low and high points?

· Who were the people you worked with? And what would they say?

· What happened at the end?

[anonymous-user]

It's basically a chronological in-depth structured interview, where they are aiming to assess a number of areas, those key areas are (usually)

Intellectual, Personal, Interpersonal, Management, Leadership & Motivational.

The subsets of these are (not always) below.


INTELLECTUAL
1 Intelligence
2 Analysis Skills
3 Judgment/Decision Making
4 Conceptual Ability
5 Creativity
6 Strategic Skills
7 Pragmatism
8 Risk Taking
9 Leading Edge
10 Education
11 Experience
12 “Track Record”
PERSONAL
13 Integrity
14 Resourcefulness*
15 Organization/Planning
16 Excellence
17 Independence
18 Stress Management
19 Self-Awareness
20 Adaptability
21 First Impression
INTERPERSONAL
22 Likability
23 Listening
24 Customer Focus
25 Team Player
26 Assertiveness
27 Communications—Oral
28 Communications—Written
29 Political Savvy
30 Negotiation
31 Persuasion
MANAGEMENT
32 Selecting A Players**
33 Coaching**
34 Goal Setting
35 Empowerment
36 Accountability
37 Redeploying B/C Players**
38 Team Building
39 Diversity
40 Running Meetings
LEADERSHIP (Additional Competencies)
41 Vision
42 Change Leadership
43 Inspiring “Followership”
44 Conflict Management
MOTIVATIONAL
45 Energy
46 Passion
47 Ambition
48 Compatibility of Needs
49 Balance in Life
50 Tenacity


If they go the whole hog it will take 2-3 hours - just a basic competency interview will be c 1 hour.

To get the info above they will, for each job/position you have had, expect you to explain the following (or similar)

1) What was your job title?
2) What were the starting and final levels of compensation? Bonus/commissions/ LTI etc as well as base
3) What were your expectations for the job?
4) What were your responsibilities and accountabilities?
5) What did you find when you arrived? What shape was the job in—talent, performance, resources, problems? What major challenges did you face?
6) What results were achieved in terms of successes and accomplishments? How were they achieved?
7) What would you say were mistakes or failures experienced in this job? If you could wind the clock back, what would you do differently?
8) What were the most enjoyable or rewarding aspects of this job?
9) What were the least enjoyable aspects of the job?
10) (For management jobs) What sort of talent did you inherit (how many As, Bs, Cs)? What changes did you make, how, and how many As, Bs, and Cs did you end up with
11) What circumstances contributed to your leaving? (Always probe for initially unstated reasons.)
12) What was your supervisor’s name and title? Where is that person now? Would you be willing to arrange for us to talk with him/her? (Say you will want to talk with all supervisors in the past ten years.)
13) What is/was it like working for him/her and what were his/her strengths and shortcomings as a supervisor, from your point of view?
14) What is your best guess as to what (supervisor’s name) honestly felt were/are your strengths, weak points, and overall performance?

In additional be able to explain you plans/goals for the future eg what other jobs you are looking at, what is your ideal job, how close this one is and why

You will probably be asked for strengths/weaknesses in a structured way, so 'hardworking' doesn't quite cut it.

If it's a leadership/managerial role, then there will be more details in this area.

I've got more of this stuff in the office, so the above is the best short summary I've got at home. One 'summary' guide was about 60 pages IIRC

HTH

[sdyson31]

wsurfa said:

It's basically a chronological in-depth structured interview, where they are aiming to assess a number of areas, those key areas are (usually)

Intellectual, Personal, Interpersonal, Management, Leadership & Motivational.

The subsets of these are (not always) below.


INTELLECTUAL
1 Intelligence
2 Analysis Skills
3 Judgment/Decision Making
4 Conceptual Ability
5 Creativity
6 Strategic Skills
7 Pragmatism
8 Risk Taking
9 Leading Edge
10 Education
11 Experience
12 “Track Record”
PERSONAL
13 Integrity
14 Resourcefulness*
15 Organization/Planning
16 Excellence
17 Independence
18 Stress Management
19 Self-Awareness
20 Adaptability
21 First Impression
INTERPERSONAL
22 Likability
23 Listening
24 Customer Focus
25 Team Player
26 Assertiveness
27 Communications—Oral
28 Communications—Written
29 Political Savvy
30 Negotiation
31 Persuasion
MANAGEMENT
32 Selecting A Players**
33 Coaching**
34 Goal Setting
35 Empowerment
36 Accountability
37 Redeploying B/C Players**
38 Team Building
39 Diversity
40 Running Meetings
LEADERSHIP (Additional Competencies)
41 Vision
42 Change Leadership
43 Inspiring “Followership”
44 Conflict Management
MOTIVATIONAL
45 Energy
46 Passion
47 Ambition
48 Compatibility of Needs
49 Balance in Life
50 Tenacity


If they go the whole hog it will take 2-3 hours - just a basic competency interview will be c 1 hour.

To get the info above they will, for each job/position you have had, expect you to explain the following (or similar)

1) What was your job title?
2) What were the starting and final levels of compensation? Bonus/commissions/ LTI etc as well as base
3) What were your expectations for the job?
4) What were your responsibilities and accountabilities?
5) What did you find when you arrived? What shape was the job in—talent, performance, resources, problems? What major challenges did you face?
6) What results were achieved in terms of successes and accomplishments? How were they achieved?
7) What would you say were mistakes or failures experienced in this job? If you could wind the clock back, what would you do differently?
8) What were the most enjoyable or rewarding aspects of this job?
9) What were the least enjoyable aspects of the job?
10) (For management jobs) What sort of talent did you inherit (how many As, Bs, Cs)? What changes did you make, how, and how many As, Bs, and Cs did you end up with
11) What circumstances contributed to your leaving? (Always probe for initially unstated reasons.)
12) What was your supervisor’s name and title? Where is that person now? Would you be willing to arrange for us to talk with him/her? (Say you will want to talk with all supervisors in the past ten years.)
13) What is/was it like working for him/her and what were his/her strengths and shortcomings as a supervisor, from your point of view?
14) What is your best guess as to what (supervisor’s name) honestly felt were/are your strengths, weak points, and overall performance?

In additional be able to explain you plans/goals for the future eg what other jobs you are looking at, what is your ideal job, how close this one is and why

You will probably be asked for strengths/weaknesses in a structured way, so 'hardworking' doesn't quite cut it.

If it's a leadership/managerial role, then there will be more details in this area.

I've got more of this stuff in the office, so the above is the best short summary I've got at home. One 'summary' guide was about 60 pages IIRC

HTH

Many thanks for your time and effort. It is very useful information.

I have been told that in order to refresh my memory i may wish to write down some key points. Not sure if i can bring the paper with me in interview? Wouldn’t this look bit awkward.

[anonymous-user]

sdyson31 said:

Many thanks for your time and effort. It is very useful information.

I have been told that in order to refresh my memory i may wish to write down some key points. Not sure if i can bring the paper with me in interview? Wouldn’t this look bit awkward.

Bring in your own notebook, as you will be making notes based on their answers to your questions. As you will have a selection of relevant questions of course, and if it's a new company, these will be based on possible challenges/innovation they involved in directly or in their specific market.

Then one side of the book has key pieces of info in it for you, as well as key questions. Questions that have arisen following either your review of their job description/company performance/stated strategy/competitors/market or that arise during your conversation with them

When forming your answers, it can be useful to use Situation Task Action Result Learning (STAR Learning). Summary below, but a quick google will give you lots of details


Situation
Set the scene, give a context and/or background to the situation. Eg a specific project or business challenge (eg product launch, market entry, project turnaround)

Task
Your exact role in the situation, what you were tasked with, rather than the rest of the team.

Action
What you did specifically – what ‘I’ did, how ‘I’ set direction/team goals etc. Talking about a team that ‘I’ lead or influenced etc is fine, just don’t always talk about team or we.
How you assessed and decided what was the appropriate response to the situation, and how you got it done either directly or through others.

Result
The result should be positive one, and quantifiable.

Learning
Obvious – what you learnt or would do differently. How the approach would change for different teams/situations/projects.
Make sure that if you talk about a specific learning, you don’t then explain another issue where you failed to follow this learning…;)

[rog007]

I'll assume you've Googled too?

Two key points to remember that will be constant throughout: your ability to be truly reflective will be thoroughly tested; and be clear about your impact, so plenty of 'I' and not we.

May we ask roughly the seniority of the role and the size of the organisation? It's always interesting to see who's taking up this type of approach and how far down it's moving from Board level appointments.

And very best of luck! Do let us know how you get on.

[rog007]

The failure questions are what they will be using to expose your reflective capacity. If you're truly dialled in then you should be able to look back at the end of each day and identify something you could have done differently in order to have gotten a better outcome.

[4x4Tyke]

rog007 said:

so plenty of 'I' and not we.

This is a very bad idea, modern businesses need people that play well together as well as being able. Excessive us of I and trying to take credit for everything is a big red flag for me.

[rog007]

4x4Tyke said:

rog007 said:

so plenty of 'I' and not we.

This is a very bad idea, modern businesses need people that play well together as well as being able. Excessive us of I and trying to take credit for everything is a big red flag for me.

Whilst many will appreciate your sentiment; it being 'a very bad idea' may not be recognised by many others.

The principle behind hiring managers wanting to understand an individual's impact is key, and that does of course include how they have worked as part of a team. Unless you're hiring the entire team (where more of the 'we' would be appropriate), then you absolutely want to know what their individual contribution has been as they'll be coming to you on their own.

There are of course questions and assessments available to hiring managers to help gauge an individual's personality type and ability to work as a team (not everyone is good at this but then not all roles require it).

So rather than it being 'a very bad idea'; being aware that you may need different assessment approaches dependent upon the role may be more relevant.

[truck71]

rog007 said:

Whilst many will appreciate your sentiment; it being 'a very bad idea' may not be recognised by many others.

The principle behind hiring managers wanting to understand an individual's impact is key, and that does of course include how they have worked as part of a team. Unless you're hiring the entire team (where more of the 'we' would be appropriate), then you absolutely want to know what their individual contribution has been as they'll be coming to you on their own.

There are of course questions and assessments available to hiring managers to help gauge an individual's personality type and ability to work as a team (not everyone is good at this but then not all roles require it).

So rather than it being 'a very bad idea'; being aware that you may need different assessment approaches dependent upon the role may be more relevant.

This, in an interview it's all about "I". We is too ambiguous and could mean you're hanging to others coat tails. Plenty of scope within answers to convince employer's of your team ethic.