Several years ago I was asked by a client to throw my name into the ring for a senior-level job at a large chemical company. They were a great client so I obliged and although I had no desire to give up SAFTENG, the interview process was so refreshing. It had such an impact on me, I use it today when a client asks me to be an interviewer in their interview process for a safety candidate.
This approach is what I call the “Eraser Board” method and it will definitely separate your candidates very clearly and quickly. I should add that this technique works best on mid-level to senior-level safety professionals.
It works like this…
ask the candidate to name the three areas of safety that excite them and that they would consider themselves as a Subject Matter Expert (SME). Then let them pick any one of those three topics and present to the panel for 10-20 minutes on that topic.
Make sure you have your technical safety personnel present on the panel so that they can identify any BS that is being thrown out.
The panel is evaluating the candidates:
- ability to communicate,
- their comfort level of thinking on their feet, and
- their ability to speak logically and professionally on a technical/management topic.
You may want to just provide the topics for the candidate to choose from. For example, the job has some critical aspects to it that the candidate MUST possess and you want to really be sure they have a good grasp on that matter. If they have made it this far in the interview process, hopefully, their resume has the critical items the org is needing so just pick from those topics and it will be a FAIR request of the candidate.
But this technique will have 1 of 2 responses from the candidates: fear or excitement
Any safety professional with more than 5 good years of experience has figured out what aspects of the profession most excite them. This influences the books they read, the courses they attend, etc. They should also be confident enough at this stage of their career to stand up and speak logically and professionally about that topic. No prep time, no slides to read from, etc. Just some markers and an eraser board and 15 minutes.
Trust me… it will separate the pack clearly and quickly by their response to the request and the rest of the candidates will separate themselves in how well they can speak to their passion/topic.
Great safety pros ALWAYS welcome the opportunity to teach and interact with others. This approach has worked wonders for several clients. It identifies the bullshit artist from the passionate and knowledgeable safety professional!
