• Employers should be on the lookout for negativity, refusing accountability, and difficulty.

Sometimes, employers hire candidates who seem perfect for the position, only to later discover they do not measure up on the job. Initial impressions aren’t always correct, and although employers have tried to avoid forming falsely positive impressions based on a candidate’s experience and education, the fact that the employee didn’t work out suggests that they may have missed something during the interview. Their interview questions may need adjustments to highlight characteristics like negativity, refusing accountability, and difficulty.

Negativity

Employees who fail to meet expectations are not always pessimistic, but individuals with a negative or pessimistic outlook are often more likely to:

• Be low performers,
• Resist changes,
• Focus on the “down-side” of a situation,
• Create a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure, and
• Drag an entire team down.

In broad terms, a negative person is more likely to view a change in procedure or a difficult situation as a problem to endure, rather than a challenge or opportunity to overcome. While employers shouldn’t expect most candidates to view a difficult situation as an exciting adventure opportunity, they should look for an expression of willingness to face a challenge and deal with a situation realistically. They should be especially wary of candidates who merely complain about a situation.

Employers might identify this characteristic by asking candidates questions about:

• How they handled a difficult situation, and
• How they react to changes or challenges.

Ideally, a candidate will indicate that they adapted to the situation and, even if they disagreed with the change, they accepted the reality of the situation and moved on. In contrast, a negative person may have:

• Responded to a difficult situation with exasperation and resistance, rather than acceptance, and
• Remained focused on things they could not control, rather than on things they could control.

As an example, employers might ask candidates to describe a situation in which a new procedure was adopted that required them to learn a new process. Ideal candidates might indicate that they accepted the change and worked to learn the new process quickly, perhaps even assisting others. Conversely, a negative person might indicate they never understood why that change was made. They may even express their feelings by referencing others, perhaps saying that coworkers at that company disagreed with the change.

Refusing accountability

Employees who refuse to take responsibility for their actions can become a nightmare for their supervisors. A supervisor’s efforts to address performance or conduct problems may be met with self-justifying statements or attempts to place blame on others, rather than an honest willingness to work toward improving the situation.

Few people are willing to voluntarily admit their errors, but employees who are confronted with a problem should at least be willing to acknowledge their role and take responsibility for helping to resolve the situation. Employees who are less likely to improve:

• Insist it “wasn’t my fault;” or
• Blame their circumstances, while refusing to acknowledge their ability to influence those circumstances.

Interviewers may be able to identify this characteristic by asking candidates to describe a previous conflict with a coworker or supervisor, how it was resolved, and how they reacted. Ideal candidates might acknowledge that a failure in communication caused a problem and explain their efforts to resolve the situation.

Conversely, candidates who refuse to accept responsibility may:

• Describe a situation where someone else was the problem,
• Blame the other person for any failures in the resolution process, and
• Use “I” or “me” pronouns instead of “us” or “we.”
  • For example: “I don’t know why she hated me” instead of “We had several meetings to discuss our project and assign responsibilities.”

Difficulty

A difficult person is one who:

• Blows things out of proportion,
• Becomes upset by even minor challenges,
• Will react negatively to perceived slights even when no offense was intended.

No matter how technically competent candidates might be, employers don’t want difficulty in their company. This tendency might be identified through interview questions regarding negativity and refusing accountability. For example, if candidates are asked to identify a conflict and how it was resolved, the nature of the conflict selected might provide clues about:

• What they consider problematic,
• If the dispute was petty, or
• If they have experienced many conflicts.
  • These may indicate that they are easily overwhelmed.