Interviewing for Compassion, Integrity, and All the Other Intangible Qualities Deathcare Requires
Years ago, I spent three years in human resources at a financial institution, where I administered pre-employment assessments as part of the screening and interview process for every potential new hire. One of these was what we referred to as an “honesty and integrity test” that was supposed to help us evaluate an employee’s tendencies to be trustworthy and ethical on the job. Unfortunately, I had to tell a good portion of applicants that they “didn’t meet the minimum qualifications for the position” because they didn’t pass this particular test.
To be fair, this bank’s standards were fairly high — especially when it came to the lowest acceptable score for an applicant to move on to the next phase of screening. And this was only one of three assessments administered during the multi-step testing, background checking, and interview process. But it was the only one with a hard-and-fast pass or fail outcome.
Banks, like deathcare establishments, want to hire employees who are not only competent and qualified, but also have certain traits and characteristics. Banks typically want to hire friendly, outgoing, and decidedly honest people who can be trusted to handle other people’s money. Likewise, deathcare employers hope to find folks who are professional, compassionate, and possess a certain level of integrity, among other important traits.
Guts vs. grades
So how do you gauge these intangible qualities in a person? Sure, there are plenty of assessments like this honesty and integrity test that can help to paint that picture for employers, but are they always the most reliable measurement tool? In my case, my gut sometimes told me something different from what a score did. Often, I felt like a person would be a wonderful addition to the team, only to be crushed when I’d receive a fax (yes, fax) with their disappointing score. I was even told that sometimes “very religious” people didn’t score well because the test scored them as being “too honest” and therefore, they were thought to have answered deceptively.
I tell this story only to illustrate that there’s probably not one particular combination of tests, interview questions, or background checks that can truly predict how a person will perform in these nebulous and hard-to-pinpoint areas. That doesn’t mean you can’t put together a solid selection process that makes you and your team feel comfortable that you’ve hired a person who will demonstrate all the right qualities for the position.
Start by setting expectations
Most job applicants want to know what will be expected of them in a particular role; that’s why accurate and thorough job descriptions are crucial. Duties and responsibilities, qualifications and experience, and knowledge/skills/abilities (KSAs) for a position are only part of the picture. Applicants should also know what kind of company they’re hoping to join.
Ethics and values should be part of your firm’s persona. While these should always speak for themselves through the actions of your leadership and employees, it never hurts to share specific examples of ethical behavior, integrity, and compassion in your public blogs, videos, and social media posts and reward them internally.
Interview intentionally
A lot can be gleaned about an applicant’s beliefs, attitudes, and values during a one-on-one interview — especially when you’re asking open-ended questions and presenting real-life scenarios.
Sure, you might learn a little about a person by asking them “If you were an animal what kind would you be,” but a question like, “Tell me about a time you had to diffuse a difficult situation among your family members, friends, or coworkers” might be more productive. Even hypothetical questions, such as “What would you do if you witnessed a coworker doing something dishonest?” can give you some insight into a candidate’s thought processes. In latter stages of the interview, you might ask a candidate to role play with you some key conversations that they might have with families.
Deathcare professionals have to be able to communicate clearly, treat people with respect, and demonstrate patience and kindness — and these are all traits an applicant might demonstrate as they go through your interview process. Be sure to observe how a person greets and interacts with your team members and how they react when preneed clients or at-need families are present when they visit. You might even include some of your other employees in your in-person interviews to gain their insight into a person’s fit with the culture.
Do your due diligence
Lastly, don’t ignore opportunities to learn more about a person from outside sources. Check out their social media — all of them. Call their references, and ask questions about how the candidate demonstrated ethics and the values that are most important to you. Look for training, education, certifications, and even hobbies and community involvement positions that might reinforce or support the qualities you desire.
Research the companies where the person has previously worked to gauge those firms’ ethical requirements, then call those employers. Some may not like or be allowed to discuss a previous employee, but if they will and can, ask their opinions of the applicant’s overall character, behavior, and job performance. Even if those previous positions had nothing at all to do with deathcare, you’ll learn something valuable to your evaluation process.
Disclaimers
Despite the introduction to this piece, know that tests and assessments shouldn’t be completely discounted when you’re vetting a candidate for a position in deathcare. Personality assessments like the DiSC tool, Caliper Profile, or the 16PF can help you determine an employee’s fit for a particular job. Death-specific surveys like the Death Attitude Profile and the Death Anxiety Inventory weren’t specifically designed for vetting deathcare workers, but they could reveal some interesting information about a candidate’s intentions. Even cognitive tests like the Wonderlic (the same test that was administered for years to NFL prospects) can help you create a more comprehensive picture of a candidate. Of course, apprenticeships are often a great way to evaluate both hard and soft skills, if the position allows for such an experience.
However, any test or assessment should be thoroughly vetted to ensure they are job-related and fair, and adhere to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) best practices. If the test requires subjective evaluation, anyone doing these evaluations should be well-trained to do so. Expectations should be transparent, and results should be confidential.
None of these recommendations will be foolproof in practice; you may think you’ve vetted and cleared the ideal employee only to find that they’re not a good fit. Trust your gut, but don’t overlook the other tools at your disposal. And never forget that when it comes to those intangible qualities, you can always “hire for attitude, and train for skill.”
