Hire “Why”s Not “How”s or “What”s

By: Bruce Hurwitz

THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS ARTICLE ARE SOLELY THOSE OF THE AUTHOR.

Year’s ago, I had a ghostwriting client, a chef, who asked me if I knew the difference between a chef and a cook. I did not. He told me, “A cook knows what to do, a chef knows why you do it.”

I was reminded of that when I read in Paul Johnson’s book, Humorists, that W.C. Fields said, “We know what makes people laugh, We do not know why they laugh.”

This got me thinking about who the best persons are to hire. We know the worst: gossips, those who take credit but never blame (responsibility). We know the standard answers for the best: persons who complement other employees (the boss can manage but can’t sell so he hires a good saleswoman); people who are smarter than you (meaning the boss), etc.

Now, whenever, of course depending on the type of position, someone is being interviewed for a job they are asked if they can use a specific software package and then are given a test. Yes, they are proficient in Excel and yes, they can create formulas. So they have the hard skills to accomplish the required tasks. They can do the job.

That said, do they know why they do what they do or, even more importantly, why the software works the way it works?

I submit that that may be the most important interviewing question for employers to ask candidates. Employers should strive to hire chefs, not cooks! Chefs will help a business grow; cooks will get the job done, but they’ll only be “punching the clock.”

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Hire “Why”s Not “How”s or “What”s | Employment Edification