What do you look for when hiring a manager for your dealership or auto group?

Leadership, communication skills, empathy? While these are important emotional intelligence competencies managers should bring to the table, the ability to hire and develop others should be at the top of the list.

 While this is not an easy skill set to identify, it is crucial for building the best team and engaging employees. Furthermore, the right candidate may not be the seemingly obvious choice. For example, a successful salesperson should possess leadership, communication skills, and empathy but they may not necessarily be an effective manager or able to spot good talent.

 So, how do you hire a manager who is good at hiring others? The most foolproof method is to administer a pre-employment assessment that measures emotional intelligence competencies and analyzes a person's thought processes versus their personality. This type of assessment will reveal specifically what to look for in the best candidate for this role. The ideal candidate should be able to:

• Make hiring decisions based on credible, unbiased information gained through effective interview techniques.
• Determine a candidate's predictive success by discovering the knowledge, skills, motivation and attitude needed to perform the role at a high level.
• Give employees honest and clear feedback regarding strengths, weaknesses, and areas for development on a timely basis.
• Share wisdom and professional expertise through regularly engaged professional discussions.
• Empower others through delegation of responsibility, authority, and accountability.
• Champion new initiatives and stimulates others to change.

 The key to uncovering these emotional intelligence competencies is through behavioral interview questions that show the person's value structure and how they use it in a working environment.These types of questions will give answers that demonstrate the candidate's past behavior, which is the best indicator of future behavior in a similar context:

1.   "Tell me about a situation in which you had to coach an individual or a team. What was the situation and what was the outcome of your involvement?"

2.   "Tell me about a time when you had to interview candidates for a very challenging position. How did you handle that process, and how did you determine your hiring decision?"

3.   "Give me an example when you attempted to raise an individual's (or group's) level of performance. Describe the situation and your specific actions in the process."

4.   "Give me a recent example when you provided coaching or mentoring to a subordinate or peer at work (or on a school project). What was the situation, and what did you do?"

Hiring, managing and developing people are necessary skills every manager should possess. Make sure you're bringing the best candidates on board by using a pre-employment assessment in the hiring process.