Hiring for Empathy

Empathy has become a big soft-skills buzzword over the last few years, and it’s no wonder. It’s been a challenging time for a lot of people.

But specific to the hiring world, and particularly when hiring for leadership positions, empathy is a critical marker to look out for. Empaths are simply better at understanding what a situation calls for, and having a flexible approach to leadership and decision-making on the fly.

“But, Tim, how to hire for empathy?”

That’s the question. As you’re hiring, you have to ask the right questions. For instance:

“If you were in my position, who would you want for this role?”

“What’s your approach to managing through challenges?”

“How do you handle an extremely unhappy client?”

“Describe a time you helped someone through a difficult task or situation. Why were you successful?”

These are just a handful of questions designed to elicit an empathic response, but for the particular role in question, you may come up with others.

The idea is to get the interviewee to put themselves in the shoes of other people — you, their co-workers, their direct reports, customers.