The best advice I can give to someone wanting to improve their interview skills is to sit on the other side of the table. When your team is the one that needs another team player, always, always volunteer to be a part of the interview process. If you are going to work with them daily, you should contribute your personal opinions to finding the best candidate. Here are a few tips to try and "meet the real candidate" beneath the "suit and tie" mask.

1. What is your proudest achievement (work related or not) and why? What did you do to reach this achievement?
• I think you learn more from the positive questions than the "overcoming your greatest failure" questions because you can see what gets them excited rather than what makes them nervous. Pride shines in this one and knowing what makes someone arrive early and stay late is great to get the most out of them. If their answer has skills in it that you need, it could be a perfect match!
2. What do you do for fun in your free time?
• I love asking this questions because half the time it throws people off to "get personal". This is not a weird (or discriminating) question and whether they run marathons or watch movie marathons, love their pets or love to travel, you will see a spark of passion. How people passionately describe things will loosen them up and you might see some good (or bad) habits that simply let you know if you want to work with them or not.
3. Describe your dream job.
• If what they describe is not something that this position entails, they won't be staying long and you shouldn't hire them. If they describe the work that is a team weakness, they will compliment you well and be a great asset to hire. Be a bit wary if the answer is exactly like the job description because you may not be getting an honest answer - so ask this one towards the end of the interview after you've built up some trust.

This week I thought I would do a double perspective and share my favorite questions to ask during an interview based upon what side of the table you are sitting at. An interview is like a date in which neither person knows if things should proceed to a second date/interview. A few great articles suggest taking someone to a meal instead of a formal interview and another that recommends visiting their apartment/house without the person in question there. You can learn a lot about someone from watching them interact with servers, their kids/pets, or their furniture and dishes. Interviews, just like dates, tend to be lies where both parties put on their best dress and best attitude. What questions can you ask to draw out the real person, team, and company spirit?

1. What do you think your direct reports think about your manager? Why?
• Transparency is important in helping teams work together and a company is built up of many integrated teams. Good communication up and down the chain of command reduces duplicate work, aligns goals, and increases confidence in those around you.
2. Is there any reason you believe I wouldn't be able to do this job successfully?
• One of my mentors passed this interview sinker on to me. You rarely get feedback if you didn't get the job and if there is something that is preventing you from getting the job, this question allows you to have one last chance to address it.
3. What is the biggest challenge your team will face within the next year?
• If they don't know the answer, they may not know why they are hiring you. If they have a good answer, you can describe directly how your strengths can solve those needs. You and the hiring manager both want to be enthusiastic about your first 6 months and be ready to contribute to the team right away.

Whenever I meet new people in business situations whether at a conference, virtual meeting, or interview, there is one thing that I base my interest on seeing them again on: "fun". If you are going to be a bore, a stickler, or a show-boater, I have no reason to want to have another conversation with you or work on another project with you. Having a fun attitude, smiling, and attacking problems with gusto makes me want to work or play with you again. Here are three things to explain what I mean:

1. Work turn into play
• Every one knows the saying "work hard, play hard" but why don't we simply propose having work become fun? We turn chores into games for our kids so why don't we do that ourselves? I bet you can't finish that spreadsheet in 20 minutes because it usually takes you 90. Every time you respond to an email request eat an M&M. You can't refill your coffee until you complete that PowerPoint presentation. It might sound childish but doesn't it sound just a bit enticing and like an environment you'd want to work in?
2. Creativity improves
• Remember galloping around the grocery store like a horse and not caring if customers laughed? The imaginations of kids are full of stupid and silly ideas that makes you jealous of their spontaneity and carefree spirit. Well, why not be like that?! Yes, sometimes saying the crazy "out-of-the-box" ideas during a meeting might get you laughed at, but it also might spark the conversation that turns into a great idea. Adults are smart enough to know applying yourself turns challenges into results so be willing to take more chances and be silly!
3. Reduces stress
• There are proven statistics about laughter increasing productivity and decreasing stress levels. Kids like simplicity and the equation of Laughter + Work = Better Results is easy to understand and easy to do. Try telling a joke before every monotonous team meeting or try smiling at individuals during presentations. It will brighten their day and yours!

A few ways to get that kid mentality flowing is to go back to using crayons to write notes, crazy colored trapper keepers to store files, and daily calendar puzzles to fill those writer's block moments. These things don't take away from your actual work tasks - they just make those tasks a bit special. If you need some ideas, here is a fun article to read or a great video to watch. What do you think about bringing the fun into the workplace?

Seriously, I can't believe Congress's failure to act and keep the country running. Don't they understand the implications of their closed-mindedness? There are so many better ways to argue with a broken record, the birds from Finding Nemo, or terminators. Replace it, ignore it, or try another way. So here is some advice for congressman and congresswomen that I hope they heed.

1. Plan one step ahead of the other team
• Don't all of these esteemed politicians have tons of people working for them including someone in charge of their schedule? You win when you keep your eyes on both short and long term goals rather than flailing around last minute. Procrastination only leads to stressful situations that you created for yourself.
2. Know your priorities
• Know when to accept you've lost and know which battles you can lose. Seriously, choosing to lose, learning from the mistake, and better preparing for the next one is better than sending wave after wave of nonsense at the wall. Not making a decision is still a decision and so extending the time of that decision-making has consequences too. Prioritize your actions and you will win
3. Take it outside
• Sometimes what comes out of the mouth of the opposing side just makes your blood boil. When you honestly can't relax and let it go, then take your stress out in other ways. Expelling that negative energy in a healthy way will let you respond more intelligently when it really matters. Here are some ideas: lasertag, pillow fight, chalk fight, or pie throwing (see below).

Scene from "The Great Race"