Hiring For Missions

Questions to Explore a Candidate’s Personal
Characteristics & Values :: Mission & Ministry / HR :: rev. 8/08

Here are three groupings of values and characteristics which emerge out of our LUHS mission statement. It is helpful to have some assessment of a candidate’s understanding and commitment to our culture and values as these arise out of our Catholic heritage and Jesuit mission.

INTEGRITY (honest, fair, trustworthy, ethical, accountable)
COMMITMENT (energetic, resourceful, inventive, passionate, collaborative, decisive)
MISSION & MAGIS VALUES (openness to the Jesuit mission & Catholic heritage of Loyola University & LUHS, embodying this mission in institutional planning and decision-making; carrying forward the institutional values of care [compassionate, approachable], concern [service-oriented], respect [open to other views, positive, optimistic, humble], cooperation [doesn’t play games, slow to anger, instinctively just]).

The following questions translate these three areas into specific questions for a candidate:

First, the interviewer(s) will want to contextualize these questions in a way something like this:

“We’re asking you to reflect on some serious issues in order for us to get some sense of your basic values and the way you put them into operation. We know this isn’t always an easy task... Please take your time in answering: we will wait.”

Then, engage the candidate by asking questions along these lines:

1. [About INTEGRITY]

1. Describe one specific ethical decision you have had to make in an area you have been in charge of. Reflecting on it later, how did you feel?
2. Talk about a professional mistake you recognize you made. What did you do about it?
3. Describe an instance where accountability became a real issue for you; talk about your comfort / discomfort with it.
   d. Tell us about a conflict you’ve faced in the past. How did you resolve it?
4. We all have experiences of working with somebody who is very “different” than us.
   Talk about a time when you felt challenged by such an individual. What was the difficult piece? How did you resolve your differences? What did you learn from the experience?

2. [About COMMITMENT]

The LUHS brand promise towards our patients and families, students and colleagues reminds us that we also treat the human spirit. This represents an important commitment of servant leadership to the people of Loyola.

1. Tell me about a time when you kept a commitment even though it was difficult?
2. Talk about a time when you went out of your way to assist someone else?
3. Tell me about a time when you put someone else’s needs before your own?
4. Talk about a time when your leadership made a difference?
5. We all get work assignments that we feel are not part of our job. Tell us about a recent
   occasion when you were called upon to do work that you felt not part of your job. How was the assignment given to you? How did you feel about doing the work? How did you handle it? What did you learn from the experience?

3. [About JESUIT MISSION, CATHOLIC IDENTITY, MAGIS VALUES]

Our core values are care, concern, respect and cooperation; we demonstrate this belief to our patients and families, our students and each other.

1. Tell me about a time when you demonstrated one of these values?
2. Tell me about a time when you didn’t follow one of these values and what was the outcome?
3. What did you learn? What did you do differently the next time?
4. Describe the best situation of teamwork across your professional career... And the worst. What made the difference?
5. Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a difficult patient, patient’s family member or co-worker. What were the circumstances of the situation? What specific action did you take? What did you say? How did the person or persons respond to your action? How
   well did it work? What would you do differently the next time? What did you learn from the situation?
6. Our brand promise states that “we also treat the human spirit”. Give some specific examples of how you would put this promise into action in your daily activities here at Loyola.
7. How will a patient’s family & your co-workers experience your care for their human spirit?
8. Please describe the last time you noticed something that needed to be done at work and you did it without direction. What prompted you to respond? What kind of feedback did you get from your manager and your co-workers? Would you do the same thing in the future? Why
   or why not?

Finally: Wherever we work we leave behind footprints which mark the ways our values have made an impact. What “mission footprints” have you left behind in previous positions? What “footprints” will you leave behind whenever it is that you leave Loyola?

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