Lately most applicants mentally not stable.. how to figure this out before hiring

[boston09]

few guys I hired lately and had to let them go , actually interviewed fairly well, also as a part of hiring interview I ask them to repeat making a pizza the way I demonstrated to them, I also ask them to make steak and cheese sub which shows me whether they able to work on a grill. Even after they ace both tasks and look fairy competent and show themselves as decent work prospects, after working for a week or two they start displaying acting of a not mentally stable people… which leads to me firing them. Does anyone have a cure as to how to spot an unstable person even if they well spoken and know their way around kitchen? (Examples … when gets busy, they usually can’t keep it together, get nervous, start hitting things, act erratic, swear…, don’t take even very minor criticism well (spoken to them with respect and privately and mixed with words on encouragement and appreciation)

 

[Rico]

How did they’re work history look? Was there employment at other places short. Ask them for more work history during the interview. You can ask where they were before and for how long and keep asking till they stop answering. Do you ask them if they’ve ever been fired and why?

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[bigmoose]

I’m not a corporate psychologist… but that is sounding like when under pressure, or forced to multi task they fall apart. There are psychological aspects that accentuate those characteristics that I am hesitant to state here. Perhaps explore the persons ability to multi task in a team environment and under pressure. There are folks that are extremely adept “when left alone” My father in law for example was an outstanding hand wheel machinist when working alone with a blue print. When CNC/team automation came into the plant he became a mess and was laid off after a successful 20 years for failure to adapt and spouting off to management. … just some thoughts.

 

[Pizzanorth]

(Examples … when gets busy, they usually can’t keep it together, get nervous, start hitting things, act erratic, swear…,
Sounds like me and I own the place!

 

[boston09]

bigmoose, how do you “explore the persons ability to multi task in a team environment and under pressure” during interview? Rico, point taken…to ask more in detail about work history… but many of them will “hide” trouble work employment experiences… and most of them did work long term elsewhere and they ll talk a lot about it, but im not sure whether they were “normal behaving” back then or maybe their boss back then was maybe ok with their behavior…

 

[December]

Boston being from the northeast, I feel your pain. My grill guys used to act like that all the time especially about a week after being hired Exactly as you described.
My advice to you is this - be more direct- the second they start doing something like banging on the grill or slamming the doors on the fridge nip it in the bud immediately. Nevermind the criticism between 2 compliments… they know that tactic. Be straight up pull them aside and ask ‘do you have a problem?’ then take it from there.
Also about what you mentioned how it seems like they gave there all to a previous employer is complete bs. They just had an out of touch employer who let them get away with it for awhile until they left.
And keep in mind this buisness attracts alot of drug abusers

 

[bigmoose]

bigmoose, how do you “explore the persons ability to multi task in a team environment and under pressure” during interview?

Now I was in a corporate environment… I used to back into the question by asking “what job have you enjoyed best in your past?” and then “What was your worst job?” Then start to go down the path they are paving. If they head towards jobs that were isolationist, without team interaction, that starts to paint a picture. If they describe hectic times as “the worst” you have some insight. If they say the best was the time (in my world) when every alarm light lit up on the control panel for the power plant(made up example)… then you explore how they handled the crisis. Of course, they may figure out where you are going with this… As an example, an isolationist might make a good delivery driver, not a line cook.