The other day someone asked me how a manager would be able to tell that a candidate for a business analyst job has communication skills. Here is my answer:
Instead of engaging in the apparently mandatory Q&A
session where the applicant answers fairly rote questions (so rote that there
are companies and people who purport to be able to prepare you for the
questions you will get in an interview), start a conversation with the applicant.
Ask questions that you might ask someone on first meeting them at a party or
social get together.
The answers are unimportant. You are looking for the way
that they answer to determine their communications ability and skill. If the answers are monosyllabic, evasive (a
good communicator is willing to state that a particular subject is off limits
or they do not wish to talk about it, rather than simply evading the question
or providing ambiguous answers), not to the point, or answering in such a way
that you are confused about their answer or not answering at all, then the
person is demonstrating a lack of communication skills. On the other hand, if
the applicant grabs the questions and runs with them, dominating the
conversation (and as a good interviewer, you let the behavior run its course)
then the applicant is also showing a lack of communication skills. The
questions should not be too personal or threatening (hence the cocktail party
analogy). Develop some questions that
would typically evoke questions in response.
Listen to how the applicant asks the questions (if the applicant does)
and listens to the answers. Again this is a good indication of communication
skills. A trick one friend of mine uses is to start the interview with some
information about himself or the company and then ask a question later that
would tell him whether the applicant was listening well.
Some experts point out that the interview situation is
fraught with stress and that generally applicants in that pressure situation
will revert to short answers. Ask more open ended questions as a way of getting
the applicant more relaxed and responsive. However, if the applicant cannot get
over their reticence in the interview they likely will not be able to overcome
it when they have to interview a Vice President about a new project.
I would refrain from doing group interviews with the whole
team. The concept there is to see how the applicant will fit in with the team.
However, such an interview is terribly unrealistic. Unless you are hiring a
person who will be making a lot of formal presentations to upper level
management and other judgmental panels, This is not common. A better approach
is one-on-one interviews with the team. This approach also has the advantage of
some OJT training in interviewing for the team members.
As for the skills, my assumption from your post is that the
technical skills or experiential skills have been handled through resume
screening or a screening interview by HR or something so everyone you might
talk to is technically qualified and you are looking for those with the right
set of soft skills for a business analyst.