First, congratulations for beginning the hiring process with clear expectations in mind. The better you understand what you want your new employee to do, the better you’re able to examine evidence of past performance to predict if the candidate’s future performance will meet your expectations.

While the obvious answer to your question is to ask about learning a new skill when you interview the candidate, the interview is only one of four tools available to identify candidates who are “fast learners.” Let’s look at how each of these tools can help you make the right hiring decision.

Recruitment Advertising ­– When listing required (or desirable) competencies, include reference to the ability to learn new skills quickly. Publishing this requirement allows jobseekers to self-select. Are they committed to learning new skills (even better if they enjoy doing so)? If they aren’t, they may not apply, which is a good thing. They likely wouldn’t have fit your organization’s learning culture, and you have just saved yourself time that you would have spent reviewing their resumes.

Resumes – When reviewing the information the candidate supplies in support of his application (cover letters, application forms, resumes), search for evidence of the candidate having learned new skills in previous jobs, and ideally, quickly. If this information isn’t there, that doesn’t mean he/she doesn’t have the ability or desire new skills, but it is cause to wonder how carefully the candidate read your advertising before applying.

Interview – Don’t ask questions to which the desired answer is obvious (“Are you able to learn new skills quickly?”). Because you asked, most candidates would conclude that what you want to hear is, “Yes.” Unfortunately, they provide no evidence to support what they are saying.

Here’s a better question: “Provide us with an example of a new skill or procedure you had to learn in your current or a previous job.”

The word “quickly” was purposefully omitted from this question. Including it might convey a message about what you are looking for. Use probes to uncover this information:

• What was the skill or procedure you needed to learn?
• Why did you need to learn this skill/procedure?
• How was the need to learn this skill/procedure identified?
• How long did it take you to learn this skill?
• What challenges/setbacks did you encounter in learning this skill/procedure?
• Who, if anyone, helped you learn this skill? [How was he/she involved?] (Comment: The person who the candidate names could be someone who can tell you more about how well and quickly the candidate learned a new skill/procedure during a reference check.)

Reference Check – Now, it’s time to ask you question directly: “Describe a time when [candidate] was required to learn a new skill or procedure quickly.”

Follow up probes:

• What was the skill or procedure?
• Why was it important for [candidate] to learn this skill/procedure?
• What challenges/setbacks did he/she encounter while learning this skill/procedure?
• How long did it take [candidate] to master this skill/procedure?
• How does this compare to how long other employees typically took to learn this skill/procedure?
• Based on what you learn from the application documents, the interview and reference checks, you will have evidence on which to decide if this is the quick learner you are looking for.