I'd like to recommend a book for creating interview questions specifically for screening for bad attitudes. It's called Hiring for Attitude by Mark Murphy. It's rather inexpensive, less than $20 paperback from Amazon and $10 download in Kindle format. It's not a long read but it provides an approach to developing interview questions that target a candidate's personality. Probably the best approach to discovering problem behaviors than any other book or paper I have ever come across. One part of the book that I found particularly helpful and insightful was the section of Coach-ability and how the questions for determining this were written. To give an example, here are 5 questions from the book that you ask a candidate and you can't change the wording of the questions even though they may come across of very direct or even rude: 1. What was your boss’s name? Please spell the full name for me. 2. Tell me about <boss name> as a boss. 3. What’s something that you could have done (or done differently) to enhance your working relationship with <boss name>? 4. When I talk to <boss name>, what will he or she tell me your strengths are? 5. Now all people have areas where they can improve, so when I talk to <boss name>, what will they tell me your weaknesses are? These questions are designed to determine, among other things, how well a candidate takes to coaching from a manager, supervisor of project head. As the author will explain and as I have experienced, candidates that don't answer these questions honestly or just refuse to answer are raising red flags for you.

I would suggest taking a good look at the team members and which type of personality would clash with them. Great candidates in one environment can be toxic in another. Ask questions of the candidates about real daily scenarios rather than hypothetical, generalized questions to gauge response. Two people who have very different personalities interviewing candidates can also be helpful since they will see different aspects of the candidate based on their own perspective.

Hi! This is great to be part of this hiring process for a new candidate. Apart from what they say, take notice of their body language. Do they seem rigid & closed off? Does their smile seem "forced"? Do their responses match their body, in other words? If they're being open with you, their face & body will convey it. Good Luck! :)

I really like the Temp to Hire suggestion. Put the person in as many scenarios as possible and watch them closely. Give them opportunities to show their nature. It's weird, you hear people complain all day long about toxicity and Bully everywhere but more often than not I find these people create horrible work situations and then play victim when the so called bully calls them out and shuts down their behavior.

I would say anyone that would speak in a non constructive negative way about past bosses or past coworkers is raising a red flag about there toxic tendencies. Where it is fine to express why you want to leave or left a previous employer being comfortable dragging people in a professional setting shows that the person being interviewed may be a gossip or unable to problem solve without pointing fingers.

Great questions! To be honest, I don't know if this is even possible. Many times you hire based on a resume and an interview, and I doubt anyone will openly admit to their toxic behavior that will cost them an opportunity to join your team. If they do, hire them for their honesty because that's hard to come by, too. I recommend you do more digging into references. Perhaps require at least 1 reference from their most recent employer and ask them questions that might be the root of concern: - how did they handle difficult conversations with clients? - what was their communication style in collaborative projects? - what areas do they need to improve upon (could be elaborated with: in their communication style)? Separately, you may want to explore a temp-to-hire process so you can vet the candidate out in your standard interview process, but also put them in the role for 30/60/90 days and see if they exhibit any of the behaviors you're concerned about. I find great talent for companies and I'm happy to speak with you more: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanyrowles/