Your candidate has been researched and vetted. When they come in for the interview, what are the best questions to ask in order to get the most relevant and illuminating answers?
A recruiter has an entire arsenal of strategies and tactics that help them gauge and weigh a particular candidate as a good fit for any particular role. From the strength of the CV, to physical first impressions, and even the way a candidate shakes your hand, everything is indicative of a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses. However, there is nothing more revealing than a prospective hires conversational skills and ability to answer the interview questions.
Here are a few interview questions that are essential in ensuring you’ve recruited the right person for the right job.
There are innumerable ways for a recruiter to pose this particular question. You can say what are your ideal expectations from your next role? Provide an outline of your plan for this job? Why do you wish to associate yourself with this company? Or whatever else – we feel that ‘why are you really here today?’ just happens to cut to the chase real quick. It’s to the point and leaves no chances of misinterpretation or confusion by the candidate. What’s more, the answer to this question will directly reveal to you what your candidate is looking to get away from and as well as give you valuable insight in the kind of workspace environment they would most prosper in.
Each candidate, each team, and each workspace is different. It can be difficult for a business to be productive if the team is unable to integrate and work together. By asking the candidate to describe their professional relationship you will be able to learn a number of things about them, for example the kind of work ethic they maintain, as well as what they consider their strengths and weakness. This will allow you to decide whether or not the candidate will just be another name on the list or will it be your prospective hire.
Candidates are known to inflate or exaggerate their current salaries because they feel it increases their chances of earning more. While a candidate’s body language is a good indicator of whether or not they’re bluffing or stretching the salary truth, you can easily prevent being fooled by asking for a proof of salary right at the start.
Besides, by asking what a candidates expectations are on the monetary compensation front, you are establishing whether or not you and your candidate are on the same valuation wavelength. Not only is the monetary valuation quoted by the candidate a good indicator of the confidence they have in their abilities, it is also particularly helpful is saving you from wasting your valuable time.
While we’ve taken the time and the effort to really pose this question in a formal, professionally appropriate manner, you could just as well ask your candidate to describe a time when they screwed up at work – it will serve the same purpose.
A recruiting basic, this age old question is perhaps the most revealing for any recruiter. The answer to this question will tell you, very clearly, whether or not your candidate is a stand-up man or woman that owns up to their mistakes and learns from their experience. If the candidate doesn’t carefully outline the mistake, the repercussions, and the lesson at the end of their answer, it is likely that they are either shifting the blame, or brushing the question off. Either way, you wouldn’t want to hire someone who is likely to repeat the same mistakes over and over again.
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