Bad interview questions are making the rounds of hiring manager “don’ts” these days, but what about working toward better questions that help you learn more? The interview should be a means for gaining insight into job candidates, not just a process of going through the motions. Knowing what the best interview questions to ask candidates will bring you one step closer to hiring the best candidates.
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Great interview questions help you learn more about a candidate’s personality and whether or not they’d be a good cultural fit. In conjunction with great candidate matching technology that narrows down your applicant pool to the most qualified on every level, it can help you fine-tune your final decision. These 6 interview questions will help you find out what you really want to know.
#1: Why Do You Want This Position and Why are You the Right Person?
Job applicants might be asked this question a lot, but it’s a critical one. Brazen Technologies says that the answer will reveal how well the applicant has prepared for the interview and how much she knows about your company. She should have enough information to talk comfortably about the role and how her experience makes her a good match.
#2: What’s Your Idea of a Great Workplace Culture?
This question might catch the candidate off guard, but her response will give you important details about whether she’ll fit your company culture. Without any insider information to go on, she’ll tell you whether she likes to work independently, on a team, if she prefers to lead or follow, and will paint at least a slight image of what’s ideal for her. Brazen cautions that applicants who say that they can fit anywhere probably aren’t being 100 percent truthful.
#3: Tell Me About Your Previous Work Relationships
This question pulls out the ways in which the applicant handles conflict resolution, how they work with others, and might also show certain patterns. Does she always get along with everyone? Probably not, at least not in reality. But does she seem to have a pattern of edgy relationships with peers? That might be a warning sign. Given free rein to talk about work relationships, she might show that she’s a problem solver or a complainer.
#4: Talk About an Obstacle You Overcame That Stood Between You and a Goal
This is a loaded question, but an important one. More insight into conflict resolution is what you’ll get with the answer. That’s true, whether the applicant has an approach that complements your company or if she doesn’t want to talk about it at all. Brazen says you’ll also learn about which situations she considers to be a problem at all.
#5: Explain Your Proudest Achievement in Layman’s Terms
Especially important for tech workers, but also important for others, the applicant will reveal whether or not she’s hung up on jargon and whether she can relate to people in completely different departments from her own. You’ll also get peek into how she might communicate with customers or clients. The ability to speak about her role in layman’s terms shows versatility and adaptability.
#6: What Was a Professional Situation Where You Didn’t Succeed?
You want a candidate who can own up to dropping the ball and work toward resolving it. She might expect this question and come to the interview totally prepared. Then again, it might make her uncomfortable. The important thing is learning whether she’s comfortable admitting to a mistake and explaining how she went about correcting it.
Candidate matching technology helps attract the best applicants for the job. And better interview questions let you drill down even more to fill in the blanks. Together, they help you make the best hires possible, which means a lower cost per hire and a much better attrition rate.
RealMatch is the technology that brings great employers and candidates together. Your job ad automatically goes to all of the right people. And those people know that the ads they see are probably a good fit, too.
