Asking the right questions during the interview provides not only useful information about your candidate but also makes a positive impact on your company hiring process.
Sharing a list of great questions to ask your candidates:
- What a fantastic day at work looks like?
While asking this question, you can better understand what drives your candidate. What is her passion? I look for people with high energy and enthusiasm. They should be excited about what they are doing. Their drive should be aligned with the company. You probably don’t want to hire a person without “shining eyes” when answering this question. - What makes you angry?
The purpose of this question is to examine how easy it will be for a candidate to come out of peace, where there may be friction and whether it is proportionate and appropriate to the company’s culture of openness, flexibility, and collaboration. This question also measures the level of authenticity and honesty of the candidate.
This question is the opposite of a “fantastic day”. It shows you what the person really dislikes. It also defines what the candidate likes. This question connects to the values of flexibility, openness, and collaboration. - Who are you?
This question is similar to: “Please, tell me about yourself”. But most people start telling me about their last job. It’s important to see the person behind the candidate. You would expect to get answers about their personality, family and have a “human conversation”, not a “robot” one. This question helps you to find the culture fit. - What is your “Super Power”?
Every person has something she is excellent at. It can be something that you do since age twelve, and you are very good at this. When a person does something great, she feels happy. If this “superpower” can contribute to the company, it’s a Win-Win situation. - Who we are and what we do?
The purpose of this question to understand if the candidate researched the company and she came prepared. We want candidates to be excited about what we are doing at the company and bring this excitement to their role. If a candidate suggests things to be improved during the on-boarding process, it means she registered and felt a customer herself. - What would you look for / ask a candidate if you were interviewing someone for your position?
This question examines the level of job understanding, a measure of professionalism, and standards. It checks the level of knowledge of the role and whether you see the role the same way. It indicates what matters to the candidate and measures wisdom, depth, and analytics level. - What is the organization chart in your last company?
The candidate can draw a chart and explain responsibilities. Whom was she reported to? It helps to understand the teamwork and what was the contribution of the candidate to the company. You can ask “what your colleague would tell about you” while drawing the chart. - What did I forget to ask you?
This question is a way to grasp essential things that may have been missed and an indicator of the level of preparedness. It is also a place of self-examination because we may have forgotten relevant things to ask. It’s a place that allows candidates to speak, a chance for a person to say things she might have wanted to say earlier in the interview. This question helps you to prepare for the next interview as you learn not only about the person in front of you but also about the role. - If, within a few months after joining, it turns out that was not a good match — what probably happened?
I want to understand where is the risk. What will make the candidate to leave the company? If a person says “No idea” — it’s a lousy answer. Some legit answers are: relationship with the boss, things I was forced to do w/o any will, my knowledge wasn’t enough for the role. The purpose of this question is finding the match, not failure. You aren’t looking for the perfect people, but the ones that are right for the company, and this is the right place for them.
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