There’s a lot of work that goes into finding the right candidate, and the interview stage is a great time for you to pick the best of them. You’re going to have a hard time deciding on the best candidates if you’re not asking the right questions – so you’ll want to get this down. The goal of the interview is to learn about the candidates that you’re considering, and figure out why they’re the best fit for the team, and you need to guide them into telling you exactly why that’s them.
Without these questions, you may as well skip the whole interview process and save yourself time.
Why do you want to work here?
Directly asking the candidate why they want to work for your business is a good way to test their knowledge. Everyone knows that simply stating that their reason for applying was the pay isn’t an acceptable response – so you’ll want to make sure they know their stuff. Someone who shares the core values of your business will know all about the opportunity that’s available to them and will be able to tell you why exactly your business interests them in particular.
If you’re going to find someone who’s a good fit for the team, you’ll want to make sure it’s someone who actually knows the business. “A hard-working candidate is a great sign they’ll constantly learn and habitually always look for new ways to grow with the company, engaged in earnest and energetic work,” Giridhar Akkineni, Staffing Industry Expert, and CEO of AkkenCloud.
What is your experience with teamwork?
If they’re to work as a team with your other employees, you want them to be able to fit in and work effectively with them. Someone with no teamwork skills will slow everyone else down, which is the opposite of what you want. On top of that, these skills can take a long time to develop, and it differs per person – so you want to find this out before you hire them. You can also find out about what kind of role they play in a team, whether they take the lead or just take instructions from others.
How do you manage deadline pressure?
There are times when working on projects that you have to apply a little pressure to meet the deadlines, and your employees need to be able to handle that. There are a lot of results that can come from too much pressure, and you want someone who knows how to manage it. Talk about their previous experiences with high-pressure scenarios, and figure out whether they’ll be able to handle the flow of the job.
Have you got any questions for us?
Just like with the first question, you’re looking for someone who has an interest in your company and knows about how you do things. If you want to find out who is actually passionate and interested in the position, let them ask the questions. This question should lead to genuine questions they have about the company and should lead to them getting helpful and informative answers about the position they’ve applied for. If they’re not curious about the position, it could spell bad news for their future at your company.
