If you’re getting ready for a round of interviews, you might find yourself bogged down in a quagmire of how-to guides and lists of ‘essential’ or weird-and-wacky questions. We got recruitment expert Angela Cameron of Consult Recruitment to tell us what 4 questions we need in our arsenal for candidate interviews – read her thoughts below.
It’s easy to get the idea that an interview is meant to be a terrible trial by fire, with your role as interviewer the unmasking of some horrible flaw in your victim.
But it shouldn’t be that hard. At the end of the day, you’re just two human beings having a conversation and trying to figure out whether you’d have a mutually beneficial relationship. You don’t need a load of tricky questions to do that – just aim to get a conversation going and if something doesn’t sit right, trust your gut and ask about it.
Most hiring managers know they need to assess whether their candidate has the soft skills they’ll need to succeed in the role (‘behavioural competencies’, in HR-speak). You can get a steer on this by asking a few carefully selected behavioural-based interview questions (Google them), and diving deep on some specific areas of interest.
But the most important questions you need to get answered before you finish an interview are actually very simple, and frequently overlooked:
1. What motivates this person?
Why do they make the choices they do? Do those choices make sense to you? Would they be making the right decision if they came to work for you?
Questions you can ask:
“Why did you join company X/leave company Y?”
“Describe for me what your dream job would look like.”
“What excites you? What makes you proud to do what you do?”
2. What would they be like to work with?
What are they like as a person? Would they fit in well with the existing mix of personalities in the team? Would you be happy spending 40 hours a week sitting next to them? Would your team? Do they ‘get’ your company culture?
Questions you can ask:
“Thinking of the jobs you’ve had, which colleagues have you most enjoyed working with? Why?”
“Who was your best manager? Why?”
“What do you like to do outside of work? What would your typical weekend look like?”
3. How would they make our company better?
Do they have a track record of adding value to the companies they’ve worked for, or are they likely to be satisfied so long as they’re meeting the bare minimum of the responsibilities in their job description
Questions you can ask:
“What are you most proud of achieving at Company X?’ (Hot tip: If the answer is simply one of the responsibilities in their job description, that’s a red flag).
You could also give them a hypothetical (or actual) problem they might face in the job, and ask them for their ideas on how to tackle it. Or go broad and just ask “How would you make our company better?”
4. How likely are they to actually take this job if offered?
Good recruiters always assess this, but employers rarely even touch on it. With an improving job market, you’d be nuts to assume yours is the only opportunity your candidate is exploring. Save yourself a lot of pain by pinpointing exactly how likely you are to actually get them to sign on the dotted.
Questions to ask:
“What salary and benefits do you currently receive? What package would you need to take this job?”
“What else is happening in your job search?”
“How likely is it that your boss would make you a counter-offer? What would you say if they did?”
There’s nothing wrong with asking these questions early in the process; that way you won’t be wasting anyone’s time. You can also look at speeding your hiring process up if a favourite candidate is already at the final interview stage elsewhere.
So that’s it. Throw away that list of weird interview questions (Facebook, Google, Tesla et al – I’m looking at you!) – and get straight to the heart of what actually matters.
Angela Cameron: Angela is founder and managing director of Consult Recruitment, Auckland’s specialist accounting and finance recruitment firm. She’s a qualified accountant who began her career in audit, before moving into accounting and finance recruitment in 2003. As owner of a business that has quadrupled in size in the last two years, and as a trusted advisor to businesses of all sizes and stages, Angela has a unique perspective on how to hire and retain the very best talent to grow your business.
www.consultrecruitment.co.nz
Twitter: https://twitter.com/angelacameron01
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelacameronconsult
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