Interviewing is the most important step in the recruitment process. It is the perfect opportunity for employers to get to know their candidates and to hire the right person. What we often see is that many employers struggle to get value from the discussions. This is because employers often ask some standard questions where the candidates then give answers that are very superficial.
As a result, interviews are reduced to a boring role play between two bored people where the applicant only tries to give socially desirable answers. This is detrimental to both the employer and candidate. The employer learns little about the candidates and can hardly distinguish the candidates from each other because of the amount of socially desirable answers. And the application candidates do not really get the opportunity to show themselves.
Interviews must and can be different! Here are five original questions with which you really get to know your candidates and make your conversations a lot more interesting for yourself and the candidate.
1-Tell me something that’s right, but nobody agrees with you.
This question almost always leads to an interesting and fascinating conversation. You ask candidates to express their opinion in a creative way. It is important that you as an organization adopt people who dare to express their opinions and to substantiate them. With this question, you can find out how candidates think about certain issues and whether they can substantiate their arguments.
You also get to know your candidates in a personal way. Because the question is so open, candidates can give all sorts of answers. This gives the candidates the opportunity to distinguish themselves and makes it easier for you to assess the candidates properly.
It may be that candidates give answers that you totally disagree with. It is then important to ensure that no heated discussion arises. You want to see if the candidates can substantiate their arguments well and admit when they are wrong. So make sure you let the candidate know that the answer does not have to be perfect.
2-What advice would you like to give to your previous boss?
The answer to this question can be of great value. Candidates can tell under which management style they like to work and get the best out of the paint. This allows you as an interviewer to see if a candidate fits in the team or not.
The way a candidate answers the question is also valuable. The tone of the answer is a good indicator of whether a candidate is capable of giving feedback to people in a normal way. This is very important when your candidate has to work as a team at your company.
You can also get an idea from the answer about possible problems that candidates have had with their previous employer. This is not what you want to focus on when conducting job interviews, but it is still important to know something about this. After all, you want to know who the person you are.
3-What inspires you?
If you want to get to know your candidates on a personal level, then this is the perfect question. By discovering sources of inspiration you will understand the motives of candidates much better. This is important because you get a better idea of the motivation of a candidate. And of course, you want to hire the most motivated candidate.
This question also helps candidates to feel more at ease. This is because the question specifically concerns their personality instead of asking for certain skills. This will automatically make the conversation more informal.
The candidates’ answers can also differ greatly from this question. Applicants really have the opportunity to leave an impression here. This is very nice for both you and the candidate.
It can happen that a candidate has difficulty answering this question. This is normal. Few people stand still in this. It is therefore important that you give candidates the time to answer this question. If a candidate can not answer this directly, you can still agree to return to this question at the end of the job interview.
4-If I gave you 100,000 euros to start your own business, what kind of business would you start?
For functions where you need enterprising people, this question is very valuable. You get a good idea of how your candidates think, what ideas they have and how they would use the available resources to make their case successful.
You can also sketch many scenarios on the basis of this question. For example, you can submit various problems that the candidates might run into in their company to find out how they would solve them.
This question provides a lot of valuable information from the candidates. You get to know the candidates on a personal level. But you also test their skills by looking at how they deal with any problems they might encounter.
5-What did you think of me as an interviewer?
There are few employers who ask for feedback from the candidates. This is a missed opportunity and should, therefore, be done much more often. A job interview is not only about whether the candidate makes a good impression. You too must make a good impression to attract the right people. After all, you represent the company to the applicants. Your personality and way of interviewing can help convince the most talented candidates to come and work for your company or it can completely reject them. That is why it is important to ask for feedback from the candidates after each interview.
This question also helps to get an indication of how the candidate deals with pressure. Giving feedback face to face at a time when the candidate is already nervous can be difficult for a candidate. This is completely the case when candidates have to give feedback to the person who determines whether they get a job.
Conclusion
Making the right questions during a job interview is very important. The questions you ask ultimately determine whether you are taking the right candidate or not. By asking only the standard questions you will not get to know your candidates well enough to make the right decision.
With the interview questions in this article, you can greatly improve the quality of the candidates’ answers. You also give the candidates more room to really distinguish themselves. At the same time, you make the conversations more fun for both the candidate and yourself. Because the questions are open and offer space for different types of answers, you challenge your candidates. Also, a job interview in this way is more causal which is advantageous to get to know your candidates better on a personal level.
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