As the new year unfolds, many businesses are looking to bounce back from the year we had in 2020 and adding new talent to the team is at the top of mind. The difference between finding the best candidates available and the best fit for your team comes down to the questions that you ask during the interview. You only have a few chances to speak / meet with a potential candidate, so you must ask right questions to make that determination.
Here are some elaborated questions that you, as an interviewer MUST ASK to ensure the quality and fit of the candidate for your team:
1) Why are you deciding to leave your current position or why have you left your last position? (If they were laid off from their last position) Why do you think you were laid off from your last position?
- You are trying to understand the underlying motives behind their desire for a change. If they were laid off from their last position, you want to know if they have reflected as to why they were chosen instead of others.
2) What attracted you to apply for this position? What do you find similar and different in this position compared your current and past positions? What do you need to improve on to succeed in this position?
- You can see how much they understand about the current job vacancy and about themselves. Anyone who applies for a position should know what they are about to step into and whether they are the right fit for it or not.
3) What challenges do you see impacting our business and industry this year? How to overcome these challenges?
- You can see how much they know about your business and industry. Someone who is truly interested in joining your team should have done their research and understand the challenges they will be facing if they were to get the job. If they have thought about the challenges, they would have also been thinking about possible solutions during their train of thought.
4) How have you adapted to the remote-work and what have you learned? As we continue to face the challenges of working during a global pandemic, how would you improve on your effectiveness and efficiency? How would you maintain a positive work relationship with your team? How comfortable are you to travel or meet in person? How do you maintain work-life balance when both is under the same roof?
- 2020 has been tough for everyone to manage, juggling between the life at work and the life at home altogether under the same roof. You want to see how they have been coping with it so far, what they have learned this past year, what changes they have made and continue to make, and how they will respond as we transition back to work in the office this year.
5) How have you handled these times of uncertainty? How have you been handling the stress? How do you think you can improve your situation?
- 2020 has also been a big test on everyone’s stress management skills. Those who adapt well to changes and difficult situations were able to push forward, and those who are not as good in handling stress, crumbled under the pressure. Everyone has a way to manage stress and you need to know how they can continue keep their morale up and stress levels down when adding a new job to the mix and uncertain times still ahead of us.
6) How would you describe your relationships with your current / past colleagues and supervisors/managers? Would they agree with you and how would they describe you?
- You can tell whether someone is a team player or not by listening to how they describe their past relationships at work. How confident they speak about those relationships and what they think others will tells you a lot about who they are.
7) Tell us about your favourite job and the best company you have worked for. What would be your ideal company, work environment, and company culture look like?
- You want to listen carefully to what they say as this will reveal whether your organization will be a match for what they are looking for. It is best to know whether you can provide the work environment and culture that they are looking for and if not, whether they would be unhappy once joining the team.
8) What do you hope to get out of this position? What are you looking to gain from joining us? What are your Short-term and Long-term goals with us? What are your motivating factors?
- A work-relationship between an employer and employee is just like anything else, each side gives-and-gains something out of the relationship. Someone who is truly interested about a job and working for a company would have thought about what they would gain from the opportunity. You will also want to find out what motivates them to reach their goals.
9) What do you think makes you different than your competition and why should we hire you instead of them?
- Here, you can evaluate once again just how much they understand about the job, themselves, and the value of their skills / experience comparing to their competition. Those who have a good understand of these areas and are show confidence will stand out above the rest.
The next time you are interviewing a candidate, remember to ask these questions to add more talent that fits your team and your needs as we continue to navigate the road to economic recovery in 2021!
Contact Us today to speak with one of our Recruitment Specialists and let us help you build your team with talent today!