- Important questions that you need to incorporate into an interview
- What each question lets you know about the candidate
- What role each question plays in your decision making process
Job interviews should feel like a conversation, with two people asking and answering questions. Interview questions provide an opportunity to learn about potential employees, and their professional qualifications and personalities. Asking effective interview questions is critical to conducting a successful interview. If you’re seeking employees, it can be beneficial to prepare and practice interview questions before a meeting. While most of you will know these questions already, identifying the intention behind asking these questions is equally important.
Let’s look at a few key questions that you need to remember off the top of your mind.
01) Tell me a little bit about yourself?
This question prompts the job candidate to explain their general professional background and personal interests. You can ask this question first in an interview to gain a basic understanding of the person you’re interviewing. Candidates typically have an answer to this question prepared that summarizes their current occupation, previous role and career goals. This question can provide a great foundation for later, more specific questions.
02) What motivates you to succeed?
This question measures your candidate’s commitment to doing their best work for your organization. Candidates may respond to this question by describing causes they’re passionate about, such as helping people or learning new things, or methods for succeeding, such as using organizational systems or collaborating with others.
03) How do you handle stress?
Because employees may feel stressed to complete a challenging task, meet a deadline, or learn a new skill, it’s important that employees can handle stress well and know how to overcome it. In response to this question, candidates may discuss methods such as taking breaks, deep breathing or asking for help.
04) How would your friends and co-workers describe you?
Ask this question to learn about different perspectives of your candidate and their work ethic. A candidate may respond to this question by discussing how their friends and co-workers would describe them as sociable, hardworking and attentive to detail. This will provide you with more insight to their personality.
The questions that you ask at an interview will change greatly from one role to another, and also based on the culture and policies of your organization. However, asking some of these basic questions outlined above will help you gather great data from your candidates, which you can then analyze to make a good decision.