The recruitment market is saturated with articles about the best way to ask questions, answer questions and structure interviews. They pop up in my inbox on a daily basis and frankly, I never ever read them. However, my colleague recently wrote the below article and I liked what she had written so much that I thought the questions she had included deserved their own article. They're simple questions which can help maximise the information you're able to get during the interview process. So this is the 6585986th article written on the subject of killer questions - enjoy!!
Tell me about your current business?
This is very simple yet I still find many recruiters do not spend enough time covering it off. If you do, you gain a clear understanding of the structure/ environment the candidate is used to being involved within and maybe the areas of that, that have been appropriate to his/her needs.
You have a magic wand, write me your perfect job spec.
You can’t go wrong here, you're finding out directly from the horse’s mouth what is important to them or what looks good. Not only that, you’re taking the time to peel back layers to find out what they ‘really really want!’
Can you tell me about your greatest success and your greatest failure?
If this question is answered honestly, it should give you a good idea of (A) How well the candidate is prepared for an interview & (B) Their genuine feelings on what success looks like and honest feelings on their failures/ how best, they could have done things differently.
What was the best/worst job you’ve had and why?
Ultimately, for us to have a good understanding of what a candidate ‘dislikes’ can give us the best idea of what they ‘do like’ and how we can impact that!
What questions do you have for me?
How many of you have focused on the me me me?!? Let’s not forget to remember that you are providing them with a service, even if it is free right now!
What I would say is that I am always a believer of asking my candidates to ‘tell me a bit about themselves?’ (i.e. outside of work), It is entirely up to them what they tell me and don’t tell me, but as most of my candidates will tell you, I have always taken genuine interest and care in them, importantly what work will genuinely fit around their lives, needs & wants. The difference is that I have spent more time earning the trust to know I'm asking for the right reasons!
Read the original article here