Six Top Interview Questions to Push Your Candidates to Think Deeper

There is no single mystery interview question that will give you a perfect hire every time. The purpose of our latest post is to provide you with a few top interview questions to put in your tool belt to make your future candidates think deeper. Every hire is important and thankfully a few members of our team put forth the below suggestions!

“What project or accomplishment do you consider to be the most significant in your career and why?”

I picked this question as my ‘Go To’ interview question since the applicant has the ability to articulate where he/she has been highly successful during his career and also may show what he/she considers to be important career/job success factors.

–        Barbara Feldman, Corporate Account Manager

Two questions that I think are important to ask are “What kind of office culture fits their background?” or “What type of management style do they thrive under?” I personally ask this because we do have some repeat customers and we have a pretty good handle on their environment. For a client it’s important as sometimes the cultural fit or management style fit is just as important as the technology fit.  Everyone needs to be in a situation where they can thrive professionally.

–        Nathan Horsman, Technical Resource Manager

Anyone can come prepared with a list of accolades, but it is not easy for people to discuss weaknesses or past screw-ups with a potential employer whom they are hoping to make a positive impression upon. For these reasons, a great question to ask is: “What are some of your biggest weaknesses?” Another question in the same vein is: “What are some examples from your professional career where you have made mistakes and what did you do to correct them?” Don’t be satisfied with just one example, either; ask for three or four or more. These questions will require the candidate to think critically and provide answers that have most likely not been rehearsed. Asking these questions early in the interview and in a way that is inquisitive and positive rather than accusatory (this is key!) will often breach a person’s walls and will result in a very candid, unscripted conversation.

–        Adam Barron, Technical Resource Manager

“Can you take a few minutes to go over what you know about our opportunity and how does your background make you an ideal fit?”

As long as the candidate has seen the job description you can use this question. There are two important aspects to this question that if the candidate is prepared will give you a good sense about how they prepare themselves for important occasions and are they an expert at this subject matter. The preparation that a new hire puts forth in their first phone screen or interview is an indicator of future performance. If they are prepared, they shouldn’t stumble through what they know about the description. If they are as knowledgeable as the resume indicated, they should be able to easily speak for a few minutes about what they have worked in the past.

–        Gerry Noumi, Director of Operations and Marketing

A few other great questions:

“Our core values are A, B, C… Can you pick two of these and give me an example from your past work history for each where you exemplified these values”?

The goal behind this question is to see if the potential new hire is a match for the corporate citizens that you are looking to add. The answers might surprise you in that you might see how some took extra steps outside their “job description” to assist others. As Adam Barron mentioned above, feel free to have the candidate give you a few examples.

“How did you prepare for this job interview?”

Hopefully you will get an answer beyond simply reviewing the job description. If the candidate knows whom they are interviewing they should be looking them up on LinkedIn. They should be researching the company beyond just the company website.

In conclusion, these are just some of the questions that we would recommend that you use when interviewing your next potential hire. Do you have a question you think we should include in our summary? Leave a reply below to share with others!

Happy Hiring!

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