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Job Interview Questions to Ask a Candidate

March 4, 2024

Written by:
Deb Carley
 Sr. Director, Talent Acquisition Services

 

During a job interview, you can glean a much more detailed overview of who the candidate is as an employee than you would from just their resume. Your goal as an interviewer is multi-faceted because, of course, there’s the competency element, but you also want to assess whether the candidate is a cultural fit for the role.

When you’re planning an interview, there are three core areas of questioning to focus on, regardless of whether you take a conversational or more metric-based approach to the process:

  • Traditional questions
  • Behavioral questions
  • Competency questions

This article will discuss the best job interviewing methods and most effective questions to ask during an interview to ensure you are filling open roles with the best fit candidates.

Putting the Candidate at Ease

If you’re someone who’s used to interviewing candidates, you may underestimate the intimidation factor that can come with it. When you start any interview, try to find a commonality:

  • A sense of common ground, no matter how small, is an excellent way to make the candidate feel comfortable and more at ease.
  • Building a connection based on shared experiences or interests facilitates a positive atmosphere during the interview and establishes a rapport.
  • When there’s common ground, communication also tends to flow more freely, leading to a deeper understanding of the skills, motivations, and experiences of the candidate.

The less stress a candidate feels, the more open they’re likely to be. An open interview with a natural flow is going to be the best way for a recruiter or interviewer to assess how well a candidate is likely to align with the cultures and values of a company.

Traditional Interview Questions

Traditional interview questions give the interviewer an opportunity to gain perspective into how people are finding their roles, as well as screen a candidate based on whether they’ve done their homework on the company and position.

Here are a few examples:

  • Asking someone how they found your open job is helpful for the organization going forward as far as allocating resources to various platforms and job boards.

  • Asking what attracted the candidate to the company and the role is where you can see if they’ve done their research. With most companies having so much information online there’s often no reason for anyone to come unprepared for these questions.

  • Another question that falls into the traditional category is why they’re leaving their current role if they are currently employed. It gives the interviewer a chance to figure out if there is trouble or if there are red flags. It could be as simple as the person wanting more money or a different setup, such as the opportunity to work remotely.

  • More important than ever is to ask what kind of environment a candidate prefers. There’s a growing assumption that every employee is going to prefer remote work, but that’s not necessarily the case.

These questions can then naturally serve as a lead-in to the next grouping: behavioral.

Behavioral Interview Questions

In the behavioral questions, you start to parse out some of the details you’ve already been told and put them into realistic situations. During the behavioral questions in the interview process, you want to find those specific situations that help you understand the person as an employee more thoroughly.

  • Try to ask about situations that are relevant to the role as much as possible. You can also think about questions that involve the employee in challenging, stressful, or even conflict-driven circumstances.
  • You want your questions to get to the core of how a candidate would react in different scenarios they might face, uncovering more about their potential cultural fit within the organization.
  • Not every behavioral question has to focus on an adverse circumstance but rather should be framed to shed light on the candidate’s initial instinct.

Resume gaps can arise for different reasons, so you want to understand the circumstances and how they’ve influenced the candidate’s career trajectory. Give candidates a chance to demonstrate accountability, learn more about how they maintained or developed skills during this time, and identify potential red flags. How a candidate addresses a gap can provide insight into their work ethic, values, resilience and how they deal with setbacks.

Competency Questions

While a lot of emphasis gets put on cultural fit, and it’s undoubtedly a critical consideration, you can’t overlook the competency element of a role. You need to make sure you’re asking skills-based questions that are specific to the position.

  • Start by asking the candidate to tell you about a typical day in their current role, for example, and branch into their software and technology competency.
  • If relevant, ask the candidate to rate their proficiency in terms of specific technical skills, programming language or software.
  • Ask them to walk you through experiences with a tool or software relevant to the position.
  • Ask about a project where they used a particular skill or technology to achieve success.

What To Avoid in an Interview

Sometimes, what you shouldn’t ask or do can be as important as what you include in an interview. You don’t ever want to get personal or political. Don’t ask about families or children, although the candidate could voluntarily bring this information to you.

Be wary of asking mostly traditional interview questions. The bulk of today’s candidates are savvy enough to anticipate these types of questions. They’ll likely have a prepared answer from something they found online, not offering much of their true personality.

Improve Your Recruiting Process

When you’re interviewing a candidate, try to build a connection and put that person at ease. Avoid negative, judgmental comments, and be empathetic if you notice signs of anxiety. Ask open-ended questions that help you get past the wording of their resume and gain a deep understanding of skills, experiences, and goals.

Keep the conversation focused only on what’s most relevant to someone being successful in the position you’re working to fill. And, most importantly, allow them plenty of time to ask questions of their own!

If you’re currently struggling with your recruitment strategy or facing a shortage of talent, we encourage you to reach out to OperationsInc. We have decades of experience and recruiting experts around the country. We can help you find leading talent, improve the hiring experience, shorten the time to hire, and boost your employee retention.

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Reach out to our recruiting experts today to learn how to find and retain today’s best talent.