RECRUITING? ENSURE YOU ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Below is a carefully selected number of interview questions for your
hiring process. The headings will assist you in deciding which to chose.
Most of the questions are ones which lead to other questions which you can
begin with a "why?" "when?" " where?" "what ?"
OPENING QUESTIONS
Tell me about your greatest strengths? What would be the greatest asset
you'll bring to our company? What is your greatest weakness? How do you
plan to resolve it? Tell me about the favorite job you have held, and what
role did your boss play in making it so? What was your least favorite job
you have held, and what role did your supervisor play in making it so?
Tell me about your expectations of this job? What are you looking for?
Give me a Brief History of .... (the interviewee) Tell me what you know
about this company? Why are you here? What can you do for us? What kind of
a person are you? How do your colleagues (or supervisor) describe you? Can
we afford you? What attracted you to this job? Is your resume completely
accurate?
KNOWLEDGE and SKILLS RELATED QUESTIONS
What do you think are the broad responsibilities of this job that you
are applying for? What particular knowledge and skills would you bring to
the job? What aspects of your current/last job do you consider most
useful? most important? How will the knowledge and skills learned and
developed in your present/last job benefit our company? What area of your
skills (knowledge, attitudes) do you still need to improve upon? What is
your time schedule for accomplishing this? What workplace attitudes do you
consider most beneficial in the work you do? Why did you leave your last
job? or, why do you want to leave your current job? What are your
weaknesses? What did your previous boss see as your shortcomings? What
skills do you have relating to ....(the topic)? What technical skills do
you think you have? What skills do you lack? How long would it take you to
come fully up to speed if you were to get this job?
CAREER KNOWLEDGE & SELF-KNOWLEDGE RELATED
QUESTIONS
How do you see your career advancing over the next five years? Why did
you chose your present profession (or trade or line of work)? Tell us
about any time you were laid off? If you don't get this job, what will you
do ? Where do you see yourself in five years If you were to get this job
and if you had your choice, what would you like to do during the first
month? Describe how you progressed through the ranks and landed in your
current/last position? What will you do if we don't hire you? How have you
reinvented or redefined your current/last job to meet company needs? What
should, or should have been, your next logical move in progression at your
current /last job? Why did it not transpire? When you retire, what do you
most want to be remembered for? In the ....... industry, layoffs are
common even for outstanding people, have you ever been laid off, and how
did you deal with it or how would you deal with it if it were to happen?
Why are you considering leaving your present job? What aspects of your
current work do you consider most crucial? What would you say are the most
important features of this job? What words have work colleagues (or your
supervisor)used to describe you?
CORPORATE CULTURE & VALUES INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
How do you define "Corporate Culture" ? Every company, including this
company, has its dysfunctional quota. How dysfunctional was your
current/last company and how much tolerance do you have for dealing with
its shortcomings? In what kind of corporate culture do you thrive? If you
were to get this job, how would you try to influence the corporate
culture? If you suspect that a colleague is helping him/herself very
liberally to company materials and supplies repeatedly, what action, if
any, do you take?
WORK-RELATED ACHIEVEMENT INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
What makes you stand out among your peers? What have you done in your
last/current job to increase your companies top-line revenues? What have
you specifically done to reduce the companies operating costs? Why should
we hire you in preference to the others we are interviewing for this job?
What has been your most creative achievement in your last/current job What
do those reporting to you say is your most enduring quality? Tell me about
a project you were involved in, that you consider to be a great success.
What was your involvement and what was the outcome? Please describe what
you consider to be your top three strengths, and, if possible, tell me how
these attributes would fit into and help our company grow. How long would
it take you to come fully up to speed in this job How much structure,
direction and feedback, do you need to excel?
LEADERSHIP INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
In regard to managing your staff, do you "expect" more than you
"inspect". Or visa versa? How do you discipline a staff member who
repeatedly comes to work ½ hr late? How do you deal with a staff member
who is clearly very bright, but spends quite a lot of time looking for
like mind to gossip to? Give us an example of how tough you can be with
your staff? Can you give me an example of a time you were involved in a
really highly-efficient team. What was the project you were jointly
working on? What was your contribution? Can you give me an example of a
time you were involved in a team that didn't work well together and more
importantly, what did you do to try to get the team back on track?
How do you deal with a chronically problematic person who nevertheless
is productive? How do you typically confront subordinates where it is
necessary? How do you monitor your staff's performance? What kind of staff
behavior gets you really angry? do you consider intolerable? Tell us of a
situation when you made an unpopular decision; and what were the
consequences? How did you deal with it? How do you go about setting goals
for your employees?
WORK HABITS INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
How do you balance your career with your personal life? How do you
react to overtime work? How do you know when you have done sufficient work
on a project? At what pace do you typically work? Are you willing to work
overtime? Travel on the weekends so the company can get lower airfares?
Have you ever been called a workaholic? Do you consider yourself a
workaholic? Where are you on the "work smart....work hard" continuum?
WORKPLACE ATTITUDE QUESTIONS
What is it about clients that make you impatient? What makes you
impatient (mad, angry) about those that report to you? Describe your
persona which is predominant in the workplace? We've all encountered a
difficult client/customer. Can you think of a time this happened to you
and how you dealt with it? Describe a work situation where you encountered
conflict with another employee. What were the circumstances? How did you
resolve the conflict? What was the outcome? Give us an instance when you
behaved at work in a manner that you later regretted
CHANGE RELATED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Give us an example of an innovation you initiated to keep abreast of,
or ahead of, changes in the industry How do you encourage your staff to be
innovative and creative, on the one hand, but to continue being productive
on the other hand? Sometimes change can be radical, dramatic and
stressful? If you have experienced something like this how did you react?
How did you help your staff?
SUPERVISOR RELATED QUESTIONS
Tell us about your last performance appraisal? Did you agree with your
supervisor? How would you go about telling your supervisor that you
disagree with him/her on a serious moral issue effecting one of your staff
members? What do you do if you know your supervisor has behaved in an
unethical or dishonest manner on an issue affecting the company On what
matters do you agree with your supervisor most often? Disagree? How would
your supervisor grade with your ability to deal with major last minute
changes to a project? How do you communicate with upper management? Those
who report to you?
SALES RELATED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
How do you rank among the other salespeople in terms of your
production? What are the two most objections you face and how do you deal
with them? What one objection do you most dread getting...and how do you
deal with it Role play with me if you will. Convince me that the product
you sell is worth my time and money. Describe your closing style? How many
times in the last 2 years have you failed to reach your quota? What did
you do about it? Tell me about your quality ratios. How many prospects do
you typically meet with before closing a sale? What sales skills do you
consider important in a job like this? Take us through one of your recent,
more complex sale cycles? How would you describe your sales style? What
sales skills do you still lack? Tell me about a time when your morale was
low, and what you did about it? I personally think that it a waste of time
following leads for more than 3 months? Do you agree? Tell us how you
motive yourself and keep upbeat? What do you dislike about most sales your
conduct? What rewards are most satisfying to you? How do you plan your
typical sales week? What kind of people do you like to sell to? When you
don't meet your sales quota, how do you deal with it? Sales people have to
face rejection as a part of the process. How do you personally deal with
the rejection?
CONCLUDING INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
When can you start working? What benefits do you expect? Are you having
other interviews? What are your salary expectations? In your professional
opinion, how much do you think a job like this should pay
There is an important caveat to these questions. If you intuition says
: don't ask that question, don't. If you feel you should ask another
question : ask it! The gut never lies!
WHY YOU ARE ABOUT IT, CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE www.ehomebiz.org. You may
find it interesting.
About the Author
Michael Brooke, Ph.D is a retired Dean of Continuing Studies at the
University of Victoria, British Columbia. Trainingworks Inc is his
recruiting and training company. He also has an eBusiness : Prosperity
Automated System which can be accessed at
www.ehomebiz.org. He writes, edits,
keeps bees, does stained glass, loves the Internet and women.
