As one of today’s leading recruiting agencies, Peoplelink knows interviewing is tricky. You have to determine if the candidate is good, or just good at interviews!
Here are some of the kinds of questions to ask to help you get past the disguises during the interview to find out what the candidate is really like.
Ask about past bosses and colleagues.
When you ask a candidate to tell you about themselves, they’re going to give you the rosiest picture possible. However, if you ask something along the lines of: “If I called your former boss at ABC Company right now, what would they say about you?,” you’re going to stop them dead in their tracks. Then they’ll start thinking that maybe you really will call their boss after the interview. As a result, the answer they give is far more likely to be an accurate one…giving you some insight into who they are as a professional.
Ask behavioral questions.
“Tell me about yourself” and “what’s your biggest strength?” are fine as icebreakers. But your entire interview should not consist of these kinds of questions. Instead, be sure to dig deeper by asking behavioral questions. These are the kinds of questions that are designed to elicit specific examples from a candidate’s background about how they have performed in the past and handled certain situations.
For instance, if you’re looking for someone with excellent collaboration skills, ask “tell me about a time you had a conflict with someone at work,” or “tell me about a time you had to work as part of a team.” If, however, you need someone who works well independently, then consider something like “tell me about a recent project or task you had to complete on your own.”
Ask follow up questions.
Many times, when you ask a candidate a question, their first answer is going to be a canned or rehearsed one. So how do you get to the good stuff? By asking follow up questions – e.g. “tell me more,” “why do you think that is?,” “what do you mean?,” and “can you give me more detail?” When you ask follow up questions, you are much more likely to extract the kind of information that will reveal the true nature of a candidate.
Need more helping getting behind candidate disguises during the job interview process? Give Peoplelink a call.
As one of today’s leading recruiting agencies, we can handle the interview process for you, sourcing, screening and evaluating candidates – all so you can hire smart, qualified, and dependable people who can help supplement your core staff temporarily, or join your team permanently.
Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you.
