In a recent study, we found clients/recruiters were asking candidates questions in such a way that the candidates were answering with what the recruiter wanted to hear.
How, you ask, is this done?
With yes/no questions like ‘How do you prefer to work? For example, do you like to work like we do?’ Leading questions, which are used more frequently than we think, are often asked without the interviewer even knowing that they are doing it, and it causes both interviewer and candidate to miss having a ‘real’ interview. The interviewer has often worked so hard, and spent so much time to get to the interview stage that they ‘urge’ the candidate to answer like they want them to.
So how to change this?
If you want to identify the best candidate for a job, you have to ask the right questions during the interview – and that takes preparation. You need to evaluate not only the job candidate’s skill sets and experience, but also how the interviewee thinks. That requires you to ask both closed-ended questions and open-ended questions.
Examples:
Here are some sample closed-ended interview questions:
- “How many years did you work for your last employer?”
- “Have you ever worked in a different industry?”
- “What’s the longest you’ve worked for any employer?”
Here are sample open-ended interview questions:
- “Can you describe how you handle tight deadlines on the job?”
- “Can you give me an illustration of how you improved productivity at your last job?”
- “Why do you want to work for this company?”
Our recent campaign on Facebook shows some different types of questions like:
- “From what you’ve learned about this position, how would you describe it to a 6-year-old?”
- “Who would play the lead role in a movie about your life?”
- “If you could be given any superpower, what would you choose?”
We often forget that the interview is critical and we need to prepare for the interview as much as the candidate needs to. In order to help you prepare we have a full package of interview questions to offer to you for FREE
