Jim, a group boss you depended on highly, just announced he's changing careers to come to be a zoologist. You are desperate to fill his position and are doing all things you can to ensure you bring in person equally talented (although maybe with a slightly lower love of animals). You've sifted straight through a stack of resumes higher than the Burj Dubai. You had person do a quick phone screen to eliminate determined "oops" candidates. You cleared your program (that was a painful chore), and you are ready to being interviewing.
In walks Candidate A. You shake hands, introduce yourself (wondering silently what kind of an odd name "Candidate A" is), and you both sit down. There is a pause-which stretches gently into a crushing silence. Candidate A is looking expectantly at you, paragraphs of well-rehearsed wisdom ready to be dropped into any question you might pose. And you perceive you have no ifs ands or buts nothing to say. Then you wake up and perceive that this was a dream. But still, you wonder, how do you make the best use of the interview time to be sure you are ready to make a decision about your next hire?
Not All Interviews Are Created Equal
Just as all jobs are not the same, all interviews shouldn't be the same. After all, you're looking for different skills and problem solving abilities-even different personalities-for different roles. Therefore, not all interviews should use the exact same questions. That said, there are some normal approaches that are best than others.
The key to all good interviews is to prepare. Create an interview guide for the position with some consistent questions for all candidates and some tailored to each individual.
Reread the resume. I can't emphasize this enough. Not having read the resume does not make you appear busy and powerful. It makes you appear unprepared and uncaring. Who wants to work for a boss like that?
The Good, the Mediocre, and the Unspeakably Awful
A good interview moves you smoothly along the path of determining either to request the candidate to continue the interview process, and (hopefully) encourages the candidate to remain enthusiastic or remove himself from notice (better to know now!).
A mediocre interview doesn't do any singular harm, but doesn't do much good either. The interviewer is commonly left to make a "gut feel" decision based on how the person interviewed. This is commonly a fairly poor predictor of success in the job.
Unspeakably awful interviews are just that: interviews that damage your company's image and credit and may even put the firm at legal risk. Here are some examples:
- The interviewer talks about himself and the firm for the whole interview.
- The interviewer makes the candidate sit and wait for 45 minutes-and then reads the resume for the first time in front of the candidate.
- The interviewer asks seriously stupid or illegal questions. I'm not talking generically dumb or useless questions (those are commonly safe and fall under the mediocre column); I'm talking bone-jarringly stupid questions. Like "So, what did you think of Lisa, my secretary?" or "What should I get my wife to make up for the fight we had last night?" (I wish I were production this up.)
Which Questions
Why waste your time request questions that won't help you make a decision about the candidate? If all you plan to base your decision on is either you like the person, why not make small talk and forget interview questions? The respond is you shouldn't make a hiring decision solely based on either you like a person or not. You need to be sure they are a great fit for the company, the culture, the position, and the style of decision production the job entails.
One or two thoughts before I tell you which (in my opinion) are the gold-standard Best and Worst interview questions of all time.
Not all Best questions are "best" for all interviewers or all jobs. Certainly, you should use your judgment. Similarly, not all Worst questions are "bad" for all situations. Well, yes, they are always bad. So I've included some ways to modify them to make them best questions.
Finally, I am not a fan of predictable questions that get rehearsed answers. You would be unlikely to ask a candidate "Would you think a paycheck a important notice for employment?" because you know the respond will be 'yes.' So there is no need to ask-it wastes time and may diminish you in the eyes of the interviewee.
The Five Best Interview Questions
Here are the best questions I've found over the years, beginning with my all-time favorite.
1. What is your colleagues' biggest misconception about you? In all likelihood, the candidate has never heard this question, but it is a question he should be able to respond with a puny thought. Give him a puny time to think-after all, that's part of what you're trying to uncover: how does he react when something new is thrown his way. This question can be used at any level of the society or in any industry. It doesn't want extra knowledge about whatever except himself-and your candidate should be an specialist about himself! It does want self-awareness and willingness to think a bit differently. One frequent respond is "Nothing-I'm a very open person-what you see is what you get." I commonly probe a bit with that answer, but you have to judge based on the candidate's reaction.
2. Case study. I love using case studies for positions where the candidate will have to make decisions with less than perfect information and for positions where the candidate will be required to do analytical problem solving. The idea is to ask him to think about something in a way they've never idea about before. As long as the respond is reasonable, I don't worry about it being "correct." I am concerned in how they think the process straight through and how they deal with the ambiguity of the situation. I recommend having them think out loud so you can succeed the process and respond questions they might have. (No, they cannot use the computer, their iPhone, or whatever else. They just have to think the problem through.) Some examples of case studies might include: How many pianos are there in New York City? How many eggs does the local coffee shop use in a day?
3. Please tell me about a time when you changed someone's mind. What was the situation? What did you do? What happened? This singular behavioral-based interview question is one of my favorites. As the ability to work in teams becomes ever more foremost in the workforce, influencing people and working in a collaborative manner are important skills.
4. Please tell me about a time when you changed your own mind. What was the situation? What did you do? What happened? intimately connected to the former inquiry, this question is designed to highlight either the candidate is open to new ideas and new ways of thinking. Depending on the position I'm interviewing for or the respond I hear, I may ask for a second example just to be sure that she has demonstrated real adaptive ability as opposed to changing her mind one time in a occasion of weakness.
5. If you were going to convince a friend or colleague to apply for this position, what might you tell them? Assuming you've done the prescreening well, you can be fairly determined that the candidate has the skills for the position. Hopefully, you've also figured out that she has a natural fit, the instinctive modus operandi, to be a good fit for the job and for working with the hiring manager. Now you need to know if she has desire to bring her passion for the position and the firm to work every day. This question will help you understand how much study she has done on the firm as well as give you some comprehension as to the attitude and zeal she'll bring to your department.
The Five All Time Worst Interview Questions
Unfortunately, there are all too many bad interview questions that get asked all too frequently. Here's my list of questions that should be retired to their own extra Hall of Shame.
1. Tell me about yourself. Here's how any candidate will explain this question: "I didn't have time to read your resume or if I did it wasn't curious enough to remember so why don't you fill me in so I have a clue what we're talking about." It's also so vague, it leaves many candidates wondering if you're the type of boss who expects people to read your mind. If you must ask some form of this, at least make the exertion to look pro by saying something like, "I've had the opportunity to recapitulate your resume, but I often find it helpful to hear people explain their own background. Why don't you give me a short narrative of your career."
2. Where do you see yourself in five years? Seriously? Most of us aren't even sure where we'll be in a month. Also, it's an anticipated question. Therefore (again) the respond is likely to be rehearsed, polished, and practically meaningless.
3. Tell me your strengths and weaknesses. no ifs ands or buts my least popular question of all. First of all, everybody expects this question. If the candidate can't respond this smoothly, they struggle with other questions so you can't no ifs ands or buts use this to weed people out. everybody knows to make the drive something generic enough not to be threatening, and to make the feebleness something you've worked hard to overcome (and that wouldn't no ifs ands or buts matter if you still suffer from-like working too hard). If you ask this question, you deserve the hogwash you're about to be fed.
4. Do you like working in a team environment? "Nope. Pretty much hate people. Hoping for a job in which I can stare at my computer all day long and growl at whatever who asks for help or information. I figure if I do this well enough, I'll come to be the next Dilbert character." If you want to know how they will work in a team, then that's what you need to ask. For example, "Can you tell me about a time when you worked as part of a team to solve a big problem?" or "What role do you find yourself filling in a team setting? Is this a role you're comfortable in? Can you give me an example of a time when you worked in a team in this kind of role?"
5. Do you work well under pressure? What do you expect person to say? "Er, not really."? "Can I call use a lifeline?" "No, but I bring my mom to work every day and she's great with pressure." There is only one possible respond to this question, so why bother asking? The days of the high pressure interviews are gone with other unfortunate trends of the 1980s, so if you want to know how the person will respond to a high pressure situation, ask for an example of when they worked under pressure in the past. Of try something like, "Here at Xyz brilliant Cutters, we understand that cutting extremely large gemstones is an art that involves a lot of stress. What do you do to balance your environment so the stress does not come to be overwhelming?"
Final Thoughts
Remember that interviews aren't conducted on either side of a one-way mirror. Just as you are evaluating the candidate, so the candidate is evaluating you. You are in fact marketing your company. You will interview far more people than you will ever hire. Be sure you leave those who are not offered a position feeling great about you and your company. You never know...
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