Preparing the Questions
Preparing the Questions
Creating questions is one of the most critical steps in managing the interview. Designing the best questions possible will elicit the most complete answers from the candidate. Since candidates must be judged on their responses, give them questions that will demonstrate fully their skills, abilities, interests and motivation for the job.
There are certain basic areas that are useful to cover in every interview. These areas give us consistently important information. Make sure that you write questions for every interview that cover the following areas:
The relationship between the candidate and the candidate’s current co-workers:
Find out how well the candidate gets along with current co-workers. Strong relationships may indicate a team player. Poor relationships sometimes indicate a potential for employee conflicts. Of course, sometimes a candidate will just be in a bad setting. In that case, ascertain how maturely the candidate deals with the situation.
The relationship between the candidate and the candidate’s current boss:
A person who has a good relationship with one's boss can usually carry that over to another. A person with a poor relationship might carry that over to you also. Of course, a poor relationship with the boss may or may not be the candidate’s fault.
The candidate’s career objective:
It is important to know where a candidate is going in order to assess if the candidate's goals fit in with what is going on in your own organization. For example, if the candidate wants to be a vice-president of sales, but you have a job in manufacturing with little promotional opportunity, then the candidate and the job will not be a good fit.
The nature of the candidate’s work:
Details about the candidate’s current work will give you a good indication of the candidate’s preparation and ability to handle the job.
Education and experience:
Even though you have this information readily available in the application, create a question that asks the candidate about both education and experience. Sometimes the candidate’s retelling will bring up new information or will present the information in a different light. You will have the added advantage of seeing the candidate’s highlights – a clear indication of the candidate’s interest.
The reason for changing jobs:
This question is critical. Knowing why a candidate wants to leave and why a candidate wants to work for you is essential. You will need to ascertain if the candidate is fleeing from any problems and you will also need to see if the reasons that the candidate wants to come here makes sense within the framework of the job.
The most unpleasant feature of the candidate’s current job:
Prepare a question that asks the candidate about the most unpleasant feature of the job that the candidate now has. If the candidate comes up with something that you know is present in this job, then the candidate will soon be unhappy.
The reason why the candidate wants to work here:
It is important to know what the candidate’s motivation is for applying for the job. You will need to check their answers against the reality of the position. The motivation of the candidate needs to be in alignment with the job’s or your company’s opportunities.
The candidate’s knowledge about your organization:
The candidate’s knowledge about the organization gives you an indication of how well the candidate prepared for the job. Candidates who are well-prepared usually are more motivated, more organized and more competitive. One always has to ask how interested a candidate is in a job when the candidate makes no effort to find out about the company.
Work habits:
People vary quite a bit in work habits. You will want to have a sense of a candidate’s work habits to know if those habits are compatible with the job. For example, if your vacant job calls for a lot of detailed work but the candidate appears disorganized and unstructured then this is probably not the candidate for you.
Be sure to ask the candidate at the end…
"Is there anything else you would like to add that would help us to evaluate you as a candidate?"
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