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Common interview questions

Recruitment and the hiring process has changed a lot over the years. From the rise of telephone and video interviews to the introduction of online applications, how we connect with potential employees has evolved dramatically. Despite all of these changes, the traditional in-person interview remains a popular recruitment method. 

Whether it’s one phase of a larger hiring process or the only step in the recruitment process, the face-to-face interview carries much weight in the final hiring decision. For this reason, every business needs to make sure these interviews are as effective as possible.

The problem with clichéd interview questions

The key to a successful recruiting and interviewing lies in asking the right questions. These questions should go beyond surface-level responses and give you a better idea of whether or not a candidate is the right fit for your organization.

Yet how often do interviewers rely on the same predictable, overused questions that every candidate has a canned answer for? In today’s competitive job market, where candidates prepare extensively, these basic, boring questions can give you generic and unhelpful answers.

To get honest, unrehearsed (and thus more informative) answers from the interviewee, it’s crucial to ask questions in an unusual or unexpected way. You may not need to leave all the old standbys behind, or ask bizarre questions like “What kind of tree would you be?” or “Explain the causes of the French Revolution.” 

However, you can still improve on many classic questions without sacrificing the vital information they provide. Consider changing some of them or adding follow-up probes to better understand the candidate’s skills, abilities, and fit.

How asking the right interview questions can help your recruitment and hiring

Face-to-face interviews can still provide plenty of helpful information about a candidate, but their best value comes from asking the right questions. As mentioned earlier, asking more unique questions during an interview can help you get more realistic answers from candidates, rather than rehearsed, telegraphed responses. 

Here are a few more reasons why you should be asking more diverse questions while interviewing candidates:

• Finding out what they can really do: Good questions help you learn about the actual skills that someone has and how they have used them in previous positions. This will give you a good idea of whether or not they will be able to do what is required of them in your business.

You could ask, “Could you walk me through a time when you had to learn a new skill or software quickly? What was the challenge, and how did you tackle it?”

• See if they are the right fit for your organization: Now more than ever, it’s essential to have employees whose values and work style align with how things are done in your company. This will help with company culture and getting things done. Asking the right questions gives you the chance to see if they’ll fit in well with your team.
  An example of “the right questions” could be: “ Can you describe a time when you disagreed with a team’s approach or a company decision. How did you handle it, and what was the outcome?”
• Guessing how they might perform in the future: By learning more about how they have acted in the past and solved problems, you can get a better idea of how they might perform in your company in the future if they were to get the job.
  Here is an example question you could ask: “Tell me about a significant challenge you faced in a previous role. How did you approach problem-solving, and what did you learn from the experience?”
• Making your company look good: When you ask thoughtful and less generic questions, people remember. This shows that your company is professional and respects people’s time by not regurgitating the same questions every other company has asked the candidate.
  And here is your example question: “Beyond the job description, what aspects of this role or our company’s mission resonate with you, and why?”

How to adjust your interview questions to get the most out of them

The Internet has made it increasingly easy for candidates to research and prepare for conventional interview questions, so it’s worth analyzing your repertoire and seeing what changes could be made. There’s no need to rebuild the interview entirely, but consider making some repairs or adding valuable follow-up questions.

Here are some ideas and examples you can use for your interview questions to make sure you get the most out of your interview process. 

Refreshed questions about behaviour

Behavioural questions can be powerful because they usually ask the candidate to describe past situations, showing you how they’ve acted in real-world scenarios. This is a good indicator of their skills and abilities, rather than just hypothetical questions about how they would handle certain situations.

You should avoid using the standard “Tell me about a time you…” because, again, most candidates will have this answer rehearsed already. 

Here are some ideas on how you can go about refreshing your behavioural questions:

• Focus on specific skills: Adjust your questions on behaviour to suit the key skills needed for the job you’re interviewing for. For example, if teamwork is essential, you should be asking about team projects. Likewise, for problem-solving skills, ask questions about creative solutions they have used in the past.
• Use the STAR method: Encourage candidates to answer questions using the STAR method, which stands for situation, task, action, and result. This method of answering will help candidates give a clear and in-depth response, which will give you more valuable information. You can always prompt them if you need to, maybe asking something along the lines of “Can you tell me about the situation, what your specific task was, the actions you took, and what the final result was?” 
• Follow up on your questions: Sometimes you will want to dig deeper and follow up on answers you are given. Some of the follow-up questions you can ask are “What was your thinking behind that decision?”, “What did you learn from that experience?” or “How would you deal with that situation now after having learned from your experience?”.

Adding context to situational questions

Situational questions are when you ask hypothetical solutions to problems to see how a candidate would respond or react to situations. They are a great way to understand a candidate’s problem-solving skills, decision-making abilities, and how they might handle similar situations in the future.

However, simply asking “What would you do if…” could be too open-ended. Instead, try the following to add more context to these questions: 

• Try using real scenarios your organization has experienced: Make the situation specific to something you have already experienced in your business. This will allow you to see how the candidate would deal with a situation compared to how you already handled it.
• Align your questions with company values and culture: Frame your questions to test how someone might act following your company’s core values. For example, if collaboration is important for the role, you could ask, “Imagine two team members in the office have conflicting ideas on how to deliver a project. How would you facilitate a productive discussion and help them agree?”.
• Focus on specific role functions: Ask questions on how they might handle situations that come up in the day-to-day work of your employees already working in a similar role. This gives you a better understanding of how they might handle the day-to-day of the job. 
• Ask them for their reasoning: Asking “what would you do” is great, but asking “why would you do that” is even better. This can give you insight into how they think about situations and allow you to identify candidates who have unique and refreshing perspectives on common issues in your organization.

Understanding their motivation and values

Understanding what the candidate is looking for is also an essential part of the interview. They might be a good fit for your organization, but is your organization a good fit for them? Making sure that their motivations and values align with your organization’s could save you some time and money on further recruitment in the future. 

Asking the generic “Why do you want to work here” is not going to provide you with much valuable information; you will most likely get the cliche responses that focus on salary and job security. Instead, try asking questions that make use of the following ideas:

• Ask questions that get the candidate talking about which of your company values align with theirs.
• Ask them about situations that have conflicted with their values in the past and how they dealt with those situations.
• Talk to them about their career aspirations and long-term goals. Try to link the specific job role they are interviewing for to their career plans. Is it a good match?
• You can also ask questions that get the candidate discussing what motivates them and whether they see those motivators being fulfilled by the role they are interviewing for. Depending on their answer, this would be a good opportunity to ask the “Why.”

Elevate your hiring strategy with thoughtful questions

While the landscape of how people hire new employees will continue to change, one thing remains constant for now, at least: the power of face-to-face interviews. 

Moving away from bland, generic, and predictable interview questions and using more thoughtful and strategic questioning will give you much greater insight into how potential employees would fit into your organization. Who knows, you might even end up saving some time and money on recruiting someone new in six months.

Ready to empower your team with the skills they need to conduct compelling interviews?

Here at Citation Canada, we specialize in HR and HR training courses. We have an extensive range of employee training courses covering a range of job duties, industries, jurisdictions, and key subjects such as WHMIS, Health & Safety, Human Rights, and More!