If you’ve ever sat in the hiring manager chair, you know that hiring the right candidate for a position requires far more insight than a paper resume can provide. In fact, to find the right fit, you may go through several rounds of interviews with candidates to get a feel for skill set and personality.
We’ve rounded up our team’s go-to interview questions to help you think outside the interview questions box of “tell me your strengths and weaknesses.”
“Tell me about a time when you had to resolve a conflict with your supervisor or someone more senior than you?”
There’s conflict in any workplace, so having a sense of the skills and strategies the candidate uses to resolve differences of opinion is critical. But we all have to “manage up” once in a while. A glimpse at how the candidate navigates that sticky situation can be invaluable, shedding light on their relationship building expertise, confidence level, and ability to add value to the company and its leadership. – Betsy Wallace
“What attracted you to this particular opportunity?”
My favorite questions are classic openers that have helpful spin-offs and follow-up questions like, “What prompted you to apply?” Their answers let me know how carefully they read the posting, how much research has already gone into the organization, how well the candidate can articulate how their skills match to the ones we desire. Lukewarm, brief answers to these questions take our conversation in another [briefer] way. Targeted, intriguing answers give us an opportunity to probe and dig deeper. – Catherine Fuss
“Tell me about a time you messed up on something at work and got called out on it.”
I like to ask about a time that someone made a mistake and that mistake was recognized. I want to know if they can own mistakes, take feedback, and learn from them. If they say they’ve never made a mistake, I don’t need to ask anything else! – María Muñoz
“How many gas stations are there in the state of Georgia?”
I like to ask a logic-based question to gauge problem solving skills. Anyone that answers “I don’t know” or “I’d have to Google it” get a thumbs down from me. A candidate that can think out loud, talk it out, and use assumptions to solve the problem, get a thumbs up. – Emily Housley
Looking for more interview questions? Check out this source for more out-of-the box questions to ask candidates.
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