Interviews have long been one of the most important parts of the hiring process for businesses. This meeting enables companies to establish whether or not each of the candidates they have would be suitable for the job and a good fit for the company, and this sort of method has shown a lot of success over the years. Of course, though, this sort of method will only be effective if you’re asking the right questions and looking for good answers, but this can be harder than you might expect.

To help out with this, this post will be exploring some of the most crucial questions to ask your interviewees when you meet them for the first time.

Hypotheticals

Hypotheticals are scenarios and events that your employees may encounter during their time working with you.

Asking an interviewee how they would act to a given situation can be a great way to see how they will perform under pressure, while also ensuring that they won’t take action that goes against the rules they have to work to.

Some interviewers will take this more seriously than others, with examples like a case interview pushing applicants to think on their feet and provide solutions to problems that have been very difficult to solve in the past. 

Creative Problem Identification

Figuring out whether or not someone has what it takes to achieve the right results in the role you have on offer can be a big challenge. As a big part of this, it always makes sense to focus on the potential issues that could occur in their work, using past examples as a way to drive your interview questions.

For example, if you’ve had graphic designers in the past, but have struggled to get them to work to your house style, you could ask your current interviewee about their experience working with other people’s designs. The way that they react to questions like this can be just as important as the answers they give you.

Offer The Chance To Ask Questions

When taking an interview, interviewees should always have some questions of their own to ask the people assessing them. While this isn’t essential, offering the chance for them to ask their own questions can be a great way to figure out what is important to them.

For example, a candidate that only asks about how much time off they can have is likely to be less serious than someone who asks about progression and future opportunities within your business. This option isn’t foolproof, but it can serve to give you a good idea of where their interests and priorities lie.

With all of this in mind, you should be feeling ready to take on the challenge of asking the right questions during your next interview. It can be hard to choose the right candidate to work for you after a single meeting, and this always makes it worth having an extra interview if you’re unsure about a person before you choose to hire them.