If You Could Write Your Own Job Description What Would It Say
After six years of recruiting, Ive realized that the best interview questions are not the initial question posed but the follow-up questions after you receive an initial response from the interviewee. Why, you may ask? The follow-up questions allow me to peel the layers back and see the persons true colors. This is where youre able to genuinely identify the interviewees skill alignment and culture alignment.
One of my favorite questions is, If you could write your own job description, what would itsay?
As the interviewee responds, I make sure to follow up and ask:
- Why does that matter to you?
- Tell me more about your interest in contributing to those functions?
- What makes you feel confident that you would be an asset in the way you just outlined your ideal job?
I have found that these questions get the interviewee out of interview mode and lend them to honestly reflect on their skills and desires. It is important to consider what their responses mean about them as an individual: work ethic, core motivating factors, where they get their satisfaction, natural leadership tendencies, and many more hard skills and soft skills.
Ashley Irvin is the Growth Talent Manager of Remedy Review
Career Goal Questions To Ask Job Candidates:
- Why do you want this job?
- Where would you like to be in your career five years from now?
- Why should we hire you?
- Why are you leaving your present job?
- What salary are you seeking?
- Whats your salary history?
- If I were to give you the salary you requested, but let you write your job description for the next year, what would it say?
- What are you looking for in terms of career development?
- How do you want to improve yourself in the next year?
- What kind of goals would you have in mind if you got this job?
Which questions do you think are most helpful when it comes to hiring new employees? Have you had better luck focusing on personality or work experience? Id love to hear your thoughts in the comments, or on Twitter @Bplans!
Build Off Of Your Conversation
You also want to pick up on whats happened in the interview so far. Ask questions that build off of what you and the interviewer have discussed. You might want to follow up on a project they mentioned youd be working on, or a responsibility that you didnt see in the job description. The key is to make this portion of the interview feel like a continuation of the conversation.
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Alternatives To Classic Interview Questions
What are your weaknesses?, What motivates you to succeed?, Where do you see yourself in five years time? are the standard tried-and-tested questions that crop up in nearly every job interview.
The problem with these questions is that your candidates will have likely heard them a hundred times.
Resulting in the same tired answers that have either been rehearsed meticulously or copied from the internet.
The catch 22 is that these questions are classics for good reason.
As an employer, you need to know the info that these questions should illicit e.g. where your potential employee sees themselves in five years, and whether their weaknesses are likely to affect their performance in your job etc.
We have some examples of good job interview questions to ask candidates below.
How Would Your Past Coworkers Describe Your Interactions With Them Why Would They Describe Them This Way
Understanding a candidates personality and work style is important to how well theyll do in the role theyre applying for, as well as how theyll fit into their team and into company culture. Its easier to hire a good fit than it is to adjust someones general disposition.
While its obvious that a candidate is unlikely to reveal negative traits, what they choose to highlight can be a good indicator of their self-awareness and if theyd be a team player or not.
Answer example:
The coworkers at my current company would describe my interactions with them as helpful and friendly. Im a problem-solver by nature I really enjoy the challenge of identifying an issue and brainstorming a solution. So, if someone was working on a project or had a difficult client, theyd often come to me for advice and I was always happy to throw out some ideas or ask questions that would help them land on a solution.
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What Do The Most Successful New Hires Do In Their First Month Here
This question shows that you’re the type of person who likes to hit the ground running.
It also shows that you recognize patterns of success and want to replicate only the most effective performers.
How It Helps You
Every company has its weird nuances, its own environment, and its own unspoken expectations. This helps you start with a little bit of the insider info so you don’t suffer a case of “if I knew then what I knew now” in six months.
Prepare Your Interview Questions
We cant talk about how to conduct an interview or interview questions if we dont know the specific skills we want to assess.
Interview questions will determine whether youll get enough useful insight to judge candidates suitability for the job. This means that your questions must be directly related to the job requirements. Otherwise, it will be challenging to compare one candidate to another on the criteria that really matter.
To do this, first determine what qualities you want to see in your new hire. Start with the job description . Ask yourself:
- Which requirements do I want to assess during the interview? Make a comprehensive list and select those qualities you can assess through interview questions. Some of your requirements can be evaluated more effectively at previous stages .
- What requirements carry the most weight? For example, you definitely want your salespeople to have great communication skills, but they might not need to have extroverted personalities. So, your interview questions should focus on communication skills, instead of extroversion.
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Questions To Ask Hr During Interview
Before you meet the person you’d be working for, you’ll likely meet a member of HR via a phone screening.
Although this initial phone call is a standard first step for most organizations today, it’s also an opportunity for HR to take notes on you as a candidate and relay those notes to the hiring manager.
Make a good impression on HR it matters more than you think.
Here are some appropriate questions to ask at this initial stage of the recruitment process so you can put your best foot forward.
How Will You Measure The Success Of The Person In This Role
Knowing what success looks like in the role youre applying for will help you understand an employers expectations. For example, ask about past project timelines or the key performance indicators . You may also want to ask how often youll get performance reviews to ensure the company doesnt let good work go unnoticedand unrewarded.
Company A may have different metrics than Company B, Amanda Royle, co-founder and personnel supervisor at Imgkits Studio, says. Knowing which kind of metrics your future company is using will help you plan your strategy well As they say, before entering the battlefield, know your game plan.
Additionally, this question can help you gauge whether the role expectations are reasonable and leave room for a good work-life balance. Even the most exciting opportunity can take a toll on your well-being if you often have to work overtime.
The interviewer, in turn, may see this question as a signal that youre determined and ambitious. Your potential employer wants a candidate who strives for success.
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Company Questions To Ask In An Interview
The company being a good fit is just as important as liking the daily responsibilities of your job. Will you feel supported? Do your values align? Do you agree with their policies and treatment of employees? These are all important things to discover when you are thinking through questions to ask in an interview.
7. Describe the culture of the company.
Are you a good fit for this particular organization? Make sure you are comfortable with the culture and the dynamic of the company.
8. Where do you think the company is headed in the next 5 years?
If you plan to be in this role for several years, make sure the company is growing so you can grow with the company.
9. Who do you consider your top competitor, and why?
You should already have an idea of the companys major competitors, but it can be useful to ask your interviewer for their thoughts. Naturally, they will be able to give you the insight you cant find anywhere else.
10. What are the biggest opportunities facing the company/department right now?
This question shows your drive to seize the opportunity and may help you learn more about where the company will be focusing over the next several months.
11. What are the biggest challenges facing the company/department right now?
On the flip side, you may want to ask about challenges. This question can help you uncover trends and issues in the industry and perhaps identify areas where your skills could save the day.
12. What do you like best about working for this company?
Best Questions For Employers To Ask Candidates In Second Round Interviews
1. Tell me about your greatest achievement.People with a track record of strong achievement are more likely to continue to be strong achievers.
2. What is your biggest weakness?As a prospective employer, it is valuable to assess if a candidate is self-aware, honest, and has a plan to improve their shortcomings.
3. Describe a time when you failed.This is a great question for a second interview for two reasons. It assesses honesty and willingness to admit to failure. It also shows how they respond to failure itself, which says a lot about their personality.
4. How do you respond to criticism?One of the most important things for long-term success in a new company is the ability to accept correction and make changes.
5. Tell me about yourself.This is one of the most common questions asked. A good candidate should provide an answer that states their skills and knowledge, shows their expertise in this type of role, and explains their values as a person.
6. What are your hobbies and interests outside of work?As a potential employer, finding job candidates that make good use of their personal time is a strong indicator that they will also make effective use of their professional time.
7. How would you describe yourself in 3 words?Candidates with good answers to this question are more likely to know themselves, and they will be able to explain how they will contribute to the team and company.
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Questions To Ask The Interviewer About Employee Training And Professional Development
You can ask the following questions about professional development opportunities the employer provides:
How Often Do You Promote People Internally
The first recruiting agency I joined ONLY promoted from within the company. That meant that if you wanted to be a Manager, you HAD to start as an entry-level Recruiter. Everyone began this way.
This gave me fantastic opportunities as an entry-level job seeker myself .
So this is something I like to see in an organization and something you should ask questions to find out about.
Most companies wont only promote from within, but you should look for some balance at least.
You can also follow this up by asking the interviewer, How would you describe the companys internal promotion process? What does an employee do if theyd like to apply for a higher role in the company, and how are employees able to hear about these internal opportunities?
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Could You Tell Me About A Time When A Co
Its unlikely that anyone on your interview panel will come out and state frankly that the team culture could use some work. This question, from Kevin Deggelman, Senior Software Engineer for the San Francisco Giants and former head of product and engineering here at First Round, gets to the heart of what makes teamwork shine its not necessarily planning fun offsite events or eating lunch together everyday, its being kind to one another. This is a great question to assess the culture of the prospective team. During the interview process the company is trying to figure out what kind of teammate you’ll be, but it’s often hard for yourself as the candidate to assess what kind of team youll be joining, he says.
Lindsey O’Niell, Director of Product of Crossbeam, still remembers when she found herself on the receiving end of this question in a hiring process. I had a candidate ask me what the last nice or helpful thing I did for a coworker was. It completely took me by surprise and I thought it was a unique way to get a sense of the culture at a company and showed how thoughtful the candidate was about being a supportive teammate.
What Opportunities Will I Have To Learn And Grow
Does the company offer formal or informal mentoring and coaching to boost your career potential? Does it invest in continued education or professional training to advance your career? Great companies want to hire people who are dedicated to personal and professional growth. Show your hiring manager that continued development is essential in the job market and is important to you.
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Interview Questions For It And Tech
Hiring for IT and tech roles is unique because the roles are so reliant on hard skills and experience. Being proficient is often critical to the functionality of the businessits rarely a role where you can successfully fake it til you make it.
Although a formal education is valuable, hands-on experience and a genuine interest in the field is often even more important since technology changes so rapidly. Strong candidates should have a desire to learn and an interest in acquiring new knowledge.
Top 3 IT and Tech interview questions
Here are the most common interview questions for IT and tech positions:
- How would you spend your first week on the job?
- You have an idea you want to try out quickly enough. What tools would you use to prototype it?
- Describe a commercially successful product that you like. What makes it so successful?
Other interview questions for IT and Tech positions
Can You Share The Details Of The Companys Stock Offerings For Employees
Were folding together a cluster of questions from both Sean Byrnes of Outlier and Dan Pupius of Range that dive into the financial details you need to know before signing on with an early-stage company:
What is the last 409a valuation?
How often do you do re-evaluations?
Do you think there will be a secondary market for early liquidity? Who will have access to it?
What was the last preferred price?
What is the total number of stock options issued and what are the outstanding shares?
How much of the company do investors own?
Its important to ask details about the company that they should be willing to disclose to help you make a decision about whether or not to join, says Byrnes. Failure to share these things is a warning sign.
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How Would Your Colleagues Describe You
Asking this will give you a better idea of how they view themselves in the eyes of others and should reveal clues on their ability to work within a team environment.
Are they known as the quiet one, the goofball, the communicator, the workaholic, or something else?
Make sure to develop and refer to your ideal candidate personas to see if the answer aligns with the favorable personality traits you are looking for.
Do You Have Any Questions Or Concerns About My Qualifications
This question shows that you’re not afraid of critical feedback in fact, you welcome it.
Interviewers tend to make note of red flags to discuss with a colleague following the interview, whether it be something on your resume or something you said
. This question gives them the green light to ask about any of the things that are holding them back from being 100% on board with hiring you.
How It Helps You
You get a chance to address concerns face-to-face without being too confrontational. This could be the difference between an offer and a rejection – or maybe even a higher opening offer.
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