DISCOVER THE BEST, SECRET INTERVIEWING QUESTIONS TO FIND THE RIGHT CANDIDATE

Last week, we discussed how you have to ingrain branding into your entire hiring process to turn candidates who don't get the job into brand champions and referral sources here, so this week's part of the discussion turned inward. "Ok, let's say we've gotten to the point where our hiring partners are passing us qualified candidates. How do we know that our teams are asking the right questions?" She asked.

"First off," I told her, "just like branding, you have to have an active involvement in shaping the process. How are your interview teams handled today? Are you sitting in with them? Are you having post-mortems once a position is filled and taking candidate feedback into account to make your questions better?"

When it comes to making sure you're asking the *right* interviewing questions, much of that comes to the specific needs of the job and the manager responsible for that position is probably the most intimately familiar with the requirements. It's almost like our conversation on recruiters profiling your jobs - but this time it's the interviewing team understanding the needs of the position.

"And there is one question that I have seen work time and time again and gives you an *incredible* amount of insight into a candidate," I told her. She leaned in, obviously curious. "Are you going to tell me?" she asked.

Of course I am going to tell you what I told her. I'm not a monster!

To be fair, it's more than one question; it's a rapid fire exercise, and you'll want to move through them quickly. The main thing is to keep them on target, don't let them wander or ramble from the answers to your three part question.

Let's talk about when you got out of college - your first job after graduating:

How did you hear about it?

What did you like about that job before you started?

Why did you leave?

And where did you go after that?

(repeat 3 part question until current)

This seems like really straightforward information. Asking it does several things:

1. It lets you hear patterns. Did they always quit their jobs? That leads to follow up discussion/questions of whether they weren't being challenged or if it was an Emotional Quotient (EQ) issue. Were they brought into multiple positions by people that knew them? That means they have good people skills and can probably work within a team well. Understanding what they liked about the job before they actually started it allows you to understand how they process information like expectation versus reality. But the main reason to do this is that quite honestly, people are so thrown off kilter by this type of questioning, that you get more honest feedback than you'd ever expect. It gives a major glimpse into the person's personality and potential culture fit. If they leave any position out that was actually on their resume, I'll walk them back through the questions for that and ask why they didn't cover it in the first place. Odds are it wasn't a good job, or something they necessarily wanted to discuss.

Bonus points if you are walking with the candidate while doing it.

While this seems like a small and innocuous line of questioning, I guarantee it will transform your interviewing; it's something we not only use in our own office, but also something we promote to our partners and clients.

Who are we? HireMojo with RecruiterShare is a diverse team of individuals with over 65 years of combined hiring experience. We use our knowledge and know-how to help companies hire faster, easier and less expensively, while utilizing AI and software learning to reduce the amount of time it takes on all sides of the hiring equation. We design tools to help allow you to concentrate on the human parts of hiring – interviewing, negotiating and making the hire. Learn more about HireMojo here. We also design tools to help you expand your team by matching you with recruiters willing to administrate your entire hiring process at a fraction of traditional agencies. Learn more about RecruiterShare here.

Brian Vogel of sensibleHR says:
Like its parent HireMojo, RecruiterShare, is changing the landscape of recruiting. I have referred their services repeatedly to sensibleHR's clients and the level of high-touch service along with the speedy delivery of a premier candidate pool has been nothing short of jaw-dropping. Sure the initial mind-boggling low cost may be the initial hook, but it is the service from the stable of recruiters and quality candidates that drive the loyalty and high satisfaction.

DISCOVER THE BEST, SECRET INTERVIEWING QUESTIONS TO FIND THE RIGHT CANDIDATE

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