Author: D’Vaughn Bell / Source: Lifehack
Hiring is one of the biggest concerns of executives to management level positions. As it should be, hiring people to work for your company can be rewarding or risky.
Poor choices in hiring can take a drastic toll on the success of the business. Not to mention that who you hire has a direct reflection on you as a manager.
Whereas great hiring choices can improve the overall cohesiveness of the work environment and boost production.Establishing an excellent recruiting process starts with getting the right talent through the doors. Today, it’s considered more of an art than science, especially for startups and regardless of the company structure or rubrics.
There is added emphasis on the importance of asking the right questions during interviews. You only have a short amount of time with each potential candidate so you need to maximize your time accordingly. Just how do you do that?
10 best interview questions for managers to hire great employees
There are hundreds of interviews questions but few are recommended by a senior leader in their respected fields.
1. What is something about yourself that others might find surprising?
What better way to get the cognitive juices flowing and set the pace for an interview than to allow the interviewee a chance to think outside of the box?
Rather than opening with an unguided interview question or statement such as, “Tell me a little about yourself” you keep the conversation focused and demand sincerity early on. It’s important to ask unique questions to obtain unique answers.
2. Why did you choose this industry and career?
Instead of asking questions that warrant a one or two sentence response such as Why are you here? Why are you interested in our company? Why are you interested in this job? Where exactly do you see yourself in 5 years? And 10 years? What is your dream job?
This question is designed to allow the interviewee to start to open up and express their professional and personal interests and goals.
As a manager, it’s important to learn more about your prospect’s career goals and how the position fits into their plan. You also want to make sure they are sincerely interested in the job and will be motivated to perform if chosen.
At the same time, this question is the bridge to building a more personal relationship with your candidate early into the hiring process. Based on your criteria, do you need to hire someone who is passionate about their career or someone who just showed up to collect a paycheck and benefits?
You can even learn about their 5 and 10 year-plan from this question and see what positions they hope to reach over the coming years.
3. What do you know about our company, what interests you the most and why do you want to work here?
We should believe that with the convenient access to information online today that most candidates would do their homework, but that’s not always the case. Unfortunately, some job applicants may not even know they type of business the company they applied for engages in.
Ask this interview question and you’ll find out quickly who is sincerely interested in working for you — and who isn’t.
Skill is something that can be taught but enthusiasm cannot. When a potential employee is genuinely excited about an opportunity, this usually translates into excellent work and greater longevity with your company.
Ask your interviewee about what initially attracted them to the position? What sparked their attention? What makes them most excited about the prospect of working for your company?
Doing so will not only provide yet another confirmation of their grasp of the duties of the role but also gives you a chance to figure out what aspects of the job description interest them the most.
4. From everything you’ve learned about this role, myself and our company, tell me how you feel you’d make a contribution.
This statement lets you see how much research your potential employee has done before arriving to the interview. While most qualified candidates typically will conduct research on the company and the position prior to the interview, a great candidate will take that extra step to be better prepared.
That same mindset will carry over into their working habits. Would you rather have an over-prepared or under-prepared new hire?
5. What would you have liked to do more of in your last position? What held you back?
A great way for a candidate to express their previous job experience and challenges without asking, “What are some challenges?” You control the direction and can easily bypass any challenges unrelated to the matter.
Were they faced with limited responsibilities, not enough job training, or poor leadership? Asking what held that potential employee back from something they wanted more of out of their last position will offer insight on whether they will feel the same way about their job working for your company in the future.
6. Only choosing one or the other, do you work hard or smart?
Similar but very different from the notorious question asked by Burger King’s 36-year-old CEO Daniel Schwartz.[1]
Questions that aren’t posted on job application websites are more likely to warrant an unrehearsed response. By forcing the candidate to think on the spot and choose whether they want to appear as the right fit for the job is a great way to test their critical thinking and constructive criticism capabilities.
In Schwartz’ mind, there is a right and wrong answer for this question. He simply prefers people who work hard.
A tough labor demanding job may warrant the hard-working response whereas a position that demands more organization, scheduling, and many other tasks may require the smart worker response. A smart worker might be able to handle prolonged periods of stress while someone who works too hard for extensive amounts of time could become overwhelmed and crash.
7. How would you further describe your working style and how you are able to handle tight deadlines?
This builds from the last question, while you don’t want to build a team of…
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