What To Ask When Interviewing Prospective Employees?

Are you looking for the perfect candidate for your company?

Sourcing high-quality candidates that fit with your company culture and get the job done is key to your success.

As much as managing your cash flow efficiently, providing outstanding products or services and promoting them in an impactful way is essential to the success of your company, so is recruiting high-performing employees.

Yet, finding great employees is not always easy, especially if you are not used to hiring people.

So, to help you find the right fit for the position, here are the top 5 interview questions to ask candidates during an interview.

Questions To Ask Prospective Employees

1. Tell Me About Yourself

Now, this is a classic but there’s a reason for that. Asking a broad question from the beginning and letting the candidate elaborate on what they believe you should know about them is the best way to get to know them. Besides, because it’s a broad question, they’ll have to organise their ideas and present them in a concise and structured, yet impactful way. And this will help you assess their ability to structure ideas and communicate them to others effectively.

2. Why Did You Apply For This Position?

This question aims at uncovering the core motivation of the candidate. You want to know what caught their attention about this position and drove them to apply. This is important because it will quickly allow you to assess their understanding of the role and whether or not they’ve grasped the responsibilities that come with it. You can also follow up and ask why they chose to apply to your company in particular. This will show if they did their research properly and whether they’re really motivated to work for you.

3. If I Called Your Boss Right Now, What Would They Say About You?

The idea behind this question is to catch your candidate off-guard and assess their reaction. This question will likely get their blood pumping allowing you to evaluate the way they respond to stressful situations. It will also enable you to understand their strengths and weaknesses and their relationship with their boss. This answer is crucial because it will help you spot any red flags.

Now, you might wonder if candidates are genuine when they answer. Well, the great thing about this question is that candidates tend to be honest in their answer because they know you could potentially call their boss!

4. What Do You Like To Do Outside Of Work?

While your candidate’s personal life might not be relevant to the position, it’s still important for you as their future employer to get a sense of what they like to do in their free time. That’s because it allows you to assess whether they’d be a good cultural fit for your company. Asking them about their hobbies and things they’re passionate about in life is an excellent way to get to know them better and see whether they would get on with the rest of your team.

5. Do You Have Any Questions For Me?

At the end of the interview, it’s also a good idea to give them a few minutes to ask any questions they might have about you, the team, the role, or the company that haven’t been tackled during the interview. Not only is it a good way for them to see whether they are the right fit, but it allows you to evaluate how motivated and invested in the process they are.

If they don’t have any questions for you, it might show a lack of interest in the role or show that they aren’t knowledge seekers or avid learners which might be an issue depending on the role.

Protect Your Business and Your Employees

Even if you hire the best person for the role, they could still make mistakes on the job and accidents do happen. After all, they’re only human. For instance, if you run a physiotherapist practice, your new employee could leave equipment on the floor leading to one of your customers injuring themselves. 

So, to avoid costly claims and legal action, make sure to check our free instant quote generator, where you can get an estimate on market-leading insurance in seconds. 

Simply enter your occupation and expected revenue to get started.