Interview Questions to Ask
It refers to a list of questions that a job candidate can prepare to ask during a job interview.
Whether it be to fill a vacant spot or search for new talent, the pressure to find a suitable candidate is on. The task of combing through hundreds of applicants is no easy task, so how do you differentiate the best applicants from the average?
The answer is the interview. It is your window of opportunity to ask meaningful and insightful questions. A good question will enable you to explore their personality, background, and skills. A great one will showcase a candidate's thought process and hidden weaknesses/strengths.
Regardless of whether the meeting is in person or over a phone/video call, you must prepare a set of questions. So, if you’re a recruiter looking for common interview topics, Keep reading to discover the best topics for interview questions.
Interview Tips
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Research is Key: Prepare by researching the company and the role beforehand to ask insightful questions that demonstrate your genuine interest.
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Clarify Expectations: Ask questions about the job's responsibilities, goals, and expectations to ensure alignment with your career objectives.
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Company Culture Matters: Inquire about the company's culture and values to assess if it's a good fit for you both professionally and personally.
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Show Your Enthusiasm: Ask questions that show your enthusiasm for the role and the company, such as inquiring about growth opportunities or recent company achievements.
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Ask for Feedback: Request feedback on your interview performance or the interview process itself to demonstrate your commitment to self-improvement and continuous learning.
Basic Guidelines
Before we delve into specific examples, the type of questions asked should also be considered.
1. The Power of Open-Ended Questions
This is one of the fundamentals of effective interviewing. They encourage detailed responses instead of the usual yes/no answers. It creates an environment where a personalized answer can be extracted. This showcases a person's thought process and personality.
For example, avoid asking:
"Do you have any experience working on this type of project." Instead, ask a more effective open-ended question. Such as "Can you describe a type of project related to this field/job."
You can also include follow-up questions on how they approached it and its outcome. This kind of question provides a detailed account of their experiences as well as a complete understanding of their capabilities.
2. Aim To Unlock Past Behaviors
Behavioral questions assess how candidates have responded to certain situations in the past. The underlying assumption is that past behaviors can show future ones. This knowledge is used to judge whether a person would be the right fit for a position based on personality or job performance.
For instance, you might inquire of a candidate:
"Tell me about a moment when you had to manage a challenging team member or coworker. What happened as a result of how you handled the situation?”
These types of questions offer a window into the candidate's abilities. It highlights their capacity for collaboration, communication, and critical thinking. By analyzing their response, interviewers can gauge their ability to handle situations.
3. Use Hypothetical Scenarios
Situational questions present hypothetical scenarios that candidates might encounter on the job. These questions assess a candidate's ability to analyze situations and think on their feet.
For example:
"Imagine you have an important deadline but realize that you need more time. How would you handle this situation?"
This tests their problem-solving skills, resourcefulness, and ability to work under pressure. All these are important in the workplace.
4. Probing Technical Competence
Skills and competency-based questions are relevant for positions that need specific technical expertise. These questions directly address the candidate's proficiency in the required skill set.
For instance, inquiring about their experience with data analysis tools such as Python, how they have utilized these tools in previous roles, and so on. This provides insight into their technical abilities. These questions enable interviewers to assess the candidate's suitability for the role.
5. Evaluating Cultural Fit
Assessing cultural fit is essential to building a cohesive and harmonious work environment. These questions determine whether a candidate's work style and personality are enough.
Indicators such as candidates' preferences, motivations, etc, are used. They can assess how well they would integrate into the existing team. And contribute to the organization's dynamics.
For example, asking a candidate to describe their preferred work environment. Or the type of organizational culture where they thrive. This offers the most insights into their work style, values, and interpersonal dynamics.
Now that we have this set, let us delve into some great example questions.
Interview Questions To Ask
Below are some examples of questions that you can ask. Make sure you tailor them to the job and applicant you are interviewing!
The idea behind this question is to highlight a candidate's interest. With easy access to online information, you'd expect most of them to do their homework.
Quite surprisingly, many don't. This laxness highlights a lack of genuine interest in the company. It also reveals their inherent complacency. Ask this interview question, and you’ll discover who is interested — and who isn’t.
Companies consider ambitious and hardworking employees to be invaluable to the company. Especially if their aims are parallel with the company's, it allows both the applicant and the company to grow in the future. This interdependent relationship between the company and the employee is key.
This is an example of a situational question. In many cases, management is unavailable to provide the required resources.
Therefore, employees must be competent in using what they have available. This question will separate the outstanding employees from the average ones. It also puts their adeptness at problem-solving on full display.
A question such as this leans more on the problem-solving side. The aim is for the candidate to give you an estimate and guide you through how they got there.
Throughout this process, you can highlight where they shined and where they fell short. The point of the question isn't the answer but how they reached it. The kind of thought process done will indicate how they will approach other issues at work.
This sort of question aims to answer the cultural aspect of the workplace. It helps the interviewers judge whether the candidate would fit in easily at the workplace.
With the ever-changing nature of modern work environments, this question is a great way to understand your interviewee better. Some people prefer to work in open space environments, team-based or even alone.
These traits can either aid or hinder a project. It also helps the company adjust the setting for the applicant if they get the job to help them best complete their tasks.
Posing this question will allow the more passionate and attentive interviewees to engage. These questions will usually be about the role they are applying for or the company. They could also be about your role in the company and anything related.
This will enrich the interview process as it allows a more two-way field of communication. Their level of engagement in this part of the interview could also show their willingness in the role.
Things to Avoid: Common Don'ts
Now that you have an idea of some unique questions to ask, what about some questions to avoid? In general, questions are more personal. These questions tend to relate to their personal past, disabilities, sexual orientation, etc.
Questions such as:
- “What sexual orientation do you identify as?”
- “Any specific religious beliefs you adhere to?”
- “Do you have any current smoking or drinking habits?”
Are to be avoided, and some can teeter on the edge of illegality. Such questions should only be asked on the rare occasion that they may affect the job directly.
The strict forbiddance of such questions is due to laws such as Article VII of the Civil Rights Act. These laws aim to mitigate discrimination based on gender, race, religion, etc. Things that do not pertain to professional qualifications.
Questions about salary history are also a no-no. Although a form of a gray area, it could pertain to financial discrimination and is irrelevant to the current job application.
A more suitable question could be:
“What are your salary expectations for this job?”
A question like this gives you an idea of what the interviewee aims for without delving into their financial past.
A common method taken by interviewers is to ask some questions surrounding hobbies/ interests. The idea behind this is to simply set a friendly atmosphere and create rapport with the applicant. Interviews can be nerve-wracking for both the interviewer and the interviewee.
Therefore, finding some common ground in the form of shared interest, dislike, or hobby is a great way of easing them into the more professional questions.
It can also give you some insights into their personality and general stature when meeting people, especially if the job entails that. These questions ought to be limited and shouldn't be asked more than once or twice.
Spending too much time on them could risk the interview becoming too informal and reduce the amount of time available for the more relevant questions. After all, interviews are done within a fixed time slot, and each second will be used!
General Tips for interview questions to ask
Other than the specific questions to be asked, some useful general tips can be followed to ensure a memorable interview for you and the candidate.
1. Follow the 80-20 rule
The 80%-20% rule of interviewing states that 80% of the time should be given to the candidate to speak. While the 20% should be used by you, usually for answering any questions or asking them yourself.
This will allow more freedom for the applicant to answer without any hassle or time restrictions while allowing you to judge effectively.
Try not to speak over them or interrupt them unless required, i.e., speaking on a question for far too long or diverging from the question at hand.
2. Keep it a conversation
As mentioned before, interviews are extremely unnerving, and that can affect the experience for both parties involved. Keeping a friendly and tense-free interview is recommended to avoid this and ensure a smooth experience. Avoid sounding like an interrogator but more like an equal opposite in a conversation.
Questions such as “What are your favorite hobbies” or “I” are a great way to break the ice. They encourage the building of rapport between each of you. However, remember that these questions are auxiliary to the main interview and shouldn't play a large role.
3. Try not to judge until after the interview
It is simply human nature to immediately judge someone based on their looks, voice, or answers. This nature should be swept aside for the time being, however. It could lead to a bias that may form in your head, which can unknowingly derail the interview.
Interviews are only a brief look into what someone is like and don’t allow a full review. Therefore, it is best to keep your reservations until after the interview; all questions have been answered.
4. Don't make promises
Making promises, such as any benefits to the job or anything relating to the applicant's position in the company, is avoided. Especially if these promises can't be kept.
They may seem enticing, especially if you are interested in gaining recruits, but it is best to avoid them if they are untrue or unsure, as they could be interpreted as lies and are highly illegal. However, if there is an assured promise that relates to their position, then it can be asked, but better safe than sorry.
5. End the interview on a good note
Regardless of how the interview went, it is ideal to end it on a positive note. Thanking an applicant for their time or giving any professional compliments is recommended. Ensure also to inform them how the interview results will be conveyed.
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