Questions to ask to ensure the quality of the candidate

A recruiter’s arsenal must include a large arsenal of precise questions to help identify the most suitable candidate in the recruitment process. It is certainly not necessary to ask the same questions every time, as not all interviews are the same and the ability to improvise questions will only lead to a better quality of the interview with the candidate. At the same time, recruitment should not become a kind of interrogation of the candidate, so questions can even be woven into the discussions. This makes the interview more natural and the candidate does not feel like a passive participant.

Professional questions

Any candidate who is knowledgeable in his/her field should not get lost in a question, even a very technical one. If a candidate avoids answering technical questions during the recruitment process, or answers them abstractly, then the level of professional knowledge is low. For example, a marketing role might be asked questions about the annual marketing budget, target customer categories, consumer buying habits, digital marketing conversions, etc. Even if the candidate is a top manager, he/she must be able to discuss these topics.

Values issues

Values questions help to clarify the cultural fit of a potential new team member with the company’s existing culture. Questions may relate to motives for changing jobs, attitudes to teamwork, etc. Situational questions are also very suitable for asking values questions. During the interview, it is possible to anticipate certain situations and monitor the candidate’s behaviour during them. This makes it very easy to betray the candidate’s values, as there is no time for experimentation and the candidate simply responds with how he behaves in certain situations.

Motivation questions

Recruitment is often about poaching existing candidates from other jobs, but it is always important to ensure that the motives for the move are valid and clear. If a candidate wants a certain salary, it is possible to ask why he/she wants that particular salary. The candidate’s reasoning says a lot about his or her motivation. It is also possible to ask what strengths and weaknesses he/she identifies in assessing his/her current and proposed position.

Deviation questions

In the recruitment process, it is not always necessary to focus on the role and the direct match. If there is a digression into an area of interest, it is possible to have a discussion on this topic. With the right attention, you can really learn a lot about the candidate’s behaviour, activity, attitude to teamwork, etc. This is a part of the job interview based on indirect questions, but it can be very useful if the recruiter is able to use it properly.

Thus, the recruiter does not necessarily have to have a strict strategy for the interview questions. But he/she must improvise in any case to get things right. This can only be achieved by having a particularly high level of situational, direct and indirect questions. At the same time not forgetting the ability to discuss the candidate’s professional topics. The recruitment process must leave the candidate with the impression of an interesting and informative interview, in which he or she did not feel uncomfortably pressured or judged in a one-sided way. The right questions during the recruitment process must create mutual trust and thus serve an evaluative function.