It’s not just job seekers who have to prepare their answers for interview questions, employers need to ensure they are asking the right questions to get the most out of the interview. The importance and attention given to the interview questions is one of the biggest influences on your organisation’s ability to find great talent and successful prospect employees.

Interview questions can be phrased and positioned in many ways, some can come across a bit bizarre and others can be of direct relevance to the recruiters needs. No matter what questions are asked and arise during the interview process, their purpose should be to let the recruiting staff find out more.

Know the CV

When compiling your interview questions in advance, there will be some standard questions applicable to all candidates. However, it’s important to know each CV well so that you can add in specific questions according to the candidate.

Plan ahead and have these individual questions ready to ask. You should think about what exactly it is you would like to know about the candidate – perhaps it’s a previous job you would like to know about or concerns about how many times the interviewee has changed companies.

Ask open questions

Open-ended questions are a fantastic way to introduce some critical thinking and in turn, insightful answers. They give your candidates more freedom and space to answer in as much detail as they would like, which may lead you to learn something about them that you didn’t expect. Alongside this, open-ended questions reveal respondents logic, thinking process and frame of reference.

Although closed questions with a simple “yes” or “no” answer give you facts and the interviewer has control, they essentially offer very little information which can frustrate the candidates who are trying to sell themselves.

Personality fit

When you’re hiring someone, look for the right attitudes and behaviours that support your company culture, rather than necessarily the right skills.

Why? Well, your new hire will already fit in much better with your company and team if they have the right personal beliefs, and you can always teach them any skills that they are short of. It is much harder to recruit an appropriately-skilled person and make them fit in with your company if they simply do not share your culture’s values.