Questions to Ask the Interviewee

The hiring process has plenty of nuances, but one of the most fundamental ways to access a candidate is through an interview. The questions to ask a potential employee are what a recruiter needs to concentrate on in the preparation stage.

This article covers the best questions to ask someone you are interviewing to know more about their personality, professionalism, and work style. It also focuses on creating a comfortable and collaborative experience for both parties involved.

Job Interview Questions to Ask Candidates About Their Background and Motivation

It is a good idea to start from general topics before heading to technical or position-specific questions. General topics set the flow of the conversation and make candidates more at ease. At the same time, they can reveal a lot about one’s motivation, drivers and work aspirations.

So, what are the important interview questions to ask candidates in this category? Let’s go over the most effective one.

Tell me About Yourself

It might sound like a cliché, but it is among the most popular questions to ask when you’re interviewing someone for a good reason. It is a question a candidate probably expects to hear. They’ve got their prepared answer. It gives them time to present their pitch and what they prioritize in it.

Pay attention to what they start with – their career or personal life. The way a person formulates the answer gives a recruiter plenty of information.

Walk Me Through Your Resume

It is a valid question for interviewees with some gaps in their resumes. It is also suitable for candidates with long resumes and plenty of experience. Sometimes, a person speaking directly about their skills is much more informative than a plain list of facts.

It will also give the recruiter an understanding of what part of the resume the candidate finds the strongest and the weakest based on their response.

What Attracted You to This Position?/Our Company? 

It is one of the essential questions an interviewer should ask. Here, you can gauge the candidate’s enthusiasm about the role and the company and evaluate their level of research and preparation for the interview.

What Do You Like About Our Company? What Are Our Biggest Competitors? 

A recruiter can ask this to learn more about a candidate’s interest in the industry and the particular role. The answer will reveal the candidate’s understanding of the industry, its trends, and its competition.

After covering background and motivation questions to ask when hiring someone, let’s transition to the work style and cultural fit.

Questions to Ask Interviewee for Work Style and Cultural Fit Assessment

Work style and cultural fit are essential in recruiting as they impact the efficiency of the hire. No matter how good or professional someone is, they cannot fit into the existing team smoothly. Someone who isn’t a good addition to the team will probably leave, which means the hiring process from scratch.

Here are some questions to ask someone in an interview to figure out whether they’ll fit the company’s culture.

Do You Prefer to Work Alone or In a Team? 

Depending on the position, recruiters might look for a team player or someone entirely different. Pay attention to what a candidate claims to be and how they illustrate it is important. Do they use examples from previous jobs? Do they answer honestly or as they suppose they must answer?

How Would Your Colleagues Describe You? 

It is another way to address the same part of the interview: What have others said previously about the candidate’s work style? More importantly, what will the candidate choose to reveal in the interview? It shows what they value in their work style and what environment they thrive in.

How Do You Manage Your Workload and Organization? 

It is one of the best questions to ask an interviewee if you need to know more about their daily routine, organisational skills, and prioritization. As an open question, it creates space for potential employees to present their processes and decision-making competencies.

How Do You Handle Feedback/Criticism?

You’ll find this one in every top 5 questions to ask an interviewee because it is a terrific question. It is open-ended, which means a candidate decides what to share. Give them time; do not rush into comments.

Let a potential employee describe their communication style in a possible conflict situation. How a person handles feedback can be critical for a team’s performance.

Top Questions to Ask an Interviewee on Strengths, Weaknesses, and Personal Development

The next logical step is to inquire about one’s strengths and weaknesses, as these also influence a cultural match for a role.

A well-prepared recruiter has several questions prepared on one subject. That way, you can adapt and choose a specific formulation based on previous answers.

Here are some good questions to ask the interviewee:

1. What would you describe as your biggest strengths?
2. What are the weaknesses you want to work on?
3. Are there professional development opportunities in your current job? Were you participating in them?
4. What makes you a unique match for this position?
5. Have you had a skill gap issue before, and how did you address it?

In this part of the conversation, candidates can establish their self-awareness and desire to learn and grow in the industry. The strengths and weaknesses they choose to describe show critical thinking skills and authenticity.

Problem-Solving and Experience Questions to Ask Candidates

In the next stage of the conversation, it is reasonable to move to the narrow competencies. Ask the candidate about particular experiences or complicated cases they’ve managed and how. Here are examples of questions to ask someone you’re interviewing:

• Please tell me about a difficult situation on your job and how to address it;
• Tell me about the project you owned/managed. Describe your process and approach to it. Were there any difficulties on the way?;
• Was there a time when something went wrong at work? What happened, and what did you do?
• Tell me about the process you’ve optimised. Did you introduce an improvement to your current work process?
• How do you handle deadlines? Have you ever missed one? What did you do in that situation?
• Tell me about the time you needed to persuade colleagues on something. How did you approach it?

These questions serve as a smooth transition to the leadership segment of the conversation.

Good Questions to Ask the Interviewee to Learn About Their Leadership and Conflict Resolution Skills

Even if the position you are filling is not directly managerial, knowing about one’s leadership competencies is good. It sheds more light on one’s communication and work style, along with one’s potential for career growth in the future. What questions should an interviewee ask in this regard? Here are some of the top ones:

1. Have you ever had a conflict with a colleague? How did you handle it?
2. What type of people do you have trouble working with?
3. Is it difficult for you to give negative feedback? How would you give it?
4. What would you do if one of the team members did not give their best performance?
5. What is your process for delegating tasks?
6. If a team member constantly disagrees with you, what would you do?

A recruiter can also ask for real-life examples of people managing conflicts inside the team. This segment sets the ground for position-specific or even hypothetical questions.

Role-specific Questions to Ask a Person You Are Interviewing

As the interview progresses, it is time to get into more niche and detail-oriented questions. Here, recruiters assess one’s fit for a particular position in their company.

The strategy hugely depends on the role. In many cases, it is a technical part of the conversation where you might be asking about specific software, hardware, or other equipment. At the same time, it is expected to ask broad hypothetical questions in this part to learn more about one’s personality and aspirations. Here are good interview questions to ask employees before hiring them:

• If you were to become the company’s CEO, what change would you introduce first?
• Imagine a situation where [role-specific scenario]. How would you approach it?
• What would you do if you notice that your higher-up violates the company’s policy?
• If you were a recruiter for this position, what three skills would you look for first in a candidate?

Wrapping Up

When interviewing someone at the end of the talk, some good questions to ask are about their typical day at work, whether they’ve applied for other jobs recently, or if there is something they want to add. Always ask a candidate whether they have any questions for you. It is another way to see their motivation and interest in the position.

To leave things on a good note, thank an interviewee for their time and do not forget to update them on the hiring process.