6 Questions to Ask Your Candidate

It’s important for recruiters to holistically evaluate prospective job candidates. They need to discern personality, experience, and skills to ensure that an individual is the best fit for a role. Recruiters need to come prepared for interviews so that they can properly and fairly make judgments. This begins with the right set of questions to ask your candidate. 

Below, we outline six excellent questions to ask your job candidates during the interview process. 

Tell me about yourself. 

This question is a great starter for any interview. By being open-ended, it allows candidates to take any direction they want and tailor their response to the role. For example, a position in healthcare may lead individuals to speak about their desire to help others while a role in accounting instigates a response about technical knowledge and certifications. 

Regardless of the direction taken, recruiters can expect this question to get the interview rolling. It should provide an overview of a candidate’s work experience, competencies, and what is important to them. 

What is your biggest accomplishment? 

Asking a candidate about their biggest accomplishment allows them to provide details beyond what is on their resume. Their answer will reflect what they value most and may not even be their best achievement on paper. For example, a candidate may have brokered a million-dollar deal, but instead chooses to speak about saving their local forest. Recruiters can thus discern more about an individual’s personality and potential fit for a role. 

Whatever their response may be, recruiters will be able to understand the broader picture of a significant achievement. A resume may be limited to one or two lines, but a candidate can talk about the larger lessons learned from the event. 

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 

This question serves to evaluate a candidate’s goals and long-term ambitions. By understanding where they hope to be, a recruiter can determine whether the candidate will be successful in the position for which they are applying. For example, if a candidate views themselves as working in a different industry, they may not be the best fit because they expect their tenure to be short. Conversely, an individual that views themselves working up to leadership roles within the same company demonstrates longevity and a desire to grow. 

Significantly, recruiters can also use the question to discern a candidate’s motivations. This is important in understanding how the individual may perform in the role. 

Tell me about a problem you’ve encountered at work and how you solved it. 

Allowing candidates to talk about failure or conflict in the workplace is an excellent gateway question. Recruiters can discern how a person handles difficulty and whether they use the situation to grow.  The best responses involve an explanation detailing how they addressed and overcame the issue. Subsequently, recruiters can understand whether the candidate would appropriately respond to a problem if given the job. 

The open-ended nature of this question also allows candidates to choose any direction that they want. They may highlight difficulties with deadlines, coworkers, or skill deficiencies. The importance of their answer is subjective to the role. For example, a job that requires teamwork may not be the best fit for a candidate who details trouble working with colleagues.  

What type of projects do you enjoy working on? 

This question allows recruiters to understand factors that are important to the candidate. Based on a response, a recruiter may be able to discern whether a person prefers work that is individual or team-based, creative or straightforward, autonomous or supervised, and a host of others. This is important for roles that may require certain preferences or skill sets.  

How would your friends describe you? 

This question is a broad and subjective gateway to understanding the candidate’s personality and character. Their response can indicate both how they view themselves and how they aspire to be. This is important for discerning company and cultural fit.  

While most people wouldn’t give an answer that portrays them negatively, the traits that they provide may not be best for the role in question. For example, someone who describes themselves as careful and meticulous may not be well-served in a high pace position. 

Wrapping Up 

Ultimately, the type of questions that a recruiter asks are subjective to the role. They allow the best candidates to be chosen for a role’s culture, necessary technical and soft skills, and problem-solving expertise. These six questions are simply guidelines to help get an advantage on filling an open position with the perfect candidate.