Eight Great Questions That Can Be Used for Any Interview
Typical interview questions produce rehearsed and staid responses from candidates. Recruiters look for candidates who think on their feet. If they want candidates to be able to articulate the reasons they're qualified for the job, recruiters must construct questions that aren't in the Top 100 Interview Questions list on online job forums. Creative, thought-provoking questions make an interview more interesting and often more engaging, which can reveal the candidate you want to hire.
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Communication Skills
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Although all interview questions test a candidate's communication skills, a great question for assessing how well a candidate summarizes her experience and expertise is, "What skills have you acquired from each of your previous jobs?" This question gives the candidate a topic on which she can focus and present her qualifications in a more succinct manner than a recruiter simply asking the candidate to talk about herself.
Leadership Skills
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Asking a candidate, "What would you do if you were assigned to a team project and you have more knowledge of the product you're developing than others on your team?" is an effective way to determine how a candidate would interact with co-workers and assert himself as a leader.
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Business Principles
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Employers want their employees to demonstrate sound business principles and ethics. Therefore, if you ask a candidate, "What would you consider the two most important business ethics of which all employees should be mindful?" you challenge the candidate to explain what she determines is right and wrong when faced with a personal or professional ethical dilemma.
Adaptability
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Organizations change over time. Consequently, recruiters often look for candidates who can easily adapt to changes in organizational structure, processes and and even work settings. An ideal question that sheds light on a candidate's adaptability is, "Give me an example of how you've dealt with technology that's changed the way you complete one of your current or previous job duties."
Job Knowledge
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One of the critical parts of a job interview is knowing how to perform the job duties. Instead of asking candidates if they can do the job, assess whether they stay abreast of changes in their field. "What do you do to improve your functional expertise, and how often?" is a question that targets job-specific knowledge.
Integrity
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Professional characteristics are sometimes more important than a candidate's functional expertise, particularly for an employee who's still in a learning mode. To focus on professional traits that serve employees well throughout their careers, ask questions like, "How essential is personal integrity to your professional success?"
Interpersonal Relationships
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Being in the workforce requires developing interpersonal relationships with people at a number of different levels -- from a mail room clerk to a corporate executive, and from recruiters to customers. "Explain how you modify your behavior or actions, based on a person's rank in the organization," is a question that delves into the candidate's ability to interact with others.
Time Management
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Productivity and performance are critical to an employee's success, but critical also for employers. Choosing the right candidate may depend on questions that require him to elaborate on his preferred work style, such as "How would you organize your day when you have competing priorities and a co-worker you consider incompetent offers to help?"
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