The Best 299 Interview Questions for Top Recruiters: Right Questions •Right Interpretations •Right Matching •Right Employees

Preview of Questions

If you compare your skills with our job requirements – where do you see the most relevant match?

This question is challenging and can only be answered if the candidate knows his skills and your requirements and can put these into perspective. The answer gives you important clues and enables a better assessment. You can also consider asking further questions such as: "In your work certificates there are several references to your expertise in ; this interests me, could you tell me how you acquired, fine-tuned and applied it so well in previous jobs? The positive way of expressing this question, besides showing respect – makes the applicant feel self-confident and reveals how he evaluates his core-competences.

I’d be interested to know how you prepared yourself for this interview?

Good preparation indicates interest, thoroughness, and a systematic approach. Whoever looks at you with surprise and doesn’t quite know what to say reveals a serious professional weakness. Candidates that say they looked at your website, researched your company on the internet and even have a list of questions with them, show characteristics that are important at work: conscientious preparation, a systematic way of working and a structured approach to tasks and goals.

Describe a conflict situation in which your work or your ideas were heavily criticized. What did you learn from this?

A tricky question that leads to revealing answers. This is about the ability to take criticism and learn from it. A candidate that describes a situation (in the best case, one that fits the jobrequirements) and answers quickly, spontaneously and then convincingly summarizes what he learnt from this, scores points and wins credibility.

What do you think enables exceptionally good performance?

Although not evident at first, this is an indirect and very subtle question about motivation. The reasons the candidate gives may be any of the following: expertise, continuous corporate training, a work environment in which one can put skills to use, good team colleagues, a great boss, a convincing product, and a salary commensurate to performance, bonuses and benefits etc. Whatever the answer is, it provides information about beliefs, work ethic, and motivation. Because a good answer requires the ability to think in abstract terms, this question should be asked primarily to team-leaders, line-managers or executives. You can also rephrase the question as follows: What do you think the requirements are for an above average performance?

Imagine you see a co-worker repeatedly being bullied and mobbed, what would you do?

This is a challenging question. After all who would like to admit that he would simply stand by, watch and do nothing? The answer reveals a lot about interpersonal skills, civil courage and emotional intelligence. Any of the following actions and steps the candidate mentions speak in his favor: talking to the mobbed coworker in an understanding way, supporting the victim in group settings, writing down what happened, talking to the team leader or department head to give an objective account of the incidents; if still nothing happens, finally going to Human Resources. Be critical of a candidate that says he wouldn’t do anything because it’s not his problem.

Problems are part of everyday working life. Can you give me an example of one at your last company and how you dealt with it?

What sort of a problem was it, why did the candidate choose to mention this particular example, how serious a problem was it? This is a good question to find out more about stress-resistance, the ability to cope with pressure, or how the candidate goes about dealing with the unexpected. Was the problem running out adhesive tape or the crash of a computer system? How was the problem dealt with and finally solved? Indirect questions like this often lure shy candidates into the open and then provide valuable information.

Flexibility has its legitimate limits. What are they with you?

You can consider giving the candidate some examples such as: moving to another country, weekly business trips, frequent overtime until late at night etc. In this way you bring up the topic of legitimate limits, how the candidate perceives these and what your acceptable limits are. Take note of the examples the candidate gives and if he has the courage and honesty to name them.

Which skills and qualifications would you like to improve?

An indirect way to find out more about weaknesses, skill gaps, motivation to learn and determination. The answer shows how objectively, self-critically the candidate assesses himself, how cleverly he matches his skills and professional qualifications with your vacancy and whether he has even thought about how to improve eventual deficiencies. When it comes to asking about weaknesses or optimization possibilities, it is good to sometimes ask less directly and in a softer, watered-down way without negative undertones. This increases the chance of getting honest answers and more information about the candidate and whether he can meet the requirements of the vacant position.

What would you like to know about our company?

The answer shows how well-prepared the candidate is. Were these questions already answered in the job advertisement or on the website, or are they new and intelligent ones? What sort of questions are they? What do they reveal about depth of interest, motivation, working type, expectations and aspirations, crosslinked thinking or goals? Are break times, overtime and canteen prices in the foreground of interest, or is it customer segmentation, projects, corporate goals and possibilities for further education? The answer will help you make conclusions about the candidate’s focus, level and ambitions.

Which of your achieved results or projects in your previous positions are you particularly proud of– how did you reach these goals?

With this question you can find out if the candidate is able to name any achievements at all and if so how emotionally committed he is when describing them. The way the candidate achieved the goals, or how he describes them, shows a lot about his methods, degree of determination, commitment and energy level. Take note of the vocabulary used and the ability to express himself.

How interested are you in the position on a scale from 1 to 10 (10 being very interested)?

With this question the candidate has to put his cards on the table. The question is especially appropriate, if you are very interested in getting the candidate on board and want to know where you stand. Give the candidate a few moments to reflect before he rates the level of his interest.

How did you experience our conversation?

This question is open-hearted and shows interest in the candidate’s feelings. If he answers positively and gives reasons why, it may be that he is sincerely interested in the position. Honestly admitting that he felt a bit nervous or uncertain at times should still be rated positively, at least for non-managerial candidates. Interviewers, who are especially interested in developing their interviewing skills and appreciate critical feedback, could ask something like Were there any points when I made you feel insecure or when you didn’t feel comfortable?

From what I see, it seems that you don’t have enough experience in the handling of How could we resolve this?

A challenging question that touches on the topics of: selfevaluation and the ability to deal with constructive criticism. The candidate will need to have thoroughly familiarized himself with the job requirements to make concrete and realistic suggestions on how to improve know-how. He may propose specific training; mention preferred learning methods, related areas of expertise that could be developed, learning objectives etc. All of this can be positively interpreted. However, be critical if the response has a self-defensive tone and suggestions are vague or not made at all.

Professional Interviewing – Basic Facts

Proven Questioning Techniques

The importance of communication and behavior

Recruitment interviews are pivotal in the candidate selection process and play a crucial part in the assessment of professional expertise and social skills. Having a goal-oriented conversation, understanding the requirements of a position, bringing this into the interview and extracting the maximum of relevant information needed for making a good choice, is a challenging task. In addition, besides mastering theoretical questioning skills, the manner of communication and behavior during interviews is important.

What distinguishes good interviewers?

The professional interviewer stands out from the rest with the ability to observe, empathize, listen and steer the interview systematically. From the moment of the first handshake, the ensuing small talk, the questioning phase, through to the synthesis of facts and impressions. Some of the distinguishing traits of character, abilities and skills of a good interviewer are: trust building likeable personality; ability to listen and observe attentively; a good memory; interest in the motives and values of people; respect for individuals with all their differences; open, honest, unbiased approach to others; stable and solid personality; unobtrusive interest and curiosity; keen on learning; a quick cross-linked thinker; self-critical willingness to reflect; a good sense for the essential and relevant; ability to formulate well thought-out questions, good communication skills.

Professionally held interviews have a lot in common with general conversation- and discussion techniques. The below aspects of conversational management should be kept in mind during the interview.

The beginning of the interview – crucial

This phase is important because it supports the build-up of trust and determines the outcome of the rest of the interview. A warm welcome smile, a compliment or positive comment with a touch of humor - especially in the case of shy or insecure candidates contribute to a relaxed atmosphere.

Whoever grasps the candidate’s personality, actual state of mind, or quickly registers warning signals at this stage, can fine-tune the course of the interview and will be more successful than the interviewer that does not have this ability, or is not aware of the importance of these first signs.

The first crucial five minutes

There are interviewers that claim the first five minutes of the interview determine the for or against of an applicant, this may be so, and in some cases even correct. However, this is what an experienced recruiter says to that approach: "Whoever gets the impression that the candidate is the ideal or the wrong one at this stage of the interview, should – consciously and critically - look for reasons which speak against this first intuitive feeling and keep this in mind during the whole interview. Selecting the right candidate is not about gut feelings, even