When interviewing job candidates, we all have favourite questions we always like to ask. The effectiveness of some of these questions is questionable, to say the least.
As candidates, I’m sure we’ve all heard some screamers. I thought asking a person what car they drive was pretty poor, until someone told me they’d been asked “If you were a car, what sort of car would you be?”. This question would give a good indication of the person’s imaginative powers, but little or no information about their ability to do the job.
Another favourite is “Where do you want to be in five years’ time?”. If you have heard that one before (who hasn’t?) you can imagine how common it is and how easy for a candidate to prepare an impressive answer for when you ask them!
The ability to do the job, along with attitude, are the key things you’re looking for in your intervew questions. Any question that does not give you more information on ability or attitude is a distraction from the main game and may even land you in hot water.
Here are some examples of interview questions which may be asked with the best of intentions but may be inappropriate:
1. Where did you grow up?
2. How old are your children?
3. When did you finish high school?
4. What does your wife/husband do for a living?
5. How long do you plan to work before you retire?
If you have asked any of these, or similar, questions in the past, my advice is to consider a new approach to how you interview. We will be talking about the traps to avoid in our next webinar on 25 August. Register here to learn more: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/917745616
Susan Rochester has been managing director of Balance at Work since 2006. Susan has a natural tendency to balance analytical thinking with an optimistic outlook to set direction and solve problems. She is an effective facilitator and constantly creates new and more effective ways of doing things, motivated by helping others to achieve their goals.