Do you ever wonder what is the most demanding task for an interviewer?
It is to choose a valuable and appropriate candidate for a job. Oftentimes, the HR team is worried so as to not hire the wrong person.
During the recruitment process, every HR team has a list of questions they will ask during the interview process. These questions are paramount and can tell a lot about an individual.
HR teams need to ensure they do not wind up selecting the wrong person for a valuable vacancy. The hiring process shortlists candidates based on their technical skills and communication skills. Exposure to HR software will prove to be a bonus.
The interview questions are designed to select the applicant with the suitable Skill Sets for the job. Once a candidate is shortlisted, he will receive a joining letter. He will have to confirm his intent to join the company.
We have compiled for you a set of questions to help you find a resource that can align with your workplace culture.
1: Tell me something that has helped you work efficiently.
The response to this question will say a lot about how the person views the world around them and their motivations for taking up a task; what drives them to achieve their goals. This question could be asked when you want to check whether they hold up their values and ethics.
There’s a hidden benefit of asking this question; you would also get to know what the person is most passionate about.
2: How do you think your personality has changed in the last five years?
Their personal and professional growth is of utmost importance as this tells about how much potential the candidate holds for your organization. A majority of people focus on where they see themselves in the near or far future but what is also important is how they have reached where they are.
3: What would you say about people with whom you have worked so far?
It is a question that will answer whether the person believes in working with a team or they prefer to be a solo player. Both of these are equally important and hence, you can judge where they will fit in your organization. More importantly, it will be a character judge.
Meaning that it will carve out their strengths and weaknesses regarding working with and around people.
4: What is the most out-of-the-box idea that you have had in a while?
When someone mentions they are creative or have worked on a project collectively with a team, this will be your way of knowing whether they have contributed to that project genuinely or its a namesake addition to their resume.
When someone has worked with a team, they may have just kept themselves at bay. Therefore, the answer that they come up with here would say how sincerely they have been involved.
5: What is your greatest fear?
It is an unusual question that the candidate might not be prepared for. You will understand the self-awareness of the candidate. A candidate needs to be aware of him/herself to be able to serve his/her team better.
6: Do you have any regrets?
The candidate might highlight some real-life situations that they would like to overturn in their lives. You must understand whether the person is telling the truth or cooking up a story.
7: Are you open to taking risks?
It is a common question that is used in screening candidates. A practitioner should be open to taking risks with permissible limits to increase productivity and improve the results of his team.
8: How do you respond to change?
Such behavioural interview questions can help you filter out the candidates that might not be able to adapt to changes. Adaptability is a characteristic that is a major requirement in the corporate sector. You will be able to understand if he/she is flexible.
9: Do you have any prior experience in Payroll Software?
During the selection process, you might want to know if the candidate has exposure to payroll software or performance management software. These could be a valuable addition to the team of employees and improve the versatility of the team.
10: What are your long-term career goals?
All high-performing employees will be having a set of short-term and long-term goals. It is critical to verify that the job description aligns with their interests so that they can serve the organization better. Additionally, if he has clear goals, the candidate is likely to be a focused practitioner.
11: Give me an example of your creativity.
If there is an opening for a creative role, it is significant to understand if the prospective employee will be a good fit for the organization. It is imperative to ask interview questions that test the creativity of the candidate. Thus, you can evaluate the candidate better.
12: What was the toughest decision that you had to take?
Such behavioural questions will allow the organization to shortlist the perfect candidate for themselves. It is a tough question that will unlock the personality of the applicant. The biggest decision that he will allow you to understand the amount of research he puts before he arrives at a conclusion.
13: Are you a team player?
It is critical for remote workers to be team players. In the Covid-19 era, it becomes all the more essential for applicants to be aware of the importance of teamwork.
With proper coordination, the functioning of the team could be kept smooth. Thus, it will make the team members happy. 33% of the HR professionals believe that poor teamwork decreases the morale of the team members.
14: What are the types of online courses you have pursued to improve your technical skills?
It is one of the important interview questions that allow managers to know more about the qualifications of the candidate. If the candidate has completed a course on HRMS, he might bring more balance to the team than others vying for the job.
15: What is the one factor that makes you stand out among other job candidates?
The hiring managers can use such questions to assess all candidates and frame a lift of the qualified candidates. These job interview questions will tell whether the candidate is confident or over-confident about himself.
16: Are there any business leaders that you look up to?
It is a crucial step to check if there is a leader whom the potential employee looks up to. He will be trying to pick up the traits of his idol. Thus, you can assume that he might be having most of the traits. You will have to make a decision on how important the skills are for your company.
17: Did you ever have a conflict with your manager in your current company?
Such behavioural interview questions will tell more about the employee’s skills to navigate through an unfavourable situation. While recruiting, it is critical to know about the style of working of the individual. If he can solve conflicts, he could handle stressful work situations easily.
18: Do you know any of the current employees of the company?
If the applicant has an acquaintance in the company, there are high chances that he will be aware of the company culture as well. If he relates to various policies of the firm, the candidate can prove to be a great culture fit for the organization.
19: What is the salary that you are expecting?
It is one of the good follow-up questions that allow you to understand the salary expectations of the applicant. Before rolling out the job offer letter, you need to be sure that the candidate will accept the letter, Hence, you need to be aware of the expectations as well.
20: If I were to call up your current reporting manager now, what will his opinion be about you?
It is a common recruiting strategy to understand how the candidate has been across his professional career. If the candidate has outstanding analytical skills, he will be able to make difficult decisions as and when required.
21: Arrange the following as per your preference – job, money, family.
The above question will tell you about the emotional intelligence of the employee. It is a difficult question that will allow you to comprehend his priorities. Such interview questions can help you narrow down to a few candidates from a large pool of candidates.
22: How comfortable are you talking to new people?
It is a soft skills question that will be necessary if you are looking to shortlist a sales candidate. Additionally, in such a competitive market, if someone is not comfortable talking to random people, he/she might not be a good culture fit for the front-end or client-facing roles.
23: Why did you choose to work in your current field?
It is one of the classic interview question examples that will tell you about the choices of the applicant. You can inquire if he has relevant experience for the job role he is applying for. Thus, you can be sure that you are not selecting the wrong employee for the post.
24: What can make you angry and how do you handle it?
It is one of the few skills assessment questions that allow you to gauge the temperament of the candidate. While interacting with customers or clients, there is a high chance that the employee might get angry. His ability to handle such a situation can be a great asset to a team.
25: Can you work in a diverse environment?
It is an unusual question where you can ask the candidate if he believes in the policy of inclusion. It is a good question to ask potential candidates and help you in screening candidates who might not be a culture fit for the organization. Such team members can help to boost employee morale. As per studies, companies that have more than the average diversity, have 19% higher revenues from innovation.
26: What are the various soft skills that you possess?
You can use soft skills question questions to filter out the desirable candidates from the average candidates. If an applicant is boasting too much about himself, he might be someone who considers himself to be superior to the other team members.
27: Do you have any prior experience in handling an Attendance Management System or other HR software?
If the applicant is aware of the key performance indexes and has experience in working with HR software, he will be an easy resource to upskill for various job roles. Such job interview questions allow you to judge the candidate based on his experience.
28: What is your opinion on work-life balance?
Every organization aims to keep its people happy. One of the critical factors for that to happen is a proper balance in his work-life. It helps in improving employee productivity. Companies that promote work-life balance have double the productivity of those that don’t. You can ask the question before you start the negotiation about salary.
29: What is a skill that you have learned in the last few months?
Every firm desire that all its employees set challenging goals for themselves. For that to happen, every current employee will have to keep upskilling himself regularly. The above behavioural interview question will help you comprehend if the workers are interested in learning new skills or do they prefer to be stagnant.
30: What are you most proud of?
It is one of the skills assessment questions where you can get to see if the applicant thinks of himself to be the smartest person in the room. If he flaunts too much in his description, there are high chances that he is just being lofty about himself. You might not want to select a haughty person for your company.
31: Can I trust you with responsibilities?
The above question can help you in screening candidates easily. The obvious answer to the above question will be a “yes”. What matters is how the applicants can justify they have taken up responsibilities in the past and have proven to be key employees for their firms.
Recruiting can be a challenging process. Several people send out job application letters to organizations. The point of the above unique interview questions is to help you in understanding the personality of the candidate.
You have to be sure that you have selected the right candidate so that he can be a powerful factor in the growth of your company.
If you have any questions mention in the comment section below.
Additionally, if you’re looking for an HRMS in India or Globally get sumHR today starting at ₹75 or $3 and get access to attendance management software, payroll management software, performance management and much more.
Also you can check out this step by step guide on purchasing the right HR Software.
Get your 7 day free trial or get your free demo now.
Be the HR Hero with sumHR.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ( F.A.Q.s)
1. What are the benefits of hiring a good employee?
Hiring the right employee, on the other hand, pays you back in employee productivity, a successful employment relationship, and a positive impact on your total work environment.
2. What is Job Analysis?
The job analysis enables you to collect information about the duties, responsibilities, necessary skills, outcomes, and work environment of a particular job. The information from the job analysis is fundamental to developing the job description for the new employee.
3. What are behavioural interview questions?
You can use behavioural interview questions to ask candidates how they acted in specific situations.
For E.g., How do you respond to change?
4. What are the benefits of using behavioural-based interview questions?
Asking the best behavioural-based interview questions can help you weed out candidates that don’t fit your client’s description, so you send only the best candidates to your client.
5. What is an Interview?
An interview is a good chance to evaluate how candidates approach difficult situations and by asking problem-solving questions you can separate those that are results orientated from those that crumble under pressure.
