10 Useful Interview Questions for Businesses to Ask In An Interview

In an interview setting, there are many questions you might ask. However, developing the right kind of questions for the job you are interviewing for can require additional preparation. You must consider what kind of questions matter for the job and how those questions will find you a successful candidate. Some questions may seem trivial or redundant, and that is why the questions you ask matter. Below are ten useful interview questions that you can ask an interviewee to help you find and hire the best possible employee.

Questions to Ease the Tension

Before you get into the specifics of the job you are hiring for, it is useful to learn a bit about the person you are interviewing. Some questions that can ease the tension that exists in an interview are:

 

1. Can you tell me a bit about your current job?
2. Where do you see yourself in five years?
3. What’s one fact that’s not on your resume or LinkedIn profile?
4. What do you know about our company, and why do you want to work here?

Questions like this create a more comfortable atmosphere because they are general and easy to answer. It is important to ease tension in an interview so your interviewee will provide you with the best possible answers to your further, more specific questions. You want to create a sense of comfortability. After all, the person you are hiring should be someone you want to work with!

Questions that Give More Insight Into a Person’s Character

After you have created a less tense environment between yourself and your interviewee, you will want to know more about their character. To understand more about this person, you might want to ask questions with the following structure:

5. What could your current company do to be more successful?
6. What’s the most interesting project you’ve worked on in a past position?
7. How would your coworkers describe you?
8. How would your boss describe you?
9. How do you manage deadline pressure?
10. Do you have any questions for me?

These kinds of questions will help you understand how this person might operate within your business as the person you chose for the job will not only be an employee but a coworker. Getting insight into a character is useful to understand if this person will work well with other employees too. Another reason it is important to review character is to see if it matches up with an interviewee’s references. An example of this could look like a question such as “how would your boss describe you?” If the interviewer says one thing and the boss says something different and negative, that’s a red flag.

Curious About Questions You Cannot Ask?

Now that you know what kind of questions you might ask in an interview, you should know what kind of questions to avoid. Some questions will be irrelevant to the job you are hiring for. Depending on the role you are trying to fill, you should be aware of the priorities you have when looking to hire someone new. You want to know about the person’s character, but you also want to understand the career history or interests they have within your business. Ultimately you want to make sure that your new hire has the right skill set for the job you are hiring them for.

Aside from questions you want to avoid, there are some things that you cannot legally ask job candidates; they include the following: Where they’re from, their ancestry, citizenship status, and anything to do with their religious beliefs. A person’s age, gender, or sexual preferences, as well as race or ethnic background. You cannot ask an interviewee about their marital status or whether they have kids or not. You cannot ask about anything to do with their physical health, mental health, or disabilities, and you cannot question their physical appearance, height, or weight.

Why You Need to Establish Hiring Process Steps

Now that you know the questions you should ask and the ones to avoid, it is time to create a process that makes it easier to hire. Hire Knowledge Academy can help with all of this so that you can hire the right candidate the first time around and avoid employee turnover. Hire Knowledge Academy can give you a step-by-step hiring process, so you don’t miss any crucial tasks. We have online training seminars for hiring, employee management, and much more so that you can work at your own pace on your own time and hire the right people for your business.

HR Training Resources for Small Business

At Hire Knowledge Academy, we provide expert HR training and resources to help you hire better. With our effective and efficient hiring process, you won’t waste time, energy, or money on hiring the wrong person. It is extremely important to have an effective hiring process, even for small and medium-sized businesses. At Hire Knowledge Academy, we can get you started on the best path to hiring the right employee. Learn more about the Hiring Essentials course to streamline your hiring process today.