Great interview questions to ask your candidates

To evaluate whether an applicant is the ideal match for the position, it's crucial to gather as much information as possible during the limited interview time. Crafting the right interview questions to pose to candidates can be a daunting task. However, with well-crafted interview questions, you can gain insights not only into their skills and experience but also their interpersonal abilities, problem-solving aptitude, and adaptability. What are some great interview questions you could ask a candidate? When is the best time to ask them? The following categories of interview questions can help you land top talent for your organisation.

Personality Assessment Questions

A personality assessment question is a type of interview or assessment tool designed to understand a candidate's personality traits, behavioural tendencies, and characteristics. These questions aim to evaluate how well a candidate's personality aligns with the requirements of a job and the organisation's culture. Personality assessments can provide valuable insights into a candidate's suitability for a role, their communication style, work preferences, and potential for success in a particular work environment.

Personality assessment questions are typically open-ended and may ask candidates to describe their typical behaviour, reactions in various situations, and interpersonal skills. They often focus on attributes such as teamwork, adaptability, leadership, communication, conflict resolution, and stress management.

Some examples include:

Can you share an example of a time when you had to adapt to a significant change at work? How did you handle it?

Describe a situation where you had to take on a leadership role. How did you motivate and guide your team?

Behavioural Questions

Behavioural questions are designed to gain insights into how a candidate has behaved in specific past situations. They assume that past behaviour is a good indicator of future behaviour. By sharing examples from their past experiences, candidates can demonstrate their skills, competencies, and how they handle various work-related scenarios.

These questions ask candidates to provide specific examples from their past experiences to demonstrate how they have handled various situations. They help assess a candidate's behaviour, skills, and abilities.

Some examples include:

Can you describe a time when you had to deal with a difficult coworker and how you resolved the situation?

Tell me about a time when you conflicted with a colleague and how you resolved the situation.

Have you ever made a risky decision?

Situational Questions:

Situational questions, also known as situational interview questions, are a type of job interview question used to assess a candidate's problem-solving abilities, decision-making skills, and capacity to handle hypothetical scenarios or challenges that may arise in the role they are applying for. These questions present a specific situation or scenario related to the job and ask the candidate how they would respond or behave in that situation. The goal is to evaluate the candidate's thought process, judgment, and suitability for the position.

Situational questions are often used to predict how a candidate might handle real-life challenges on the job and whether they possess the necessary skills and traits for success. These questions are especially useful for roles that require critical thinking, adaptability, and the ability to make sound decisions under pressure.

Some examples include:

How would you handle a situation where a project deadline was suddenly moved up by two weeks?

You realise your manager has made a big mistake on an important project. What would you do?

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