New to Interviewing? How Do You Assess Skills and Character in Candidates?

A Very Good Afternoon Everyone, I have a query, and I believe that it can be solved at this site only by the valuable suggestions of experts.

Interviewing Skills Needed

I am new at handling face-to-face interviews. Can anyone explain to me how to judge a person while taking an interview? What kind of questions should I ask to check the skill set of the person, etc.?

Kindly reply, as your suggestions would be helpful for me.

Thanks and regards,
PRIYANKA

It is a known fact that we often miss the questions needed to judge the whole personality of candidates. After selecting the wrong candidates, we have to repent our decisions. If the candidate is average on technical aspects, we can train them. However, if they do not have good character or a positive attitude, it will be very difficult for us to change that overnight.

Here below is a list of very important questions:

Big Picture

Big picture questions seek to understand the whole person, their overall motivations, and their general approaches to work.

• Tell me about yourself: A classic opening question.
• Tell me about your last job: Seeking perspective and detail.
• Tell me about your career so far: Seeking patterns and themes.
• Please describe a typical day: Looking for what really happens.
• How does your current job fit into the overall business: Seeking strategic understanding.
• Tell me about your ideal job: Looking for key motivation.

Strengths

Strength questions effectively ask 'Why should we employ you?' If these are not answered well, then there is no chance you will get the job.

• What has made you successful?: Examples and reasons for success.
• What interests you most about this job?: Show your motivation.
• What is your greatest strength?: What you think you're good at.
• Tell me about when you were particularly challenged: Challenge brings out the real person.
• Tell me of a time when things went really well: ...and it was more than luck.
• Would you call yourself ...?: Probing for named qualities.
• What have you done that you are proud of?: Motivation and concern for self.
• What did you learn in that job?: Openness, learning, risk bias.
• Why should I employ you?: Show fit and motivation.
• What would you do if you got the job?: Strategic and tactical detail.

Possible Weaknesses

Weakness questions seek to understand where the candidate might not fit with the job. They are also a test of character, including how you face up to weaknesses and how you manage and improve them.

• What are your weaknesses?
• What skills would you like to develop?: Motivation and new areas.
• Tell me about when something you did didn't work: Coping with failure.
• What did you like least about that job?: Checking the range of motivation.
• What do you find difficult?: Showing how to handle difficulties.
• How do you approach risks?: Show foresight and planning.
• What have you done that you are not proud of?: Exposing shame and values.
• Have you ever lost your job?: Show positive attitude.
• Do you take your work home with you?: Show both organization and passion for work.

Stress

Stress is a killer at work, and many jobs are very stressful. People who are seeking stressful jobs and cannot handle stress well are obviously not good candidates. This is also a test of how honest the candidate is with themselves - interviewers will watch for the correlation of body language and answers.

• Can you work under pressure?: Demonstrate control and fortitude.
• What keeps you awake at night?: Whether you can relax or how you prioritize.
• What annoys you?: Show control and calm.
• How do you handle stressful situations?: Show calm under fire.
• How do you handle criticism?: Positive learning or robust response.
• How do you respond to change?: Contribution, collaboration, leadership.
• Have you ever had to dismiss someone?: With sensitivity and due process.
• Do you plan to have children?: Work-life balance.
• What do you do to relax?: Show the importance of life!
• Do you take your work home?: Be willing to work extra when needed.
• That was stupid!: Assertive reframing or questioning back.

Working with Others

Many jobs require working in teams and across departments. These questions seek to find out how good the candidate is at this.

• Would you say that you stand out as an individual?: Be individual, but not anti-others.
• How do you work in teams?: Leader, follower, collaborator -- as appropriate.
• How do you handle conflict?: Show emotional maturity in mediation.
• What sorts of people do you not get on with?: Make it a bad person.
• Tell me about a time when you influenced someone else.: Show subtle changing of minds.
• What do you do when you disagree with others?: Manage emotions.
• How do you get on with others at work?: Sociability and assertiveness.
• What do you think about your manager?: Show goodness of the employee.
• Tell me about the best manager you had: Describe good management.

Constraints

This also helps them match the person with the job.

• Why are you looking for another job?: Reasons for leaving.
• What particularly attracted you to this job?: Reasons for joining.
• Are you prepared to travel?: Because this job has lots of it!
• What did you like/dislike about that job?: Show motivations.
• Why do you want to leave your current job?: Need to grow, etc.
• Which job did you like least?
• What salary are you seeking?
• How long would it take to get up to speed in this job?: Show competence.
• What are your career aspirations?: Show good sense of the future.
• Do you work much outside normal hours?: Show control and flexibility.

And...

• Do you have any questions?
• Interview Question Worksheet: Plan your answers.

Note also that although there are many ideas here, they do not cover the whole show. More questions can be asked, and there can be other purposes to the questioning.

With Best Regards

Frankly speaking, candidates now come prepared with answers if the questions are predictable. The object of an interview is to ascertain two factors: 1) whether the employee is job fit and 2) whether the employee is organization fit. Therefore, you need to ask a few questions to yourself:

1) What competencies am I looking for in this candidate?
2) What traits am I looking for in this candidate?
3) What knowledge level am I looking for in the candidate?
4) What value system does he have, and whether he can fit into the organizational culture of your company?

This will give you enough idea about what questions you need to ask, taking the help of the list given by Mr. Bharadwaj as guidance.

Regards,
B. Saikumar
HR & Labour Law Advisor
Mumbai

Some excellent inputs have been given by Mr. Bhardwaj and Mr. Sai Kumar. In my opinion, however exhaustive you make it, an interview is not more than an extended sampling exercise. Face-to-face interviews have strong time limitations. To achieve your objective, you have to supplement with advance surveys, group discussions, etc.

Regards,
V. Raghunathan

Just to add to what has been given by others. For senior positions, try to include some situation-based questions called Behavioural Event Interviews (BEI). These help in understanding how the candidate managed within a given work environment in solving an issue.

You are asking for some magic to happen to you after getting inputs from professionals here. I don't mean to discourage you or offend you in any manner. These are some of the skills which you can acquire only by experience. No MBA school can provide you 'instant experience'. You have to take the inputs from here and implement them during the interview. I am certain you may trip and fall in your interpretations initially. But take those falls positively, get up, proceed further, and retain the learnings on the way. Experience is the best teacher in life. You will definitely reach greater heights in the future with your sustained interest, commitment, and focused interest.

I believe there are no sample questions that can effectively judge a person in a face-to-face interview. Individuals are often well-prepared for traditional questions and may present themselves smartly. Therefore, it is crucial to keep your eyes and senses open during the interview to assess various aspects such as the candidate's attitude, potential tenure with your company, ability to handle job-related stress, work ethics, moral values, and to evaluate if their responses align with their body language.

As Mr. Bharwaj aptly mentioned, while technical skills can be trained, a lack of good character or a positive attitude can be challenging to change overnight.

To evaluate the candidate's skill set, it is essential to tailor your assessment according to the job requirements. You may consult with senior personnel from the respective department to understand the practical aspects.

Regards,
Nishant Pandey

Nowadays, organizations are emphasizing the competencies required for a job or position. You can compile the necessary competencies and refer to the STAR technique, Behavioral Event Interview (BEI), stress interviews, and competency-based interviews for more details.

Regards,
Tina