Top Ten Interview Questions - Q1
HRwisdom recently asked one of its contributors, Robert Watson, what were his Top 10 Interview Questions to help him find the right person for the right role?
Robert Watson is a highly experienced management consultant and executive coach. Robert has literally travelled the world examining the recruitment and selection systems of some of the most successful companies in the world.
Here, we will take a look at the first of Robert's preferred interview questions and what sort of answer you should expect to hear from the right type of person.
In the next report (available to all subscribers on our free mailing list), Robert reveals exactly what you should be listening for in the answers to the other questions.
Before We Get Started . . .
The following are resources which may help you build the right team by selecting the right people for the right roles.
Click for more information:
- HRwisdom Library (see 'Hiring a New Employee' sub-section)
- Predict future performance of job candidates with this online candidate assessment tool (free report available)
- Job applicant tracking system to streamline your recruitment process
- HRwisdom 'No Frills' Staff Recruitment Pack
- Interview Questions (recommended by one of our subscribers - this is not an HRwisdom product)
Top 10 Interview Questions - Q1
Q1. Tell us about the previous job that you had, and how you fitted in with the business.
(Scroll down below the video for more information and for information on Q2 in the Top 10 Interview Questions)
Robert, what is the thinking behind these questions?
"Over the years, I must have seen thousand of questions that people have designed. But the overwhelming majority of those are very simple questions where the candidate can answer simply yes or no, and then of course we complain about younger candidates who can’t string a sentence together.
You can design up your own questions if you like. If you do that, you will need to make sure that the answers that people give you are not yes and no answers. They will need to be answers where people speak for a while."
Are these Top 10 Questions Enough?
"These top ten questions are very effective. However, you’ll probably realise that an interview can’t be made up of just these top ten questions.
So, don’t forget that in a typical interview, what you’ll need is a couple of opening questions that relax the candidate and the most obvious opening question is “Tell us about your current job.” That’s always a good one.
You will also need to ask your technical questions because for most jobs, you want to know if they do have the experience or the particular qualification that you’re after and then these top ten questions, you need to handpick the ones of those that are relevant to the job vacancy that you have and use questions like those.
If you go and design up your own question, always test them out on someone, perhaps an existing employee and see what sort of answers they will give. If they give you a paragraph-type answer then you’ll know that’s a fairly good question. If they give you a one-word answer, you’ll know that your question needs to redesigned."
What are good answers to the other Top 10 Questions?
In the next report (made available to everyone on the free HRwisdom mailing list), Robert reveals the answers you should expect to hear from the right type of people for the other questions.
Scroll down for access.
Next Step . . .
The following are resources which may help you build the right team by selecting the right people for the right roles.
Click for more information:
- Predict future performance of job candidates with this online candidate assessment tool (free report available)
- HRwisdom Library (see 'Hiring a New Employee' sub-section)
- Job applicant tracking system to streamline your recruitment process
- HRwisdom 'No Frills' Staff Recruitment Pack
- Interview Questions (recommended by one of our subscribers - this is not an HRwisdom product)
Click on the following link to move onto Question 2 in the Top Ten Interview Questions.
