4 Tips for Uncovering the Best Candidate at Interview

To impress, most candidates come to interviews sporting a flawless persona and rehearsed answers. This makes it difficult to sort out who’s good at their job, and who’s just good at being interviewed. Further complicating matters, hiring managers can lack the ability to properly assess candidates at interview – making the entire interview process somewhat redundant.

It pays dividends to plan for the interviews you’ll be conducting. This includes listing critical questions you may ask to fully understand the candidate and their experience as well as to understand if they align with your business and the position you are recruiting for.

Accountability

Depending on the role you have advertised, there may be a level of responsibility required. This lends itself to questions that may uncover the candidates experience and views in relation to responsibility and accountability. Natural leaders usually thrive on making big impacts and decisions which will advance your business. Having some questions tailored to this topic are beneficial to understand how the candidate reacts to high pressure or stressful situations.

Systems and Structures

Candidates who are not well organised, can often be hard to keep on track. Asking questions in relation to how the candidate organises both themselves and their day will give you some insight into how they work on tasks to achieve positive outcomes. Questions in relation to the structures or systems they utilise to keep projects on task, will be able to identify if they are likely to get bogged down in unnecessary work and unable to stay focused.

Failure

How does the candidate handle conflict? Whilst everyone works hard and strives to achieve, nobody is perfect so how do they handle constructive feedback? Understanding how the candidate handles themselves in situations where there is conflict or difficulty will be able to show you their composure, stress levels and whether they are able to balance their emotions in the workplace. Furthermore, how they deliver constructive feedback and their approach to criticising others will also shine a light on their behaviour and maturity in the workplace.

Continual Learning

In today’s environment, continual learning is paramount for advancing your career and for candidates to remain at the forefront of recruitment opportunities. Good candidates have an innate motivation to keep learning and educating themselves in the field they are in. Candidates who display an enjoyment of learning will often seize opportunities to improve their skills and be a continual asset to your organisation.

We have gone ahead and delved into the key areas that you should focus on whilst interviewing a potential candidate. We have also compiled a comprehensive guide containing our 60 best interview questions to ask your candidates, download your copy today!