Seven great interview questions to ask an interviewee
Consider asking interview questions that allow candidates to answer using the STAR interview format. This includes questions that encourage candidates to provide useful answers that can help you make an unbiased hiring decision and excludes questions that encourage one-word answers or questions that are unrelated to their ability to do the job (e.g., “what is your favorite TV show?”).
Here are seven questions you should always include in every interview to better understand a candidate’s qualifications, skills, and if they’ll be a good culture add.
1. What makes you the most qualified candidate for this position?
This is a great question to ask at the beginning of an interview. It’s a fairly open-ended question, so you allow the interviewee to dive deeper into their skills. This is also an excellent opportunity for the candidate to highlight skills that aren’t listed on their resume.
Ultimately, you want to see someone focus on the skills relevant to the role. That will show that they understand what’s important to the role and why.
Example: I believe I’m well-suited for this customer service representative role because I have been in customer service for over 5 years now across many different positions. I have the empathy to understand customers’ frustrations and the patience to help them through tough situations. My communication skills are exceptional regardless of if I am talking to someone on the phone, writing an email or responding to a review. At my previous company, I was eventually promoted to train new customer service reps. I know I can handle customers in a way that will keep them happy and make your company proud.
Related: Common Interview Questions
2. How would your friend and coworkers describe you as a person in three words?
This can be a fun question because it takes a step away from focusing so much on skills and the job role. Still, it’s an equally important question as the others on this list because it can help you understand the candidate’s personality. Company and job fit are just as important as having the necessary skills. If a person’s personality doesn’t mix well with the corporate culture or their job tasks, they’re more likely to leave earlier.
Ultimately, you know what personalities work well within your team and your company, so finding out the three describing words from the candidate can be quite helpful.
Example: My friends and colleagues describe me as helpful, determined and organized. In my previous role as a Senior Customer Service Representative, my coworkers always knew I would help them with difficult calls. I also would say that everyone was thoroughly impressed at my old job by how organized I was. I don’t mind bragging that I kept the most detailed customer meeting notes, had the most organized calendar and loved to create project timetables for every project.
Lastly, I know all my friends would describe me as determined. When I first decided to get into customer service, I couldn’t find a job because I had no previous experience. After several failed interviews, I chose to volunteer in a customer service role for a few months so I could get the required expertise to finally enter this field.
3. Where do you see yourself in five years?
If you’ve ever had an interview yourself, you’ve probably been asked this question a lot. It’s a common question to ask for a good reason. A 2018 Netherlands study found that individuals with career ambitions tend to positively impact their organizations in several ways. You want to hire someone with goals and aspirations to excel in their career. This will show that they’ll be committed to doing well in the role and hopefully moving up in the company.
Example: I have enjoyed progressing from a Customer Service Representative to a Senior Customer Service Representative. It has allowed me to gain new skills and take on new challenges. I hope within 5 years I have become a CSR Manager. I love people and believe that I could be a motivating team leader.
Related: Phone Interview Questions to Ask Candidates
4. What professional accomplishment are you most proud of?
At some point during the interview, you want to allow the interviewee to brag about their accomplishments in their career so far. This serves a few purposes. It gives you an impression of whether the candidate is genuinely passionate about their work. Do they actually have accomplishments they’re proud of?
It can also give you a sense of whether they’re qualified enough for the role. If their proudest accomplishment is a project you would expect someone in a much lower position to handle regularly, it can show you that they’re not the right fit.
Example: Recently, my current company had to transition to new software for our customer portal. I had to tackle reaching out to every account owner and notifying them of the upcoming change, what steps they need to take and who they can reach out to for help. I created several tutorial videos to help navigate our customers through this process. It ended up being a very smooth transition, and we didn’t have a single customer complain about the change.
5. Why are you leaving (or have left) your current position?
When you ask why someone is leaving their current company, you’re probably looking for two things. First, you want to ensure they don’t talk poorly about their company. If they do that now, there’s a good chance they may do the same to your organization when they choose to leave it.
And second, you want to see if their reasons for leaving would be problems they would have in their current role. For example, if they feel that they’re being asked to do too many administrative tasks, but the position you’re hiring also requires a lot of this, you would know it’s not going to be a long-term fit.
Example: My current company is small, which means there are limited growth opportunities in my role. As I’ve mentioned, I plan to be a CSR Manager within 5 years. At my current company, there is only one CSR Manager, and she has been in her role for 12 years. I fear that if I stay there, I will not be able to get any higher than the Senior Customer Service Representative title I currently hold.
6. How do you feel your current (or most recent) company could improve its overall operations to be more successful?
This question is good to see if the interviewee can see past their role to overall company performance. It can be easy for individuals to get wrapped up in their position and daily tasks. But everyone in an organization works together to achieve overall company objectives. A great employee can understand how their work contributes to those broad goals and see areas for improvement.
This question shows the candidate can be a critical thinker and have big ideas.
Example: Our company has a great product that most were happy with, and retention rates were excellent. However, I noticed that despite having several products, we did little cross-selling to customers. Our sales team was primarily focused on bringing in new customers and would not attempt to cross-sell to the existing clientele base. This has been a huge missed opportunity for an additional revenue stream.
7. Do you have any questions for me?
A great way to end your interview is to give the interviewee the opportunity to ask you any questions. A candidate who is genuinely interested in the position and has prepped well will have some questions to ask you. They may want more details about the role, what a typical day looks like, what the team structure is or even ask your opinion on company culture. It’s a simple thing to ask but can differentiate between the invested candidates and those just looking to get hired wherever.
Example: I do have some questions; thanks for giving me this chance. I wanted to better understand the team I would be working with. As the manager, can you tell me what your team’s biggest win in the last year is? And what’s a problem your team is currently trying to solve?
FAQ
Should I have an interview script?
It’s crucial that you go into an interview prepared and knowing what questions you hope to ask. But the best interviews are ones where you can go with the flow. You don’t have to sit there and read questions off your paper. Feel free to ask questions that come to mind as you listen to your interviewee talk.
Are there any bad interview questions?
The saying “no question is a bad question” isn’t necessarily true when it comes to interviews. Remember that there are certain questions you can’t ask for legal reasons, including a person’s age, marital status or religion.
