Interview questions to ask any candidate
Are you asking the right interview questions? Watch our video to find out the top five interview questions you can ask any candidate (and what to look for in the answers).
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Browse interview questions for 480+ job titles
For help tailoring your questions to the role you’re hiring for, we’ve compiled 1000s of interview questions for nearly 500 jobs to help you get to know a potential employee.
More interview strategies to help you hire right the first time
We’ve got more of what you need to help you ask the right interview questions. Check out these related articles and guides for even more interview question ideas, tips and strategies.
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Interview FAQs
Hold only as many rounds of interviews as you need — typically one to three interviews per candidate depending on the role. Requiring a candidate to go through multiple rounds of interviews can lead to a poor candidate experience and is often not necessary. According to an Indeed survey, 62% of SMBs report conducting two rounds of interviews before making a hiring decision.*
*Indeed survey, n=250
One way to help make your interview process more inclusive and potentially help minimize or reduce unconscious bias is to standardize the interview process. Ask each candidate the same set of questions in the same order and score their answers based on a predefined rubric.
Choose a quiet and distraction-free location, test your connection ahead of time and make sure candidates know how to join the video call. You can also conduct live virtual interviews easily right on Indeed. There’s no software or apps to download, and it’s free* to use for any job you post on Indeed.
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Video transcript
Today’s hiring question comes from Rosa, a veterinarian who asks, “I’m interviewing vet techs. What are some good interview questions to ask?” Well, Rosa, stay tuned. We’re going to help you find your next top dog.
Best interview questions
To get a sense of a candidate’s skills, experience and ability to think under pressure. You have to ask the right questions, but you also have to know what to look for in the answers.
So aside from job specific questions, here are the top five interview questions you can ask any candidate. You guys ready for your interview?
Why do you want to work here?
First question. Why do you want to work here? A best in show answer demonstrates a passion for the industry, similar values and how they’d solve a particular business challenge. A not so great answer tends to be generic, focused on salary, or reveals the candidate views the position merely as a stepping stone.
Tell me about a difficult work situation.
Next up, tell me about a difficult work situation and how you overcame it. Good answers describe a real work related situation, including the specific steps the candidate used to resolve it. Watch out for answers that blame past coworkers or the company, lack details or aren’t related to how they could succeed with your business.
What career accomplishment makes you most proud?
And the third interview question to ask: What career accomplishment makes you most proud? Here’s a chance for your candidate to share a career highlight or something not related to work, like volunteering that demonstrates transferable skills. A less than perfect answer skips key details, is too generic or is unrelated to the role.
What are your long term career goals?
Coming in at four, we have: What are your long term career goals? The key to this question is to find someone whose values and career goals align with and can benefit your business. A fishy answer can be vague, unrealistic or reveal a candidate who doesn’t plan to stay at your company too long.
What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?
And lastly, question five: What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses? Answers that score the highest are honest, specific and use examples to explain why a candidate considers their strengths strengths. For the weakness part, you want to hear about real weaknesses such as trouble delegating. Be cautious of answers that lack self-awareness or seem arrogant. In other words, go for the parakeet over the peacock.
Post a job
Well, we’ve come to the end of the list. We hope our top five questions will come in handy when you’re ready to interview your top five candidates. But first, you have to post a job. Hey, we can help you with that too. Just float on over to indeed.com/hire.