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The second interview: it’s a critical time in your search for the perfect new member of your team. If your company is like many, the first interview you go through with a candidate will likely be filled with polite formalities, an explanation of the role and all of the necessary introductions.
The second interview can be more personal, and much more enlightening for both parties. When you approach it the right way, you can determine what qualities an applicant will contribute to your culture, and if the applicant has the required aptitudes to succeed in the role and stay around long-term.
To do this, you need to know what to ask an applicant in a job interview.
In this post, I’ll share a list of questions you can use that will help to really drill down and get to know a candidate. These questions are organized by the categories of qualities you’ll want to discover about your candidates. Ready for round two?
Questions like these get to the heart of a candidate’s long-term goals, which can help you make a great match for an open position. If a candidate is excited about your industry, is enthusiastic about the job and wants to grow and learn within the company, you’re more likely to be able to keep them with you longer, making the hire a stronger investment for your company.
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During the second interview, it’s a great idea to pepper in a few questions about a potential employee’s demonstrated strengths. While past successes are never a surefire indicator of future performance, getting a feel for where a candidate has been able to shine in previous roles can help you determine whether they have the natural ability to succeed in a particular role going forward.
Give these questions a try:
Even if a role isn’t customer-facing, it will likely still require the employee to interact with others—if only just coworkers and supervisors. Knowing that an applicant can communicate professionally and is able to build a good rapport with others can save you a lot of heartache in the future.
To assess the candidate’s people skills, ask one of the following questions:
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If the position you’re hiring for is one with a defined career progression, you’ll want to consider the applicant’s potential for future growth, as well as their natural leadership tendencies. Even when making an entry-level hire, the following questions can help you parse out which candidates are interested in becoming high-value employees, and which are just here to clock in and clock out.
Many employers are of the belief that if you can get a good, hard-working person in a role, you can teach them just about anything. If you know the candidate has the experience and technical skills needed to hit the ground running, the only thing left to do is evaluate whether they are someone you’ll want to work with— someone whose values align with the organization.
To find out, consider asking the following:
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