When talking about job interviews, there are several approaches that you as an interviewer might use, as well as a wide array of questions you could make to your candidate. Almost every job interview uses the same routine of questions such as: “Tell me about yourself”, “What was the reason you left your previous job?”, “What is your laboral experience?”, “Why should we hire you?”, “What are your strengths?” or even “Have you done some research about our company?” among some other.
As those questions become an automatic process for the interviewer, the candidate tends to repeat his same answers as well. This results in an endless cycle of bland and sterile questions and answers which will never really show the candidate’s real strengths and weaknesses. The task of choosing the perfect person to fill the job opening becomes even harder or merely impossible.
I personally recommend to throw a curveball at them during the interview. My favorite part is when I get to ask them to visualize themselves one year from now… What must have happened in the course of that year, for them to realize that THIS was the job they were looking for? You would be amazed at the amount of analyzing that goes through their minds. We can obtain input about three very important aspects:
- What is the concept that the candidate has about himself? This answer can establish whether he believes in his own qualities enough to be trusted with a leadership position or if he is merely a day-to-day worker.
- Where does he sees himself in the future? I cannot state just how important it is to know what are your candidate’s short-term, medium-term and long-term goals. This proves their level of ambition and professionalism and what they are able to bring to your company.
- What is the concept that the candidate has about the company? Does he see your company as a real professional opportunity? Which attitude will the candidate show in case he is chosen to fill the job opening.
It is very important to create new strategies to get to know the candidates as they really are. This will help you choose the ideal candidate for you. Try to use this tip I share with you and you will be very surprised on how much information you will be bombarded with when recruiting.