How do you find the truly great employees? Unless you have personally worked with someone, you are rolling the dice in an interview as to what kind of worker they will be. Yes, there is a reference process, but applicants will want to shine in an interview, so you will only get the Managers on your reference list that will provide a positive reference. It is important to have interview questions that are tailored to find great workers.
Having a specific set of interview questions to determine how a potential employee approaches a challenge, how they view the work environment, and have insight in to long-term impacts of decisions and that align with the company goals.
If you have a specific set of questions that you must adhere to due to company policy, read on, there are probing questions that you can ask as a potential new hire answers the company questions so that you can try and get the valuable insight that you need.
We have all been at the other side of the table being interviewed. There is expected preparation that needs to occur ahead of time to shine during the panel interview process.
To see if an interview candidate prepared, there should be at a bare minimum be some research in to the company’s operations and goals. A candidate must have examples of how they demonstrated initiative, teamwork, producing exceptional work, and originating new ideas is the minimum amount of work you need to do for an interview.
If a potential new hire cannot speak to the above topics, they are either unprepared, or a mediocre worker. Anyone with experience on their resume should be able to come up with a reasonable teamwork answer. If not, they are either not a team player, or have poor communication skills.
”I can teach anyone on how to do the work, but I can’t teach work ethic, and I can’t teach attitude”
-Laura Tanner
What good is an interview question if they are too nervous to communicate and think of examples?
Decisiveness and confidence is important in a potential candidate that will shine at work. You can be kind and ask a few probing questions to help them fully answer some questions at first. They may need to gain a bit of confidence and get in to the rhythm of answering questions. If you have found yourself having to probe for answers for more than two questions – this is not going to be your shiny star employee.
The person sitting across from you may be a decent employee, and has knowledge of the material – but you need better than the person who is too nervous to come up with concrete examples of how they went above and beyond.
This is why demonstrated interview preparation is so important. If something matters enough, potential hires will take the time to research and find relevant examples.
If they do not arrive at this interview ready to answer basic questions, what is the likelihood that they will be excited to get the position and take initiative on your team? This is one of the most significant red flags when trying to find someone who will be exceptional on your team.
Here are some additional interview questions to avoid hiring toxic employees
Think about your absolute best employee. They are likely great communicators and self-starters where they identify issues and just take care of them. They have a great attitude towards work and change, and can complete high quality work faster than anyone.
How can you find more staff like this great employee? It’s all about the interview questions!
What interview questions can you ask to a candidate that will give you an understanding of how they view work, how they act in a team environment, and how enthusiastic they are about the role itself?
What kinds of answers would the great staff member you thought of above provide? Read below to find some examples of questions that you can use to find your next great employee.
Here is a list of topics that you will want to see a great employee be able to answer and provide examples of:
- Communication
- Self-starter
- Efficiency
- Work attitude
- Quality of work
- Job knowledge
Communication
Communication is all about the ability of the candidate to explain their position or a course of action to their peers and supervisors. Overall, this question goes to their role and capability as an influencer.
Interview Question 1
Tell me about a time where you felt that a course of action was best, but your coworkers disagreed with you. Did you eventually come around to their way of thinking, or did you explain your position to get them on board? Open to listening to their view, or cut off?
answer:
The expected points that should be covered was that: they were open to listening to their peer, and able to explain their point of view (or openness to solicit more information by asking another subject matter expert or research). They can articulate their coworkers point of view respectfully without being dismissive or condescending.
It would not be a good sign if the candidate provided an answer where they got a coworker to come around to their way of thinking, and the candidate projected to you that the coworker was wrong because they are not intelligent.
Probing questions:
How did you feel about your coworkers point of view? What method of communication worked well in coming to a solution? How did you work together with this individual in the future?
Self-starter
This category goes to reliability of the candidate in their day to day performance. They should ideally be challenged by new and difficult assignments. They can originate new ideas, methods, and procedures. It’s great to be ambitious, but it needs to go beyond ambition and wanting something – to be able to do the tasks (and more).
Interview Question 2
Tell me about a recent challenge on a project that you had? What resources did you use to solve the problem?
Answer:
An ideal answer would be an example where they found an issue with a current project where they did some research to find the answer. A sense of curiosity should be demonstrated where an outcome was not as expected so they took it on themselves to solve it, rather than say, “I don’t know” and pass it along to someone else. Resources used would be subject matter experts, but they asked questions so that they could learn for next time.
An example response/scenario could be a challenge with an excel formula. Something was not working as it should. The candidate did some google searching to find the solution, were able to implement the adjustment successfully. Learned for next time and shared their experience with coworkers.
Probing questions:
How do you typically approach problem solving? What are your preferred resources when trying to find a solution to a problem? What do you find interesting about problem solving?
Efficiency
This category explores how the individual uses their time as it related to job activities. You would want to see how they use their time to the fullest extent to ensure work runs smoothly and ahead of schedule. The candidate is able to anticipate further requirements and is prompt in recommending the same to the supervisor. They volunteer to action authorized tasks.
Interview Question 3
Tell me about a time that you had multiple projects and priorities. What would you do if your boss emailed you with a request for you to perform an additional task on a project right before a key deliverable is due? How would you respond to them?
Answer:
A great employee would take it in stride that there is additional task to complete. They would want to have the best quality work submitted to a client – even if that means last minute edits and additions.
An ideal employee would get on the addition or change right away, but would maintain good communication with their boss when they have had to change course. A great employee should be able shift their priorities without upset.
Probing questions:
How did you feel about the last minute project addition? Were you frustrated by the lack of time to perform a task? Do you think the project addition was required?
Work attitude
This is how the employee views the work environment as it relates to the day to day basis of their outlook. They should exhibit an exceptional work attitude and be quite positive in their outlook. A great candidate would demonstrate a respectful questioning attitude.
Interview Question 4
Tell me about a time that you disagreed with a decision your Manager made. How did you handle it?
Answer:
Respectfully spoke to their manager about their concerns with the choice. They demonstrated acceptance of the choice. They offered suggestions on how to make the choice more palatable or operational.
A great answer would mention that they did not agree with the choice to change a shift for instance. Spoke to their manager about the choice, suggesting that there was too much work for one person. Understood budget constraints, offered options on how to reallocate work so that change would still keep up with client demand on services.
Probing questions:
Looking back, was the correct decision made by the leadership team? How did you approach your manager with this change? Did you call them out in front of other staff, or ask to speak privately?
Interview Question 5
Have you ever reported a concern with a fellow employee’s performance to your manager? Did you speak with them first? How did you phrase it with your manager?
Answer:
A good answer demonstrates that the interview is concerned with work quality, lateness, or professionalism. It would be good to see that they are bothered by this type of behavior.
They should have made some reasonable attempt to resolve it with the employee first. For instance, if they were gossiping, they should have tried to tell the coworker that it wasn’t appropriate for them to be gossiping. If they thought that their coworker’s work quality was poor, they should have offered to assist to help them learn or gave them some additional training before bringing it to their manager for support.
Probing questions:
What did you try first? Could you have done anything differently to support your coworker? What was it about their actions that bothered you the most?
Quality of Work
The candidate should be able to provide example where they produced exceptional quality of work, regardless of the variety of tasks involved. If they make a mistake , it is rare, and the error would never be repeated.
Interview Question 6
Tell me about a time that you worked on a project that you were really proud of. What was the outcome, were there any challenges that you had to overcome?
Answer:
A great answer would be work project related. This is where enthusiasm for the work that they did is the only acceptable answer. It’s a bonus at this point if it is a truly impressive project as an experienced employee. If they reorganized a filing cabinet as an intern and could speak enthusiastically about the efficiency they created and the challenge of teaching the current employees the new filing system, this is a great answer. It doesn’t seem like a shining star answer, but this candidate has the capacity to care about their impact on the organization.
On the flip side, if they provided the answer and didn’t seem engaged, this is a project that they seemed annoyed that they were assigned to because it was menial – you don’t want this employee.
They are more likely to become a disengaged employee down the road once things do not go their way. If an employee is inexperienced in their field, it’s acceptable if they use an example outside of their work. For instance, a time they fixed up an old car as long as the cover the above outcomes to describing it.
If they have five or more years of experience and they cannot think of a time they were proud of a work accomplishment – this isn’t an acceptable answer.
Probing questions:
Why were you proud of this work, process improvement, or task? What did you learn from this that you can take forward to future work?
Job Knowledge
This provides an indication of how the employee understands his/her work. They should have exceptional job knowledge. The employee must demonstrate that they are capable of handling any work assignments with minimal or no instruction. They must understand and support organizational goals and objectives.
A general understanding of the standards/policies/requirements of a position is not always enough. What if the staff member is at their ceiling of capabilities? It’s great that they know the technical answers of their position, but can they go even further and work independently and thinking of ways that their work aligns with the overall organizational goals and objectives?
Interview Question 7
What types of additional resources do you have to do your job if you have a question? How do you know if you have enough answers to perform a new task?
Answer:
There should be a reference to the people sitting across from them interviewing them for a potential position as a resource person, especially as they on-board at the organization if they are brand new or changing teams.
Additional resources that could be listed are textbooks, journals, and courses they have taken or are interested in taking. There should be some insight as to how to go about finding answers that is not just “ask my coworkers or manager”.
There should also be some reference to troubleshooting to see if a potential solution is effective so that they perform work that they are proud of.
Probing questions:
What additional courses have you taken to prepare yourself for this role? Walk me through how you would troubleshoot a technical difficulty you were having.
Search through your current set of interview questions and see what needs some fine tuning, and what can be replaced all together. Hiring the wrong employee will cause you more work than the time investment of tailoring your interview questions.
If you interview five candidates and none of them answer to your satisfaction, interview some more. Work attitude does not come across in a resume, that can only occur face to face.