Interviewing can be a tricky business and without the right questions it can be very difficult to find out candidates’ past behaviours and therefore predict their future ones.

This list is by no means comprehensive and you should be asking many more, but if you’re not asking these questions already then try them and see what results you get.

What professional achievement are you most proud of?

Someone giving an unimpressive answer here is obviously a big worry, strong candidates will have something they want to tell you and be able to speak easily about their involvement in it. Try to get as much information about this as possible: Who was involved…What challenges did you face…How did you overcome them…….etc. etc. Be careful of too many ‘we’s’ in their answer, you are looking for an individual playing a critical part in this, not a project he or she was merely involved in.

Describe a situation where others you were working with on a project disagreed with your ideas.

A good interviewee may use the STAR technique to answer questions such as this so that you clearly understand the challenge faced by them. The response should allow you to be able to assess a number of competencies including teamwork, dealing with conflict and leadership.

Tell me about a tricky situation you have faced at work recently and how did you deal with it?

This is another question that should lead to deeper analysis. Not only does this tell you about the type and severity of challenges they face at work but also which issues they find more difficult to deal with and how they solve problems.

If we were taking a reference on you and we asked your boss to describe you in one word what would he or she say?

This question is one of my favourites, it’s like an injection of truth serum; interviewees have to be honest because they know that you will be taking references and you may well ask their managers that very question.

Have you got any questions?

Ok, so I’m sure you ask at the end of every interview but often this is seen as polite conversation after the real questions and not part of the assessment. This shouldn’t be the case – as an interviewee the standard of these questions is often an insight into the person – have they researched your company well and considered the challenges of the role? Are they seriously considering taking a position with your company or are they just leveraging a counter offer?

If you’re not sure of the questions you should be asking, a good starting point is thinking of the key competencies you are looking for in the potential hire and writing down some questions that will ascertain this.

I recruit in the Marketing industry. Feel free to give me a call for more information, email matthew.finlay@calibresearch.co.uk with your favourite interview questions and keep an eye on @CalibreMatthew for more blogs.

Calibre Search is a specialist recruitment consultancy operating in the Built Environment (Consultancy & Construction), HVAC / Refrigeration, I.T. and Marketing sectors throughout the UK.