Identifying the right talent for your team, part 4

Questions such as ‘tell me about a time when…’ allow the candidate to talk about their previous experience and successes, giving you an opportunity to see whether your candidate would be a good fit culturally. They can also allow you to assess candidates’ critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. Past successes can be a good indicator of future success too.

But beware the cliché questions such as ‘what is your greatest weakness’. Let’s be honest, who really answers that truthfully? It’s also a subjective question because different people will have their own opinions of whether something is a strength or a weakness depending on their own experience and background.

In our experience, cliché questions such as these can make you look generic and can put the candidate off which is the last thing you want when talent is scarce. Think about what you are actually trying to achieve with such questions and maybe find another way to tease out that information.

The following are just a few examples of situational-based questions that we find work well

• Tell me about a time you made a process more efficient. How did you go about it and what was the outcome?
• Tell me about a time you had to deliver bad news to a team member. How did you approach that conversation?
• Have you ever missed a deadline? What was the impact and what would you do differently next time?
• Tell me about a time you had to deal with conflict with a colleague.
• How do you prioritise work when working on multiple projects?

However, be aware that some candidates, especially junior ones, might not be familiar with this type of interviewing. These questions can also be hard to answer, so make sure you give them time to reflect on the question instead of prompting them to rush their answer. Also, be prepared to ask follow-up questions to properly understand the specifics of the situation they describe.

The situations they choose to describe will give you a good insight into what they find challenging or stressful too – it’s not the same for everyone!

If you are interviewing entry-level talent, they might not have relevant work experience to draw on in order to answer these questions to encourage them to think about a situation they might have experienced within a sports team or similar instead.

Some things to look out for in the answers include a general lack of specificity – if a candidate can’t give specific detail, it could be a sign they’re making it up. If a candidate who already has a good amount of specific work experience can’t come up with an example, maybe they’re not enthusiastic about their job.