We recently published a guest blog from HR and Talent consultant Sharon Clews in which she talked about hiring for organisational fit over technical skill. She had recently completed a major recruitment project within retail financial services and was sharing her experiences.

In that blog she talked about the need for using behavioural questioning as part of the interview process, and in this follow up she shares some of the questions that she asked. Let us know if you have used these, or similar, questions…

“Behavioural interview questions are based on the premise that how you behaved in the past will predict the way you will behave in the future. Of course, circumstances and situations change, but overall, the response a candidate provides will be a very close approximation of how they would be expected to react in a similar situation.

You should use this form of questioning to delve into the way a candidate is likely to respond to situations requiring attributes such as attention to detail, autonomy, criticism, commitment, decision making, communication and initiative. In these examples, the information in brackets at the end is what we are trying to elicit from the candidate with that particular question.

1. Tell me about a time when you have had to communicate an unpopular management decision to your team. How did you deliver this information? (communication skills)
2. Tell me about the most difficult customer you have ever had to deal with. What was the problem, what did you do and what was the outcome? (customer service skills)
3. Can you describe any projects or tasks that were primarily undertaken because of your efforts? How successful were they? (initiative)
4. Give me an example of when you were successful in identifying and developing business opportunities outside existing business (leadership skills) Continue reading “14 Key Interview Questions to ask if you’re Hiring for Organisational Fit” »