Employers often ask us at HRwisdom for good interview questions to select good candidates.

We have gone one better.

Thanks to long time HRwisdom Community contributor, Robert Watson, we have come up with a Top 10 List of Interview Questions to ask at job interviews.

However, rather than just give you some excellent questions to ask, Robert also gives you the type of answer you want to hear back from your ideal candidate.

And believe us when we say that Robert knows what he is talking about.

Although he started out as an engineer and quality systems expert, Robert also had many years in the HR field perfecting recruitment & selection systems for a variety of businesses.

Robert even did extensive travel overseas for the express purpose of studying world’s best practice for establishing greenfields (brand new) business operations in Australia – this included how to hire people for their skills, knowledge and attributes (and not just the stuff listed on their CVs).

Download the free HRwisdom Employee Attraction & Retention Guide Now

So far we’ve seen:

1. Good Interview Question 1
2. Good Interview Question 2
3. Good Interview Question 3
4. Good Interview Question 4
5. Good Interview Question 5

Let’s look at the sixth question . . .

Good Interview Question 6

Q6. Have you ever lost your job and, if so, what did you learn from that experience?

When you ask people about how they lost their job, listen carefully for the answers.

A simple answer of I was made redundant, perhaps with a shrug of the shoulders doesn’t really tell you much about the person at all.  But some people will say, “I was made redundant because they were competing products and we just couldn’t cope as a business” or “We lost a few big orders” something like that.  At least that reveals to you that they understand the reasons behind their retrenchment and of course at the other end of the scale, you might have someone who is really bitter about the company sacking them and they will start to give their answer through gritted teeth.

Now, you need to be careful to other people who are holding a grudge for a long time.  I’m not saying that that’s necessarily bad.  I mean people get affected by emotions and they can have a very big impact on their lives.  However, the candidate who picks themselves up quickly and says, “Well I know what happened and why it happened and I’m getting on with my life.”  That’s the sort of candidate that will make the better employee for you..

Want More Good Interview Questions Right Now?

Stay tuned for the next question in our Top 10 Interview Questions With Answers series.

• Can’t wait to see the rest of the questions and answers?
• Like to know Robert’s thinking behind these questions and how they fit into the overall interview process?

You can download the full document via our HRwisdom Facebook page right now.

Just sign-in or join using the Free HR Resources tab – it’s free and available now at: www.Facebook.com/HRwisdom

By the way, we’d love it if you Like, Share or Tweet this blog post.

HRwisdom

HR Advice, Employment Law Discussion, Staff Management Tips and Information

Employers often ask us at HRwisdom for good interview questions to select good candidates.

We have gone one better.

Thanks to long time HRwisdom Community contributor, Robert Watson, we have come up with a Top 10 List of Interview Questions to ask at job interviews.

However, rather than just give you some excellent questions to ask, Robert also gives you the type of answer you want to hear back from your ideal candidate.

And believe us when we say that Robert knows what he is talking about.

Although he started out as an engineer and quality systems expert, Robert also had many years in the HR field perfecting recruitment & selection systems for a variety of businesses.

Robert even did extensive travel overseas for the express purpose of studying world’s best practice for establishing greenfields (brand new) business operations in Australia – this included how to hire people for their skills, knowledge and attributes (and not just the stuff listed on their CVs).

Download the free HRwisdom Employee Attraction & Retention Guide Now

So far we’ve seen:

1. Good Interview Question 1
2. Good Interview Question 2
3. Good Interview Question 3

Let’s look at the fourth question . . .

Good Interview Question 4

Q4. We all make mistakes. Tell us about a time when you made a mistake – what did you do about it and what did you learn from that?

Asking people about mistakes they made is very good to tease out people who are resilient and interested in continually improving things.

It’s pretty true to say that everyone makes mistakes, but the person who makes mistakes and covers it up or won’t admit it or keeps making the same mistakes over and over really isn’t the sort of person that you want in your business.

Preferred Interview Answer – What You Want To Hear

In this one, we are asking them to tell us about a mistake that they made and, in particular, we want to find out how they recognize that they made a mistake and what they did to learn from that so that it wouldn’t happen again.

If they give you an example from their home life, that’s okay.

A work example would be better.

Sometimes I call this future proofing so the person that has the attitude that “it’s okay if I stop that once, it’s okay because I’m going to fool-proof the system so that it never happens again.  Someone like that is the sort of person you want.

I don’t think you’ll ever find a candidate who will say “Well, I never make mistakes,” but it’s possible they might claim it.

Want More Good Interview Questions Right Now?

Stay tuned for the next question in our Top 10 Interview Questions With Answers series.

• Can’t wait to see the rest of the questions and answers?
• Like to know Robert’s thinking behind these questions and how they fit into the overall interview process?

You can download the full document via our HRwisdom Facebook page right now.

Just sign-in or join using the Free HR Resources tab – it’s free and available now at: www.Facebook.com/HRwisdom

By the way, we’d love it if you Like, Share or Tweet this blog post.

HRwisdom

Employers often ask us at HRwisdom for good interview questions to select good candidates.

We have gone one better.

Thanks to long time HRwisdom Community contributor, Robert Watson, we have come up with a Top 10 List of Interview Questions to ask at job interviews.

However, rather than just give you some excellent questions to ask, Robert also gives you the type of answer you want to hear back from your ideal candidate.

And believe us when we say that Robert knows what he is talking about.

Although he started out as an engineer and quality systems expert, Robert also had many years in the HR field perfecting recruitment & selection systems for a variety of businesses.

Robert even did extensive travel overseas for the express purpose of studying world’s best practice for establishing greenfields (brand new) business operations in Australia – this included how to hire people for their skills, knowledge and attributes (and not just the stuff listed on their CVs).

Download the free HRwisdom Employee Attraction & Retention Guide Now

So far we’ve seen:

1. Good Interview Question 1
2. Good Interview Question 2
3. Good Interview Question 3
4. Good Interview Question 4

Let’s look at the fifth question . . .

Good Interview Question 5

Q5. Tell us about some training you’ve done recently.

When you ask the question about training, what you’re trying to find out is the attitude that the person has towards training and improvement in general.  I wouldn’t expect that any candidate would ever say to you “We did some training and it was great to have a day away from the work place.”  However, some people might say that and if they do tell you that then you can easily see what their attitude is no matter how jovially they might present it.

Preferred Interview Answer – What You Want To Hear

A really good answer that a candidate would give you would be ‘”Yes, we regularly undergo training.  The equipment at the work place changed and so we were sent away for four hours of training and it’s really good of the company to make sure that we know exactly how to operate the equipment, the peak of its efficiency.”  Something like that so there’s a connection between what the person learned in the business, some sort of a connection.

Then the question that has equal relevance to someone who might have been out of the work force for a period of time.  Most of us might think that people out of the work force just sit around with him doing nothing or they might be applying for jobs and things like that.  But it’s always good to hear that someone has used their time gainfully even if it’s not necessarily work related.

For instance, I do recall a candidate that I interviewed once who had been out of the work force for six months and he went along to do a homebrewing course.  But the way that he went about that was he went around to two or three regional shows in his area where people had submitted homebrew samples and won prizes and he asked the winners how they have learned how to brew and so he gathered data and worked out the best equipment to get and the best course to do.  You can imagine that when we employed that guy, he was just fully on about training.  You know, ‘Let’s go out there.  Let’s learn something.  Let’s learn something new.  Let’s improve the process.’  So with people like that, you don’t have to force them to go along to training.  They expect training to happen all of the time and for all of the right reasons..

Want More Good Interview Questions Right Now?

Stay tuned for the next question in our Top 10 Interview Questions With Answers series.

• Can’t wait to see the rest of the questions and answers?
• Like to know Robert’s thinking behind these questions and how they fit into the overall interview process?

You can download the full document via our HRwisdom Facebook page right now.

Just sign-in or join using the Free HR Resources tab – it’s free and available now at: www.Facebook.com/HRwisdom

By the way, we’d love it if you Like, Share or Tweet this blog post.

HRwisdom

HR Advice, Employment Law Discussion, Staff Management Tips and Information