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

We have gone one better.

Robert WatsonThanks 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).

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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?

Good Interview Questions from www.HRwisdom.com.auAsking 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?

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