Getting the best candidate to fill a position in an organisation can be a lengthy process. This does not mean that there is a scarcity of qualified labour force in Australia, but they desire to have the right talent when conducting interviews.

Hiring the wrong candidate for a vital role can lead to poor decision making which can be costly to your organisation. It explains why most organisations invest in their time and resources in the hiring process to get the best candidate.

Below are questions for interviews that will help you get the best out of your candidate.

1. Which of Your Skills Are Valuable to Us?
You need to know how the candidate will utilise the skills listed in their resume to benefit your company. The candidate should be able to demonstrate how they will use their skills and experience to add value to your company. If the candidate cannot relate the current role with their skills and experience, it could be a sign that they aren’t suitable.

An ideal candidate should be comfortable to explain what the role involves and how their skill set is essential for the position. Additionally, the candidate should also demonstrate a good understanding of your company.

2. Briefly Tell Me about the Achievements You’ve Had in This Position?
When hiring candidates, use this question as it makes them relax. Success story from their previous organisations will bring their best. It is also an ideal strategy to prove that the candidates have been utilising their skills.

A candidate who doesn’t have any relevant success story to the role you’re looking to fill may not be suitable to hire. You can generate follow up questions based on the type of success story the candidate will give.

3. Why Do You Want to Work with Us?
You need to know whether the candidate has your organisation’s interest at heart or they are there to earn. You can tell whether the candidate has a connection with your brand. Despite hiring candidates to fill a vacant role, you also need someone to advocate for your business.

The candidate should portray a good understanding of your company products and services, perhaps say they have been your customer. Whether they are loyal users of your products or did research, the candidate should have an affinity for your brand. It is a sign that the candidate is likely to be with your organisation for a long time.

4. What Is Your Biggest Failure concerning Your Skills?
This question will help you know whether the candidate possesses self-awareness skills. A perfect candidate should express how they were able to avoid the recurrence of the failure. Even leaders have weaknesses where they learn how to correct them.

Check on how the candidate was able to overcome the failure.

5. How Do You Prioritise Responsibilities Should You Be Assigned Several of Them to Do at Once?
This is a behavioural question that will expose how an applicant would behave when they are under pressure. The candidate’s feedback will also give you an idea of whether they can put up with your company’s speed.

In the applicant’s response, you should be able to capture how they differentiate what is important and what should be treated with urgency. You should also be able to note if the candidate can delegate duties and if they can communicate, should they fail to deliver on the set deadline.

Take note of how the candidate manages work-related stress.

6. Any Questions for Us?
It should form the last part of your questions for interviews. It helps you know whether the applicant understands the role and is interested in working with you.

Qualified candidates should be ready to ask you questions relating to your company and its position.

While the hiring process can be a daunting task, the tips above will help you get the most out of a candidate. You don’t have to ask all the above questions in one interview. Keep interchanging them whenever you have interviews. The questions are not designed for a specific job position; you can customise them to the post you are looking to fill.