So you’re face to face with your third candidate for the day. The interview is flowing smoothly, the candidate seems comfortable and confident, and you smile as they indulge in some self-depreciating humour in response to your questions. But despite the easy flow and thoughtful responses, you can’t shake the feeling something is missing.

You begin to wonder who practiced their lines more.

Have you ever had that overwhelming urge to strip away all the same old interview script and throw your candidate off their guard, and finally get some real answers?

I have never liked the 20 questions approach to interviewing. Anyone can practice for a Q & A style interview, but just because you can train a dog to fetch your slippers doesn’t mean he knows why he’s doing it. Sometimes those who perform best in an interview turn out the be the worst type of employees.

My style of interviewing is more covert. By carrying out seemingly more unstructured interviews, tearing up the script and encouraging the interviewee to relax and speak freely, I can find out what I really want to know.
When I sit down in an interview, I like to dig around and learn about the candidates values. This is unlikely to be achieved by asking them directly. Most people won’t have thought about their values in work context, and the ones who have will trot out answers that they think I want to hear. Not helpful.
Instead, I have to draw out the answers I need indirectly.

The primary goal of any job interview is to assess the skill set and compatibility of a job applicant. The more information you can extract from the interview process, the more likely you are to make a successful hire. However, to do this we need to challenge the candidate and dig a little deeper than ‘what is your greatest achievement to date’.

Given free reign and no restrictions, here are some of the questions I would love to ask my candidates.

1. What questions do you think I’m going to ask? Run me through the scenarios in your head and answer the questions I’d probably ask you.

Aside from getting the boring, predictable questions out of the way, this will throw a spanner in the works in the best possible way. You will find out how well a candidate can think on their feet, and get an insight into how much thought each candidate has put into the interview in the days leading up to it.

2. How easily do you make friends?

People with behaviour issues don’t keep friends for very long. Someone who frequently falls out with friends is more likely than not to be difficult themselves, rather than simply hard done by. Regardless of if someone is new to town, or moves a lot, the ability to establish and develop friendships shows emotional intelligence.

3. Where do you really see yourself in five years?

I don’t want to hear ‘working for your company’. I want to know what drives a candidate, where their Point B is. My biggest concern is not that a candidate has big plans that will result in their leaving in two years time. I’m a realist. Employees move on. I’m not worried about that.
My biggest concern is that I might hire someone who is simply along for the ride, living day to day with no real aspirations or personally motivated goals. People with no direction will often simply be ‘going through the motions’ at work, clock-watching and cutting corners, while wishing they could be paid to binge on Netflix in their pyjamas. I would rather hire someone who will leave in two years if it means they are invested in the work they do while they are here.

4. What parts of this position are you definitely going to bluff at first?

If they can do it all with their eyes shut, they will get bored. If they only think they can do it all, they will be difficult to develop as employees. If they can’t perform most of the tasks the role entails, they are going to be overwhelmed, requiring constant babysitting, costing the business time and money better spent elsewhere. A good employee will be confident in their work, but willing to own up to their weak areas and take the steps needed to address them.

5. When and where do you do your best work?

I am the first to own up to the fact that struggle to work in an open plan office. I’m too easily distracted and don’t work as effectively when strategizing and developing content. Others thrive in the hubbub and background noise, but may struggle with working in isolated environments. It would be a mistake to hire someone who doesn’t thrive in your office environment, no matter how perfect they might seem. This one is actually one I’d love to ask, because I think our offices, and office hours often only suit a certain type of person.

6. What do you think we have in common?

Instead of simply asking the candidate to tell you about themselves, this question flips the ‘who am I’ on its head, and hones in on the information you’re actually after – will yoube able to work with this person? It personalises the conversation and will disrupt any well rehearsed spiels full of cherry picked facts the candidate may have prepared as well as testing their perceptiveness.

7. What do you believe is worth fighting for?

These answers will give you an insight into the candidate’s true character and ask them to dig deeper.

I am aware it would be potentially risky to ask these specific questions. However, if we abandon the dry, Q&A style interview, instead structuring our interview plan to encourage organic discussion, we can steer the conversation in a way that helps us gather answers without asking directly.

Great companies are made with great people, and it’s crucial to look past a tidy CV and beautifully rehearsed responses, to really know who you are adding into the mix.

This article was kindly supplied by Haystack Jobs.