Here are five questions great candidates ask:
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1. What do you expect me to accomplish in the first 60 to 90 days?
Great candidates want to hit the ground running. They don't want to spend weeks or months "getting to know the organization."
They want to make a difference--right away.
2. What are the common attributes of your top performers?
Great
candidates also want to be great long-term employees. Every
organization is different, and so are the key qualities of top
performers in those organizations.
Maybe your top performers work
longer hours. Maybe creativity is more important than methodology.
Maybe constantly landing new customers in new markets is more important
than building long-term customer relationships. Maybe it's a willingness
to spend the same amount of time educating an entry-level customer as
helping an enthusiast who wants high-end equipment.
Great candidates want to know, because 1) they want to know if they fit, and 2) if they do fit, they want to be a top performer.
3. What are a few things that really drive results for the company?
Employees
are investments, and every employee should generate a positive return
on his or her salary. (Otherwise why are they on the payroll?)
In
every job some activities make a bigger difference than others. You
need your HR folks to fill job openings... but what you really want is
for HR to find the right candidates because that results in higher
retention rates, lower training costs, and better overall productivity.
You need your service techs to perform effective repairs... but what you
really want is for those techs to identify ways to solve problems and
provide other benefits--in short, to generate additional sales.
Great candidates want to know what truly makes a difference. They know helping the company succeed means they succeed as well.
4. What do employees do in their spare time?
Happy employees 1) like what they do and 2) like the people they work with.
Granted
this is a tough question to answer. Unless the company is really small,
all any interviewer can do is speak in generalities.
What's
important is that the candidate wants to make sure they have a
reasonable chance of fitting in--because great job candidates usually
have options.
5. How do you plan to deal with...?
Every
business faces a major challenge: technological changes, competitors
entering the market, shifting economic trends... there's rarely a Warren
Buffett moat protecting a small business.
So while a candidate
may see your company as a stepping-stone, they still hope for growth and
advancement... and if they do eventually leave, they want it to be on
their terms and not because you were forced out of business.
Say
I'm interviewing for a position at your bike shop. Another shop is
opening less than a mile away: How do you plan to deal with the new
competitor? Or you run a poultry farm (a huge industry in my area): What
will you do to deal with rising feed costs?
A great candidate
doesn't just want to know what you think; they want to know what you
plan to do--and how they will fit into those plans.
6. The
question I always end with when I am the candidate being interviewed,
and provided the interviewer is my potential manager, is "What do you
think you're like to work for?" It's a question that has never failed
me, as no matter how they answer the question, you'll know exactly what
it's like working for them. E.g. - In my public sector social work days I
asked this of the head of clinical services at a non-profit, a PhD in
clinical psychology. He said he didn't understand the question no matter
how many different ways I phrased it. That indicated to me he couldn't
put himself in another's shoes and objectively appraise himself; an odd
characteristic for a therapist, wouldn't you say?
7. These
are great questions. One that has always impressed me is, "Do you have
any hesitations about my background?" Candidates that pose this question
convey a high level of confidence and maturity to the interviewer as
this can be a tough thing to ask and may not lead to an ideal response. I
share a few more thoughts in my blog post:
http://pastfive.typepad.com/pastfive/2011/02/make-an-impression-with-one-question-.html
Original link: http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/5-questions-great-job-candidates-ask-interviewers.html
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