Are you in charge of hiring? or work in human resources?

Question

What do you think you base your hires on? Is there a certain question you ask a potential employee, that if answered right, helps someone to get the job? If so what is it? What is your idea of someone you wouldn't consider for a job?

Answer 1

I base my decision a lot on nonverbal cues from the person I am interviewing. Fidgeting doesn't bother me, some people are just nervous when they interview for a job, but if they can't look me in the eyes when they are answering a question or if they seem to be trying to give an answer they think I want to hear, their chances go down.

Answer 2

Hi -

Usually an interview is a hard and very limited source of decision data for hiring a long term employee.

First of all there are many professionals out there who are experts in giving good interviews, but once start the job they are weak performers. Be cautious.

You have to go beyond appearances.

Common example questions are:

- What do you consider your strenghts are?
- Why do you want to work here?
- If hired, How long do you plan to work here?
- What is the most difficult situation you have faced in your carreer?
- How did you overcome it?
- If you face this problem ... (say an example situation) what would you do?
- Are you a weak performer? What makes you different?
- Do you plan to have your own business?
- Are you married? Have kids? How many?
- Do you have brothers and sisters?

Frame the time for each answer, you will tell how the person manages pressure and time.

There are not right or wrong answers to those questions. To understand the human behaviour and the impact it will have in your company you have to frame some desirable attitudes for the position you are hiring for.

First define the position. Profession, skills, average age, attitude and others. Then you frame the decision according to facts and appeal.

But be careful of "The perfect interview" always monitor performance and trust your intuition.

Hope it helps

Answer 3

I have been doing interviewing and hiring for about 12 years now. There are many questions to ask, depending on the job and type of person I need to hire. One of my favorites is "why did you choose your college and major?" To me there is no right or wrong answer to this question, I just like to hear them what reasoning is and how their thought process works. I don't like the canned answers "I'm a great people person and work well with others." Let's face it, who would walk in and tell you "well, I hate people who eat at their desk, I pick fights with co-workers and I want to get paid a lot of money and do little to no work for it." Try to be honest with the interviewer and with yourself, don't lie, really think about the company, their benefits, and working conditions and is that a place that you can work for. I understand we all need to work and earn money, I'm in the same boat myself. But if you intentionally take a job and intend to come in and complain and be miserable towards all the other employees in the office, who will you be helping?

Honestly, a person that I would not consider hiring is someone who comes in dressed very casual, sits back in the chair like they are sitting in their living room, and acts bored through the interview. Ask me questions, ask about the company, ask about the job, ask why the position is open, ask about the person they will report to, ask about the benefits and working conditions. Show an interest in the company, do a little research about who you are applying with (the company) and what they do. You don't have to be an expert, but when someone comes in to interview with me and they ask "Now what is it you guys do here?" it's a little bit of a setback.