It’s time to fill that vacancy on your team, and the pressure is on to find a job candidate with all the skills and professional experience you need. With 63% of U.S. respondents to a recent Robert Half survey saying they plan to expand their teams and hire for both new and vacated positions in the first half of 2025, there will be a lot of interviews taking place.
But can you determine everything you need to know from just an interview? It’s possible if you, as the employer, know the best interview questions to ask candidates.
Whether you’re meeting virtually or in person, you need to prepare thoroughly as an interviewer, and that means being ready with good interview questions to ask the candidate. Sounds simple enough, right? And it is — at least in theory. But how do you prepare so that the interview questions you ask will help you make the most informed hiring decision possible?
You should ask questions that will help you gauge an applicant’s interest in the job and company, enlighten you about their work history and career plans, shed light on their values and work habits, and reveal their strengths, weaknesses, knowledge and skills. In other words, you need to develop strategic interview questions to ask candidates so you come away with a good sense of who they are in those important areas.
The 15 questions below will help you make well-informed decisions about the candidates you interview. Of course, you’ll also want to tailor the questions to be specific to the role you’re looking to fill. There are also other good types of interview questions that help you dig deeper, such as close-ended and open-ended interview questions.
Asking good job interview questions, from the basic to those uniquely suited to specialized positions, will help you get a good sense of whether this potential employee could be a successful member of your team. So, let’s jump in with 15 of the best questions to ask a candidate, and why.
You’d think with the easy access to information online today, most candidates would do their homework, but that’s not always the case. Some applicants may not even know what type of business the company engages in. Ask this cut-to-the-chase interview question, and you’ll quickly discover who is sincerely interested in working for you — and who isn’t.
Did the interviewee blindly apply to your opening, or did they consider how they match your needs? This interview question can help you find out. Applicants should be able to think critically about how their abilities will benefit your unique team.
This is a great open-ended question to ask a potential employee that can help you evaluate communication skills while gaining insights into an individual’s background in ways that go beyond the resume.
This inquiry can give you a sense of whether interviewees see the big picture at their organizations. It may also reveal why they really want to leave their current jobs.
This is one of the best questions to ask an interviewee because you’ll get a sense of their conflict resolution abilities. What tone does the person use when talking about the other people involved? Were they able to handle the situation described appropriately? Did they find common ground? Emotional intelligence is keenly needed in almost every job, and this is one of the best strategic interview questions to ask candidates for gaining a sense of how well-equipped they are in that particular area.
What kind of work will the candidate perform if selected for the position? This question helps determine if they’re suited to the types of assignments they’ll receive. Regardless of whether they’ll work remotely or in the office, someone who enjoys solitary work and long stretches of uninterrupted time may not thrive in a position requiring collaboration or multitasking.
Does your job opportunity provide an alternative to the factors (lack of professional development, management problems, etc.) that made them unhappy in their current role? If so, showcase those benefits. But keep an eye out for candidates with unrealistic expectations.
This top question to ask an interviewee can help shed light on the candidate’s soft skills and how they might work with the other members of your team. Understand the strengths of your current staff members and be on the lookout for a candidate who will complement those.
This may give you a sense of the candidate’s relationship with previous managers. Reliable? Prompt? Efficient? Keep in mind, though, who you’re asking. The answer will be simply their opinion of what the boss might have said. That’s why it’s still critical to check references. Request a list of contacts and give former employers a call to hear how their impressions align with the candidate’s.
Subscribe to the Robert Half newsletter for tips on how to build and manage a winning team.
A job candidate with professional drive can be a valuable asset to your organization. Look for someone engaged in their career with clear goals, and consider mentioning how your organization can help them achieve those objectives. Finding a prospect who is interested in career advancement and sees opportunity with your company increases the chances that they’ll be happy in the long run.
Some projects have very tight deadlines. So, asking your potential hire how well they perform under pressure can be worthwhile. Try to dig a little deeper by encouraging the candidate to offer an example of what they have done in the past with an eye toward a project staying on deadline when it looked like it might miss the mark. Or, if the candidate could not meet a critical deadline despite their best efforts, how did they handle it?
Use this strategic question to get a sense of a candidate’s critical thinking and analytical skills. You should also pay attention to how the candidate describes their behavior when faced with a challenge. Did they struggle, or did they devise an action plan and see it through?
This is a good interview question that can help you determine if the candidate would likely enjoy the work available at your company. Do the types of tasks they find fulfilling align with the job description for your position? Making sure employees find their work professionally satisfying is one of the most important factors in retention.
Here’s another open-ended strategic question to ask an interviewee that can help you uncover some interesting insights. It could spark some conversation about a hobby outside of the candidate’s 9-to-5 life or even a compelling story that reveals more about their strengths and motivations. This question can help you understand not just what a job candidate has done, but why.
