The Top 5 Best Interview Questions of All Time

 

Authored by: Employment Office Shortlisting & Selection Team Leader, Amber Dique-Billete

Tell me about yourself. What are your strengths? What motivates you? It’s okay. We’ve all been there. Standard interview questions give recruiters a snapshot of the interviewee and provide insights on social and communication skills. However, in my five years as a Shortlisting and Selection Specialist, I’ve interviewed thousands of candidates and have come to discover which questions trigger the most informative responses.

AmberIf you base your hiring decision on responses to average questions, you will hire an average candidate. Asking mediocre questions helps you screen out clearly unqualified applicants, but you’re unlikely to be successful in determining the best choice for the role. In other words, you’ll be focusing on disqualifying unfit candidates, whilst neglecting your search for the best. At the other extreme, some entrepreneurial giants including Google, Apple and Amazon ask outrageous interview questions in their search for outstanding candidates. According to GlassDoor, job seekers have been blown away by questions such as ‘Have you ever stolen a pen from work?’, ‘What songs best describes your work ethic?’ and ‘How many cows are in Canada?’

Of course, such absurd interview questions reflect the innovation and creativity at the heart of these brands. Asking unexpected questions can reveal unexpected intel on candidates and provide an insight into whether the candidate is a true fit for the organisation’s culture. However, when it comes to mass recruitment, abstract questions can be difficult and time consuming for a hiring team to accurately interpret and compare. With this in mind, I’ve compiled a list of must-have interview questions that have stood the test of time; garden-variety questions that uncover the most valuable candidate information and eliminate the need for a never-ending list of questions.

  1. Why did you apply, what attracted you and what interests you about the organisation?  Although this sounds basic, I get so much out of this question in terms of motivation. It helps me to quickly learn how genuinely interested a candidate is in the opportunity. It’s also my first question for almost any interview.
  1. What are your reasons for leaving your previous/current role? A lot of people won’t tell you why they are leaving unless you ask. So you need to ask. Sometimes they have really positive reasons like motivation for the new opportunity, and sometimes it can bring up things you really want to learn more about such as not getting along with a manager or not meeting targets…or getting fired!
  1. What do you envisage as the next stage of your career, and how does this opportunity fit into your plan? This will give you an idea of how aspirational a candidate is and if there are opportunities for their career development within your organisation. A candidate totally lacking ambition is unlikely to be motivated at work. On the other hand, a candidate with particular career goals may not be able to advance in their area of interest within your organisation.
  1. What kind of working environment or culture are you looking for? This question can reveal whether the candidate has a true understanding of the role. It can be subtle. For example, if you are recruiting a fast-paced, target-driven sales role and the candidate says they are looking for ‘stability,’ it would warrant looking more into. I ask this at the end of my main questions so the candidate has loosened up a bit and are more candid. 
  1. Do you have any holiday booked? Again, this is simple but time and time again, hiring managers neglect this question, only to realise when it’s too late!

Asking the right interview questions is key to gaining a multi-dimensional snapshot of your candidates and thereby ensuring you make an informed hiring decision.

Editors Note: Employment Office provides revolutionary shortlisting and selection services. Our rigorous, professional selection process, delivered by my team of shortlisting experts and myself, saves you time and ensures you make the right hire. 

 

48% of employees say the role they were hired for isn’t the job they’re doing

Misleading advertising is all-encompassing and inescapable – it continues to pepper the Internet, our cities’ billboards and product packaging. And the recruitment industry is no exception. A recent Employment Office poll reveals candidates are experiencing such bait-and-switch practices in the recruitment space. In fact, almost half of employees surveyed reported the job they are doing isn’t the role they were hired for.

Although crafting a job description to make the role sound better than it actually is may attract more candidates in the short term, misleading job descriptions have significant long-term repercussions. With an entire talent pool enthusiastic under false pretences, any candidate attracted by a misleading job description is inherently the wrong person for the role. As such, new hires quickly leave, and will likely share their experience on employer review websites such as Glassdoor, Great Place to Work or Indeed.com. Ultimately, misleading job advertisements costs an organisation more time and money in the long run, and risk damaging their employer brand.

Read on for our top three tips on how to accurately communicate the ins and outs of the position at hand to ensure you recruit the right fit for the role.

1. Conduct an exit interview with the incumbent. Of course, you need to ask why they are moving on, but delve deeper to discover what your future talent pool needs to know. The following questions will help you gain a complete picture of the position:

  • What did you value most about their role?
  • What did you dislike?
  • Did your role change over time? If so, how?
  • Was there anything unexpected about the role? If so, what was it?
  • What are the key qualities and skills we should seek in your replacement?

It’s a good idea to revisit your exit interview notes on other past employees of this position to learn how this role has evolved over the years and gain an insight into the direction the role may take.

2. Nail your job description.

  • Describe what the job entails on a day-to-day basis. It is a good idea to ask your sitting employee to write a list of the activities they get up to on a typical day.
  • Consider how this role will evolve. Your exit interview will provide valuable insights on the future of the position. However, key figures in the business direct the company’s activities as a whole, and as such, have a major influence on the responsibilities of the position. For example, new products and services, and bringing on new clients, can have a significant impact on a role; expanding and contracting responsibilities, altering teams and shifting career paths within your organisation.   
  • Don’t be afraid to describe the challenges of the position. Expressing the difficulties of a role will weed out unfit candidates at the application process, rather than later – during the interview or worse, after they’ve been hired! For example, if a position requires the worker to relocate to a rural area, highlight this factor to attract people who would embrace this challenge. If you’re hiring for a fast-paced sales-based role, say you’re looking for someone who thrives under pressure.

3. Invite the shortlisted candidate to shadow the sitting employee. Not only will the applicant be able to see first-hand their potential daily schedule, but this is an opportunity for you to observe them in the context of the role and confirm if they are a good fit for your organisation’s culture. At the end of the week, when your candidate signs their letter of acceptance, you’ll have peace of mind they are truly passionate about the role for which you hired them.

Doing your research and creating accurate job advertisements will ensure your new hire is prepared for all aspects of the role, helping you build a robust team that will stick around in the long run.

Editor’s note: Employment Office provides outstanding recruitment advertising services as part of a fully integrated recruitment marketing process. We cover all aspects of an organisation’s recruitment needs whilst being transparent and cost effective. 

The Worst Employer Branding Video Ever Made

Mark Puncher, our Head of Employer Branding, talks about that video and advises on how to get it right for your organisation.

The disastrous employer branding video released recently by the Department of Finance brought laughter to offices across Australia, and reminded us that not all publicity is good publicity. I feel sorry for the grads who took part but also for the people who brought in the agency – they chose experts they hoped they could rely on and were badly let down.

And they’ve missed a trick. Video is an incredibly powerful and positive employer branding tool, if you get it right. 

Below is a video we made to showcase sales roles at Employment Office. It increased the number of quality applications by 40%. What’s more, 95% of shortlisted candidates had seen the video and said it influenced their decision to apply.

Here are 5 key tips to getting it right:

  1. Partner with genuine employer branding specialists 

The rise in Employer Branding has encouraged many marketing agencies and video producers to bolt ’employer branding’ on to their list of services. But EB is a specialism and requires brand marketers who live and breathe recruitment. Choose the right people.

  1. Identify and understand your target audience

Before you jump in, make sure you know and understand who you’re trying to attract. What matters to them in a job, a career and life? How do they talk about those things? How do they make career-related decisions? What do they think about you?

  1. Be clear on your pillars 

Use the insights above to clarify the key elements of your offer (your Employee Value Proposition pillars). What are the 3-5 things that make you a great choice for these particular candidates? Know them, nail them, then bring them to life in your video.

  1. ALWAYS use real people. NEVER give them a script.

When it comes to EB, I’d always recommend using actual employees but you must capture their own words, live. Prospective candidates want to see experiences they can relate to –  real people revealing their journey, thoughts and achievements.

  1. Edit edit edit! Aim for short and powerful… or lose them forever. 

You have a great story to tell and so it’s tempting to try to squeeze in too much… but if it’s too long, they won’t watch it. If it’s a pre-application video, we usually recommend two minutes maximum, although this should be decided based on your specific aims and audiences.

[box style=”1″]

Get a powerful EB video for your organisation for as little as $7,999.  

Our Employer Branding experts will help position your organisation as an employer of choice, through powerful insights, a personalised Employee Value Proposition and a high impact video stories. Click here to find out more.

[/box]

 

Leverage flexible working arrangements to attract the best talent, here’s how.

According to a 2016 Workible study, flexible working arrangements is number three on the list of important factors for job seekers when applying for a new role, behind salary and location. With three out of four office-based workplaces in Australia reportedly offering negotiable working schedules, flexibility is increasingly expected by employees across all office-based industries.

Major corporates including Deloitte, PWC Canberra, Cisco and Expedia have all embraced the move to alternative working arrangements, including working from home and hot desking, and have significantly reduced their office space as a result.  Other organisations have chosen to offer workers flexible hours/working from home arrangements on a case by case basis as requested.

Ultimately each organisation has to determine what’s right for their operation, however flexible working arrangements are a growing trend in the candidate market. If you do offer any benefits in this space, it can give you a competitive edge when it comes to attracting talent to your organisation, and positively impact the perception of your employer brand in the market place.

In my current role with Employment Office, I enjoy a flexible working arrangement to suit my family arrangements and it’s made a huge difference to my home and work life.

My advice to organisations that do offer any employment flexibility, whether it’s on a case-by-case basis or as a formalised agreement with all staff, is to make sure you share this with candidates during the recruitment process. In my experience a candidate will opt for a role that offers flexibility and location convenience over salary, as ‘life balance’ is more valued by individuals than salary.

Read on for my tips on how to communicate workplace flexibility to boost your talent attraction strategy.

  • Showcase both full-time and part-time employees on your careers website. Employee stories that include a more personal element paint a strong picture for candidates. Use these people stories to highlight how your organisation values each of their people’s personal life and endeavors to support them.
  • Advertising vacant roles in both the full-time and part-time categories on job boards. The key words ‘part time’ is a highly searched across Australian job boards. By including your role in the part time category, you’re tapping into highly experienced candidates who are looking for flexibility.
  • Include workplace flexibility in your recruitment advertising content. Many organisations that offer flexibility on a case-by-case basis won’t advertise it, and this is a mistake. Don’t miss out on the perfect candidate because they don’t know what you can offer them.

Whatever your organisation offers in regards to flexible working arrangements, the important point is to ensure you communicate your offering throughout the recruitment process. In an increasingly candidate-driven talent market, anything you can do to keep up (or stay ahead) of the competition is critical to attracting the best people to your organisation.

 Author: Sacha Price

Editor’s note: Employment Office provides cutting-edge employer branding services to help organisations attract the very best candidates. Contact us to find out how we can discover your employee value proposition and establish your organisation as an employer of choice.

 

Don’t Keep Your Candidates Hanging

One third of Australian job seekers rate their candidate experience as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’, as reported by a 2016 Workible study. Evidently, the job seeker experience in Australia could be greatly improved, but how does this impact employers? With a staggering 70 per cent of job seekers sharing their negative candidate experiences with friends and family as well as online, hiring managers simply cannot afford to neglect any applicant throughout the recruitment process.

Here are my top tips to keep candidates engaged throughout the recruitment process:

Communicate from the get-go and end an automated email to candidates to confirm you received their application. In this initial communication, thank the candidate for their application and inform them how and when they can expect to hear back from you. Include a link to your careers page and social media profiles to invite them to learn more about your organisation in the meantime. Keep the email short and sweet.

Email candidates who didn’t make it to the interview stage within a couple of weeks of their application. According to the Workible Job Seeker 2016 study, most candidates don’t hear back from recruiters if they are unsuccessful– even if they went for an interview! More than 40 per cent of job seekers are less likely to re-apply to an organisation if the company didn’t respond to acknowledge their application. In a finite candidate market, don’t keep your candidates waiting and risk reducing your future talent pool.

Be clear and explain the next step of the application process clearly to shortlisted candidates. Outline when and where the interview will take place, and what candidates should bring. It sounds simple but with the top line recruitment process to think about, hiring managers can forget their office is actually embedded in a maze of intertwining corridors on a floor only accessible with a key-card. If this sounds familiar, include step-by-step instructions for candidates to find the interview room. This simple measure will save you both time and prevent your already nervous candidates from any more stress.

Determine your new hire and contact them as soon as possible. The average a job seeker applies for 100 jobs over 6 months, according to the 2016 National Job Seeker Experience Report. So it’s more than likely then your candidate has embarked on the recruitment process with one of your competitors. In fact, in 2015, almost half of declined job offers were due to the candidate accepting another job, according to The MRINetwork Recruiter Sentiment Study. I recommend phoning your successful candidate first. If you can’t get a hold of them, send a text and an email. Don’t let your talent slip through your fingers.

Timely communication with applicants is one of the easiest ways organisations can sculpt a positive employer brand image and encourage future applications. Ask your newest employees what it was like for them to be a candidate with your organisation and revisit your current system for gaps – where can you speed up communication?

Author: Adam Rowe, Recruitment Sales and Account Manager/Leader, Employment Office

Editor’s note: Employment Office is an industry leader in recruitment advertising, shortlisting and marketing services. Learn more about our attraction and retention solutions here.