Employers - Do Not Ask These Questions During an Interview

Conducting an interview, like administering a psychological test or a polygraph (lie detector) test, is not very reliable when it comes to selecting candidates. Unfortunately, many employers are in denial about this fact and therefore continue to interview candidates using very traditional methods - that is, by asking the traditional questions many employers would ask when interviewing someone for a job.

All of us have been taught the correct way to answer many of these questions. Many of us have been taught what questions to expect, what we should wear, how to shake hands, when to write thank-you notes to the interviewers, etc., etc. Interviews are all methodical, almost like a game. If you play by the rules, there will be little room for any mistakes.

The problem is that traditional methods of interviewing could be played correctly by just about anybody. This is why there are people in positions who shouldn't be there and why there are those who should be in those positions are not. While good, honest candidates choose to be a little too honest with their answers and giving answers that interviewers would typically not want to hear, dishonest folks know exactly what answers to give and will most definitely give any answer that sounds good whether or not it is true.

So, employers, if you want truly good employees, your first step is to change your way of interviewing people. So, below are just a few questions that you should not ask and tips on how you should change up your questions so that you could get the employees that you truly long for.

"WHY DO YOU WANT TO WORK FOR US?"

Fake Answer: "I believe your company to be very successful..."

True Answer: "No one else would hire me!"

Think about it: do you truly think that you're the only place that the candidate has applied to? It's safe to assume that the candidate has 50 other places in mind and 15 interviews to go to and that the first one who calls would be the first place this candidate would go. So, employer, you are not all that special.

College students going into the real world are trying to find any job that pays decently and hopefully would be in the field that they got their degree in. People who are in financial trouble and are desperate to get a job would apply to almost anything so that food could be placed on the table. People have other jobs in mind but for some reason cannot get those jobs right now and for the time being have to get something to hold them over. There are hundreds of reasons why a person may be applying to you, and being realistic, the reason the person is interviewing for you is probably not because he or she really wants to work for you.

Asking this question is only encouraging candidates to lie and for honest candidates to think of something clever to say that won't make them liars but wouldn't discriminate them either. You will not always get an honest answer with this question, but in fact, you're setting yourself to look stupid in front of the candidate. In the candidate's head, after answering this question, he or she might be thinking, "I can't believe this butthead actually believed what I told him!"

What if someone tells you that she's applying for the job because she needs money and might lose her home soon? Would you deny her the job because she's applying for the wrong reason? Chew on that for a moment while you think about the bank taking her away from her place.

"HOW LONG DO YOU PLAN TO WORK FOR US?"

Fake Answer: "If hired, my goal is to move up in this company, so I do not have any plans to leave."

True Answer: "It depends if I get the position in that nicer company across town that offers a better monetary compensation than the bus pass you call a pay check that you give every two freaking long weeks!"

Employers, get real now. Do you think this candidate plans on staying with you forever? Remember, there are plenty of reasons why a candidate applies to your position, and one of them would very likely be that he or she is waiting for another position to open up. An honest candidate would try to think of some clever answer to give you while a dishonest person would practically tell you that leaving isn't an option.

Depending on the employee retention rate, you could pretty much predict how long this person is going to stay with you. If you have a great retention rate, then odds are that this person isn't going anywhere anytime soon. If you are always losing folks, well, you figure it out. No matter if this person says that he would build his tomb in your company, if the retention rate is bad, then that person is subject to leave the next day after you hire him.

"WHAT ARE YOUR WEAKNESSES"

True/Sarcastic Answer: "Well, I do have a habit of seducing my superiors so that I could get promotions. "

Come on, come on now! Yes, everybody has a weakness, but no one knows which weakness you should know about. Everybody is not even comfortable telling you things that they may need to work on, mainly because you might discriminate them because of it.

Do you honestly think that someone is going to tell you his true weakness? What if they have a problem with stealing money and they are applying to be a bank teller? Do you honestly think that they well tell you that they have sticky fingers? What if they have a temper problem and they are applying to be teachers? Do you think that these candidates would reveal any real or relevant weaknesses?

You have plenty of weaknesses yourself. Remember that when you ask someone this question. You don't want to be a hypocrite now, do you?

"SO, LET'S SAY THAT..."

Scenarios, scenarios! We hate them to death! Not only are scenarios silly for much of the part, they aren't very realistic as we think they are. A note to you employers: you could never know what you would do in a situation unless you are really in that situation!

What would you do if your spouse cheats on you? You think that you would blow up, throw furniture around, and divorce this person. In reality, you might keep quiet, cry, be withdrawn, but would eventually give this person a second chance. You could never really know what you would do unless you are actually in that situation, so don't expect any different from any potential employees.

When you ask this question, candidates will not tell you what they would do, but they're going to say what they should do. If you were to ask, "If you notice that your best friend, who is also an employee, stealing cash from the register, what would you do," what the employee would actually do is to talk to that person. But that's not the answer you want to hear, so the employee would tell you what he should do, which is to report him.

Probably the best thing about asking hypothetical questions is that you could see if the candidate would know what he or she should do in that situation. But don't believe that the candidate would actually do it. If someone where to ask you if you would report your spouse if you caught him or her stealing from the cash register, what would you say? See, tough question to answer, right? Even you know that you wouldn't know what you would do in that situation, so don't ask candidates the same question.

"WHAT MAKES YOU MORE QUALIFIED THAN THE OTHER CANDIDATES?"

Sarcastic Answer: "Because God said that I was."

Has this candidate seen the other candidates? Has this candidate looked at the other applications? If not, why would you ask this ridiculous question? You might as well ask the person, "What makes you a better singer than these other candidates" when this person has never even heard the other folks sing.

How do you expect this candidate to answer this question when the candidate didn't even know that there were other candidates for this job? On the same note, if the candidate were to ask you, "Why should I work for you instead of the other companies that I've applied to," what would you say? Do you even know what other companies this candidate applied to? If not, then how could you truly answer this question. You don't know what the other companies have to offer. In the same way, this candidate doesn't know what the other candidates have to offer, so realistically, this candidate does not know what makes him or her stand out from the rest.

WHAT SHOULD YOU ASK IN AN INTERVIEW

If you truly want to get the best employees, those good, faithful, and kind employees that most companies would die to have, then you would have to ask the right questions that only these types of candidates could answer. Asking questions that any book-smart person could answer won't get you anywhere.

First of all, don't ask questions that you should already know by reading the applications. If you have never read a candidate's application, then, well, you should have. Read the application thoroughly because the application should answer plenty of questions that you would normally ask during an interview. If the application doesn't answer these questions, it would at least give you some hints.

Instead of asking a series of questions, try just having a conversation with the candidate, seeing what he's all about, where this person comes from, what are the overall goals in life, if this person has family, etc. If you're loose in the interview, it would allow the candidate to show his true colors, because no one could put on a show for long if they don't have the opportunity to play any roles.

If you're sharp enough, you would know who's really trying to put on "a front" and who is being sincere. In my opinion, the best interviews happen outside of the interview room. Think about it. For those of you who are big on hiring people that you know, did you ever formally interviewed them? No you didn't, unless you had to do one, in which case you only appeared to be doing one by closing the door so no one else would see that you two were really talking about the joys of having Soap Net.

Why didn't you formally interview these people? Well for one, you know them, but you also know them because you always talk to them. You know their true character, what's going on in their lives, what their dreams are, etc., and you feel that you could trust them. You hired these people more because of who they were instead of what they could do.

So, if you don't have any friends that are qualified for this job, then do the second best thing: get to know some new "friends." You do this by getting to know the candidate on a personal level. I guarantee that you would have a much better chance getting the right folks through informal interviews rather than through formal interviews where you find yourself interviewing more applicants than you have employees. Becoming a new friend to the candidate would make you feel much better to hire that person than a person you only asked questions to.