Four Interview Questions for an Experienced Candidate

Hiring the right person for a job is not an exact science. In any job search it is always a good thing to have several candidates to choose from. Your company and your job description are as unique as the candidates lining up for the interview. With resumes in hand and job interviews scheduled, how will you determine which candidates merit a job offer?

Based on interviews with hundreds of candidates, four basic questions rise to the top of the list of interview questions. These need to be answered whether the position is highly technical, such as SAP analyst, or is more general, such as one of many Customer Service Representatives (CSRs). Which questions get weighted more heavily depends on the specific priorities in your company at the time. Experience has taught me that ignoring any of these interview questions is a dangerous position to be in.

Interview Question #1 - Will this candidate add positively to the company culture?

Like it or not, all companies have personalities based on the people in the organizations. As people come and go from an organization, the culture changes. If you have a fun loving, tease each other group, adding a serious, introvert may not be a good idea; even of they have the best skills match. Likewise, if you have a sales team that prides itself on technical knowledge and integrity, adding a used car sales type (my apologies to all used car sales types with integrity!) who earns their success on entertainment, humor, and slick sales techniques may not work very well. Company cultures should be intentionally managed and guarded. The job interview is the easiest place to have a positive impact on culture. The objective is to hire the person who will fit in or move the team in the direction the culture needs to move.

Interview Question #2 - Does this candidate know what to do for this position?

We are not talking about entry-level people here. If you are interviewing a Controller, does he or she know the steps to close the books or to manage cash flow? This should be obvious from their prior work history and education. You cannot assume based on their titles or descriptions in their resume though. You need to ask detailed questions to test their knowledge of the areas they will be involved in.

Interview Question #3 - Does this candidate know how to do this job?

This builds on #2. It may not be good enough to have textbook knowledge of certain tasks; does the candidate have real world experience they can bring with them to this job?

You need to ask penetrating questions to determine their specific work experience. For our Controller, you need to ask interview questions like: What was your role in month end closing? Or, How did you work with vendors when cash became tight? Do not hesitate to probe deeply into their actual experiences to see if they know what they imply they know. In some cases, many years of experience in a small area at a large company will be useless for someone needing to wear many hats in a smaller operation. I have seen experienced Controllers who did not know how to do a bank reconciliation.

Interview Question #4 - Does this candidate know how to do the what to do here, or can they quickly learn?

For some jobs, very specific knowledge is required to be considered. For example, if you are looking for that SAP analyst, any other programming experience may not be good enough. Or, if you need specific industry sales experience and a book of contacts, a successful sales person from another field just wont do. However, someone trained in data input for one CRM package may be able to quickly pick up on the nuances of your CRM system. Additionally, if specific narrowly trained talent is not available, you may have to consider trade offs between waiting for the perfect candidate and hiring someone who will need a ramp up period.

Of course, getting to the right answer to these four questions requires some work. You need to develop more detailed interview questions specific to each open position. Techniques on how to do that will be the topic of other articles soon.

A no answer to any of these interview questions may lead to a knock out punch for that candidate. A yes answer to all four interview questions should give you confidence to move forward in the hiring process. Good Luck!