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Questions for Interviews
Insource.ICT finds IT jobs for IT people…
If you’re looking for IT staff, you probably have loads of questions that you’d like to ask us.
We’ve tried to answer as many of the ‘Frequently Asked’ questions as possible. If you can’t find an answer to your question here, please contact us directly.Questions:
- What styles of interviews are there?
- How should I prepare for an interview?
- What questions should I be asking?
- I want to make an offer. Where can I get salary information on the candidate that I’m interested in?
- What can I do to prevent the candidate that I’m interested in from accepting a counter offer?
- I receive good CV’s, but when I want to set up an interview or make an offer, the candidate has already accepted another IT job. What should I do?
Q: What styles of interviews are there?
There are 2 major interview types. These are:
- The traditional job interview. The interviewer uses broad based questions like ‘What are your strengths and weaknesses?’ to determine whether the candidate has the skills to perform the job.
- The behavioural job interview, which is based on the theory that past performance is the best indicator of future behavior. Interviewers ask questions that explore specific past behavior - like ‘tell me about a time when you failed to achieve a goal that you had set?’ - in order to determine potential for success. Questions are designed to:
- Understand the situation.
- Uncover actions taken.
- Uncover outcomes.
- Discuss what was learned from the experience.
Q: How should I prepare for an interview?
The interview is both your opportunity to evaluate the candidate’s potential fit and an opportunity for him or her to evaluate you and your company.
Many interviewers make the mistake of assuming that it’s only the candidate who is under scrutiny. Those who take this approach often find it difficult to interest a potential employee in their IT job.
A few hints:
- Read the CV thoroughly before each interview.
- Have a clear agenda – and explain this to the interviewee upfront.
- Be on time for the interview. It’s not a good idea to make the candidate wait for ages in Reception before collecting him or her for the interview.
- Enthusiastically sell your company and opportunity. Enthusiasm is infectious!
Q: What questions should I be asking?
This would depend on your interview style.
The questions asked in traditional job interviews are broad-based and focus on whether the candidate has the skills to do the job.
Traditional Job Interviews: Questions you could ask include:
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
What do you know about our company?
Tell me about yourself?
How do you think that you could add value to our company?
Why do you feel that you are right for this job?
Behavioural job interviews focus on the candidate’s past performance as an indicator of future success…
Behavioural Job Interviews: Questions you could ask include:
What is the most difficult situation that you have had to face and how did you handle it?
Tell me about an instance where you had to handle confrontation?
What has been your greatest triumph and why?
What has been your greatest disappointment and why?
Q: I want to make an offer. Where can I get salary information on the candidate that I’m interested in?
Our CV’s contain all of the salary information that you will need to make an offer.
Recent payslips are also available. Please ask your Consultant for a copy.
Q: What can I do to prevent the candidate that I’m interested in from accepting a counter offer?
Counter offers are a fact of life in a skills short market. Counter offers rely on the employee feeling flattered into acceptance. Being reminded that, in this market, everyone is made a counter offer deflates the importance. Smart companies help to reduce the impact of counter offers by talking about them directly with each of the candidates that they interview.
Hearing, from a fresh source, that a counter offer will be made – and being able to talk about a possible reaction – aids to the work done by your Consultant.
Q: I receive good CV’s, but when I want to set up an interview or make an offer, the candidate has already accepted another IT job. What should I do?
The first thing that you need to look at is your interview process.
How long does it take you to respond on CV’s? How many interviews do you conduct with each candidate? How quickly do you make offers?
In a skills shortage, high demand candidates do not remain on the market for longer than one to two weeks. In extreme cases, we’ve seen candidates submit a CV and receive an offer in less than 3 days.
If your interview process is not geared towards receiving and processing candidates quickly, it would be a good idea to look at ways to reduce the time taken to offer.
One of the options to consider is the panel interview. This replaces the need for multiple interviews and has the advantage of allowing all interested parties to interview the candidate – at one time and in one place.
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