Certain interview questions can hinder your ability to find the right candidate. Many recruiters believe there is often a significant disconnect between how candidates present themselves in interviews and their true selves. To enhance your hiring process, consider avoiding the following questions:
- Where do you see yourself in five years? While having a career plan is important, asking this question in an interview is often futile. We can’t predict the future, and candidates may feel pressured to provide an idealized vision.
- What are your strengths and weaknesses? This question can prompt candidates to embellish their answers. They may offer an impressive list of strengths that aren’t genuinely theirs, and their “weaknesses” might be cleverly disguised strengths.
- What would you do in this situation? Situational questions tend to elicit idealistic responses. For example, asking how a candidate would help a teammate in need when they’re short on time might yield an answer that paints them as overly altruistic, even if their real behavior may differ under pressure.
- Tell me something about yourself. While this question may help put candidates at ease, it often fails to provide meaningful insights into their qualifications or work style.
- How would your boss, subordinate, or friend describe you? Candidates often respond with superlatives that can be far from the truth, making it difficult to gauge their actual performance or character.
Utilize the STAR Technique
To gain more valuable insights during interviews, consider using the STAR technique. This approach encourages candidates to elaborate on specific situations by discussing the Situation, the Task they were responsible for, the Action they took, and the Result of that action. Probing deeper into their experiences through Behavioral Event Interviews (BEI) can also reveal the specific competencies you are looking to assess.
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