The types of questions you ask during job interviews have a significant impact on your ability to hire better. Asking better questions can increase your odds of finding the best candidate to fill the position. There are some basic interview questions (the staples) that you will ask all the time. Questions about the candidate’s experience, skills, and how they would perform if hired.
However, too many companies have stuck to the same set of questions for years. They are still asking interview questions that were used by companies decades ago. Even if they have hiring issues there is a tendency to still to the same list of questions. The problem is these “classic” interview questions have run their course. Candidates know they are coming and have an answer ready to go. Plus, many of these dated questions fail to help you get adequate information about a candidate.
Here are two of the most popular job interview questions that are no longer relevant:
HIRE BETTER TODAY
1. What’s your greatest weakness?
All candidates are ready for this one. You have likely been asked this question in one of your job interviews in the past. Do you actually expect a candidate to answer this question with anything less than, “I’m a perfectionist” or another similar response?
There is no value in asking this question because you don’t get a real answer. Plus, you don’t usually learn much about a candidate other than their ability to come up with a strong prepared answer for this question.
2. Where do you see yourself in X years?
This is becoming an increasingly impossible question to answer. People are changing jobs and advancing their careers at a much faster rate than in the past. Plus, the pandemic has made it challenging to predict what will be happening in a couple of years, let alone a couple of months from now. 10 years from now there is a good chance candidates will be in a job that didn’t previously exist.
If you are still asking the above questions, it’s time you leave them behind in 2021. There are many more effective questions that you could be asking during your limited job interview time with candidates.
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