Ask Better Questions for Better Insight

Asking the same scripted interview questions is sure to get you the same scripted answers. If you want to really figure out whether a candidate is right for your company you’re going to have to move beyond the usual mundane questions and ask questions related to cultural fit.

On Entrepreneur, for example, one interviewer pointed out how questions should be varied to environment. For example, “for many startups and small businesses, chances are your people need to be acclimated to a fast-paced environment and react quickly while keeping their cool.”

Is your company a tech company? Ask candidates about their favorite superheroes — not to judge, but to see if they can roll with the rest of the company’s employees, and to evaluate whether they can think on their feet.

Another great thing to do is to ask your candidates to think outside of the box and show their skills. See your candidates in action by asking them to collaborate with employee volunteers on short projects — like figuring out all the potential uses for a broom, asking them to assemble a Lego set, or play a round of Jenga. This will give you an opportunity to evaluate several things, such as how helpful, competitive, or open to suggestions candidates are.

For companies using digital interviewing software, this can still be done — it just may look a little different. Asking candidates to collaborate virtually with employees on brain teasers is a great way to make this exercise digital. Remember, don’t just ask oddball questions for the sake of throwing curveballs. Make sure that each question is relevant to your company— you’ll hire better people that way, and build a better team to boot.