Questions to Ask
In getting information from job candidates, you should ask yourself if the information is really needed to judge an applicant's competence or qualifications for the job. If it's not, we recommend that you don't ask it. Even if there is no specific legal requirement that you must uphold, asking irrelevant questions may offend your applicant or damage your business reputation.
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It is important to know what you are going to discuss with a potential employee to minimize the time spent on the hiring process. The Business Tools area contains a sample job applicant interview script that you can use as a starting point.
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Some guidelines for questions to ask and how to ask them are:
- Ask performance-based questions.
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If you want to ask about an applicant's organizational skills, don't ask: "Are you organized?"
Do ask: "Tell me about a time when your organizational skills made a project successful," or "How did you organize your work in your last job? How did you handle the unexpected?"
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- Once an impression is formed about a specific performance skill, ask a question that seeks contrary evidence to be sure you have not reached an erroneous conclusion. Don't try to seem like you're trapping the applicant.
- Listen carefully and evaluate the information you are obtaining. Follow-up questions may be needed to obtain additional information.
- If you don't understand something, ask about it.
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Warning
While you'll probably want to take notes during the interview, don't make notes about how an applicant looks even if it's just to remember who's who. Don't make any notes about gender, race, religion, color, or age. If you do, it could be used against you later if you are subject to and have violated antidiscrimination laws.
Even if you're not subject to federal antidiscrimination laws, this practice isn't a good idea. Find another way to remember the applicants, perhaps by remembering those with the best answers to your questions.
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