As a hiring manager or department head, it’s important to choose the right recruiter staffing agency to ensure you get the most qualified candidates for your open position. One of the ways you can be sure your recruiter staffing agency is experienced and diligent is by asking about what kinds of questions they ask prospective candidates. At Kane Partners, we have three different categories of questions that we ask when interviewing candidates for your company to ensure we are only presenting you with highly qualified candidates. Let’s learn more about these categories.
Behavioral Questions
Behavioral questions involve asking candidates to describe in detail how they’ve handled specific workplace scenarios in the past. This could be asking how they’ve solved a conflict with a coworker, about a time they won a tough sale, or how they have responded when presented with critical feedback. Not only do the candidate’s answers show the recruiter staffing agency how successfully they’ve been able to handle situations in the past, but how well they can continue doing so in a new role.
Situational Questions
Situational questions are also sometimes referred to as “What If” queries. For this category of questions, the recruiter will be asking the candidate to describe how they would handle specific workplace situations if they were to arise. For example, one question could be, “What would you do if you had a direct report whose quality of work was slipping?” A highly-qualified candidate would give a well-thought-out answer based on their past experiences, while an unqualified candidate will have a much harder time formulating an answer.
Role-Playing Questions
The last question category that a recruiter staffing agency uses is role-playing questions. These questions are planned ahead of time to see how a candidate responds to a potentially challenging issue or situation in real-time. The recruiter, playing the role of a client or coworker, will present a scenario the candidate is likely to face in your open position and assess how well they are able to handle it. Not only do role-playing questions allow candidates to demonstrate their problem-solving skills, but they also give your recruiter insight into how well the candidate can receive and implement feedback given during or after the role-play.
Most hiring managers are familiar with questions like “What are your strengths?” or “Why are you interested in this job?”. While these are important questions to ask prospective candidates, they don’t dig deep, and answers can easily be prepared ahead of time. By utilizing behavior questions, situational questions, and role-playing questions, your recruiter will be able to learn more about the prospective candidate and their experience and determine how successful they’d be in your open role. Give us a call today at Kane Partners to start seeing some highly-qualified candidates.
