As an HR professional, you probably know this scenario too well: the applicant looks perfectly qualified on the resume, rocks the interview, and receives a wholehearted offer.
However, as an employee, he or she fails to launch in their position, and performs in a lackluster way. He or she languishes as a B or C player, and is eventually let go or leaves.
How can this be?
A key reason why a “perfection on paper” applicant misses the mark as an employee is because the “fit” wasn’t right.
A person’s fit within a company is a broad term that encompasses everything from his or her attitude, to their feelings about company culture, to their preference about workload, to team dynamics, to their ethics and honesty. Overlooking whether or not a person, no matter how well they match up with the position in terms of education and experience, is a fit for the company sets the hiring decision on a rocky stage that can bring on less-than-stellar results.
Fortunately, by integrating targeted questions focuses on a person’s fit during the interview process, hiring managers can effectively minimize the risk of hiring a person who is not a good fit for the company.
10 interview questions that help determine the applicant’s fit with your company
What’s the best company you ever worked with? What made it such a great place for you?
What was the worst company you ever worked at? What made it such a bad place for you to be?
What things are important to you in any company you’d consider joining? Why?
What things do you most want to avoid in any company you’d consider joining? Why?
In the places you have worked before, which company did the best job of keeping you informed, connected and productive? How did they do that?
Where have you felt the least connected and productive? What was different and how did you handle it?
Which previous employer made you most proud to tell your friends and family you worked there? What was it that made you so proud?
Which previous employer made you most embarrassed to tell others you worked there? What was it about that company that was so hard for you to identify with?
Each company has a very distinct culture and ‘way we do things here’. Which of your previous employers offered the best environment for you to thrive? What was it about that environment that made you so productive?
Now think of the opposite – the place you felt most shut down and ineffective. What was it about that place that prevented you from delivering to your full potential?