What's your favorite interview question and why?

We’re a team that loves to learn. Engaging with other HR and screening professionals always presents us with tips, strategies, and learnings from the wider screening community.

Recently, we stumbled across the Reddit thread: What’s your favorite interview question and why?

This conversation offered up some great question ideas for the hiring process – we wanted to share a few that we particularly identified with:

“If I were to call your last boss, what is the worst thing he/she would say about you?” And then ask them the best thing their boss would say. I feel like it gets them talking about their strengths/weaknesses a bit more easily.

“For you to be successful in this role, what one thing must be true?” I’ve heard this one used, and especially at higher levels, it really shows how someone works and what their expectations are for the role. It gets interpreted many, many ways, but it’s a solid reflection for most.

“What do you wish I had asked you about?”

“Describe yourself in one word.” It gives a chance for the person to be genuine. Gives me a chance to look into them a little bit. It’s hard to answer the question without being authentic.

“In your current/last position, tell me about a specific thing you [did/do] better than anyone else you worked with. What makes you so good at it?”

The best interview questions focus on the skills that you want candidates to have and the contributions that you want the candidate to make, based on their experience and personality. If you’re looking to build your question library, SHRM has a fantastic interview question resource here.

Over to you – do you have any favorite interview questions?