How to Write Interview Questions

This subject is about how to come up with good interview questions if you are looking to hire someone to do a job. The purpose of an interview in this scenario (different from interviewing a celebrity or a political candidate) is to qualify your candidates and differentiate them. Those two go hand-in-hand. So you should design your interview questions to achieve those purposes. The following article will go over the types of interview questions with some examples to explain what good interview questions look like.

Steps

1. Start with an open-ended question. An open-ended question cannot be answered by "yes" or "no" and it usually does not have right or wrong answers. It is a good way to put the candidate at ease, allow them to freely sell themselves for the job. It is also a good way for you to find out some basic qualifications of the candidate, and to get some cues as to what to ask next. Here are some examples of open-ended questions: "Please tell me a bit about your experience in [insert expertise area]." "What is the most rewarding job you've had and why?" "Why do you think you qualify for this job?" Pop quiz: Is this an open-ended question: "Have you done digital editing before?" The answer is "no". Because the question can be answered by saying "yes" or "no".
2. Validate the candidate's claims. Does he/she really know what he/she is talking about? For instance, if candidate said "I managed a large system implementation project when I was with my last company.", ask "Could you tell me some of the key activities you were engaged in when you managed that project?" If the candidate said "I have done automatic testing for three years.", ask "Could you tell me the names of some tools that you have used?" Make sure that your question is phrased very clearly so the candidate must provide details.
3. Obtain basic qualifications. Now it is time to really obtain some basic qualifications of your candidate. You can do so by asking them to define a specific term, a specific process, a technique and what not. The purpose is to really draw out if your candidate has the basic skill to perform the job duties. Make sure that it is not too basic or too advanced of a concept, and that around 80% of the people should know about this if they have really done it for a while.
4. Differentiate your candidates. Provided that your candidate sailed through all the questions so far, you can start asking the following questions. Otherwise, by this time you should know if they possess the basic qualifications for the job. This next question should either be an advanced version of the last question or a problem you have experienced before that is difficult to solve. It can be a problem that you want your candidate to solve. Now, while you should not expect your candidate to know the answer (if you expect them to know the answer, then this question serves the same purpose as the last), you can always be pleasantly surprised if they know the answer. This question also serves the side-purpose of revealing the resourcefulness and problem solving skills of your candidate. If they do not know the answer, what do they do? Do they simply give up? Do they try to get help?
5. Test their soft skills. You are not done yet! More fun things to follow. By this time your candidate has met the qualifications of the "hard skills" - skills that are required in performing the job. But what about his/her personalities, dedication, loyalty, communication skills, etc. etc. - the so called "soft skills" for the job? This is the time to ask. It is always very difficult to make conclusions on someone on these qualities based on a few questions, but you can always try. My favorite method is to present the candidate with a scenario and ask them what they would do in situations like that. Now, you do not have to tell a long story about it. It is good to leave some areas vague and allow the candidate to fill in the details, as that might be in itself revealing. Here is an example: "Your boss is telling you to buy this tool. You know that there are better tools out there. What would you do?"
6. Qualify yourself and your company for the candidate. You do not want to waste energy in hiring someone who may turn out to not like your company. Now it is the time to ask those questions. A candidate may be focused on "stability", or "growth" or "high pay". Whatever it is, find out. It is easy to just use an open-ended question: "So what are you looking to achieve with your career?" "What is the most important thing about your job?" "Where do you see yourself in this area in 5 years?" "What are some of the things that you may not like about your job?"
7. Conclude the interview. One way is to ask "Well, Mr. or Miss so and so, those are all the questions I had for you. Is there anything else you would like to tell me?"
8. Thank the candidate for making the time to come to the interview. Do not tell them how they did even if they ask. In general, don't hire people on the spot either. Just say: "We have quite a few candidates for this position and we will let you know the result [insert time here]."

Tips

• An interview should really be between 30 to 45 minutes. So do not pile questions up on the candidate. 7-8 questions are usually the maximum number to try for.
• If the candidate is very chatty or tend to go off-track and you are not looking to waste a lot of your time, simply find an opportunity (an opening in his/her conversation or at the possible conclusion of a story), and say "Very good. Thank you." and then ask the next question.
• Be OK with silence. If you ask a question and the candidate is struggling with answers, let them. Sit tight and wait. We all tend to want to move on because silence is uncomfortable. As an interviewer, you need to get used to that.
• Try to let the candidate talk instead of you talking too much, unless they ask you specific questions. Too many interviewers talk too much about what their organization is like, what the challenges are, and they even go off topic and start talking about their dogs and such. Building rapport with your candidate during the interview is unnecessary. Act with authority. Do not try to be-friend your candidate.

Warnings

• In the United States, certain interview questions may violate Equal Employment Opportunity law. Always acquire the knowledge from your employer or your local agency as to what is not allowed. You do not want to get sued for asking the wrong questions. For instance, do not ask "Are you married?", "How many children do you have?". Instead, say "This job requires 50% travel, is that something you are willing to do?"