Did you know that 70% of workers admit to lying on their resumes? This means that your company needs a careful screening process during job interviews. For the Olinio recruiting experts, behavioural interview questions and other essential types of questions are the key to finding out the truth about potential hires.
In this way, you can evaluate not just what candidates say they can do, but how they actually perform when faced with real workplace challenges. Also, you can weed out candidates who have the right hard skills, but the wrong personality for your company culture.
Why Do You Need to Ask Different Types of Interview Questions?
The Olinio approach includes questions that reveal different aspects of the candidate’s skills, personality and work experience. A tested and proven mix of these questions gives us a full picture of the person.
Structured interview questions are particularly valuable because they ensure consistency across all candidates while providing measurable data for comparison. This helps us reduce bias and increase the chances of selecting the right fit for your vacancy.
Behavioural Interview Questions: Understanding Past Performance
Common behavioural interview questions remain the gold standard for predicting future job performance. These questions ask candidates to describe specific situations from their experience. The answers reveal how they actually behave under pressure, solve problems, and interact with others.
Moreover, behavioural questions are highly specific. Instead of asking “Are you a good team player?” you might ask: “How did you handle working with a difficult colleague for an important project?”
Some of the most relevant behavioural questions include:
- “How do you manage your time to cover all the daily tasks?”
- “How did you respond to constructive criticism from a manager?”
- “How did you adapt to a new role that felt overwhelming at the beginning?”
These questions reveal candidates’ thought processes, communication styles, and problem-solving approaches in real-world scenarios.
Situational Interview Questions: Testing Problem-Solving Skills
While behavioural questions explore past actions, situational interview questions create hypothetical scenarios. They help the Olinio team assess how candidates might handle future challenges. These questions are particularly valuable when candidates lack direct experience in certain areas or when you need to evaluate their thinking process under pressure.
Some situational questions we usually ask are:
- “If you were given two high-priority tasks simultaneously, how would you determine which to tackle first?”
- “How would you handle a client with unreasonable expectations?”
- “What would you do if you witnessed inappropriate workplace behaviour?”
The answers will reveal candidates’ values, decision-making abilities, and whether they are better problem-solvers on their own or as part of a team.
Competency-Based Interview Questions: Measuring Core Skills
Competency-based interview questions evaluate specific skills and capabilities essential for success in the role. Answering these questions requires giving real-life example of using particular competencies in previous positions.
Focus on competencies most critical to the role, such as:
- leadership
- time management
- communication
- decision-making.
Effective competency-based questions include:
- “Describe a tough work-related decision you made. Tell me how you reached the decision and communicated it.”
- “Tell me about a time when you had to meet an urgent deadline. How did you manage it?”
- “Give me an example of when you collaborated across departments on a successful project.”
Experience-Based Questions: Validating Professional Background
Experience questions help verify candidates’ professional backgrounds. These questions go beyond job titles and responsibilities. What you aim to understand is what candidates actually accomplished and learned in previous roles.
Focus on understanding how candidates’ experiences translate to your specific role requirements. Ask about:
- their main responsibilities
- contributions to previous employers’ success
- how they handled challenges specific to their industry or function.
Technical Questions: Assessing Hard Skills
For roles requiring specific technical competencies, technical questions are essential. They verify that candidates possess the hard skills necessary to perform job functions effectively.
Technical questions evaluate:
- Proficiency with required tools and software
- Understanding of industry-specific processes
- Relevant certifications or specialised training
- Problem-solving abilities within technical contexts
The key is tailoring technical questions to match the actual work candidates will perform, ensuring relevance and practicality.
Ready to Transform Your Hiring Process? Olinio Can Help!
Asking the right questions and assessing answers is a full-time job. This is what the Olinio recruitment team does every day. And this is why we have the highest rate of successful recruitment projects.
We know which behavioural interview questions to ask, how to evaluate responses, and what to look for in candidates who will excel in your specific environment. Let’s work together to turn your hiring challenges into competitive advantages.
Contact Olinio today and let our proven interview strategies and recruiting expertise help you build the exceptional team you deserve!