Interviewing Entry-Level Job Seekers? Here's What You Should Ask

Whenever we interview job candidates, we always look at their experience. Their experience is a good indicator of whether they'll be able to perform at your organisation or not.

But we're in an uncertain situation right now. As the nation's unemployment rate slowly declines, many organisations are racing to hire the best candidates. That leaves us with little choice but to look at entry-level candidates.

Why entry-level candidates? They're always eager to please and learn, plus they can be more adaptable of your way of doing things. You will have the chance to mould them into a model employee.

The question is: How do you interview entry-level candidates without a job history? What kind of questions are suitable?

Start by describing the qualities that are needed for someone to be successful in the position.

If you're hiring a server for your restaurant, you should look for someone good at communicating, reliable, and has a strong sense of urgency.

If you require an administrative assistant, you need someone who's organised, composed, and attentive to detail. Need a sales rep? Look for a good conversationalist who can organise and multi-task.

Listing down the criteria will help you to narrow down the candidates without having to look at their job history.

An entry-level candidate can also be a great customer service representative without previous job experience.

Find the candidate's skills through the interview.

If the candidate shows up on time and responds quickly to emails, they are likely to be reliable. If you're looking for someone detail-oriented, look for a candidate who likes to take notes or shows up to the interview with a list of questions.

If you're hiring someone with strong writing skills, ask them a question through email that requires a lengthy response. Need someone good at calling people? Make part of the interview a phone interview.

Interview questions for entry-level candidates

Here are five interview questions for entry-level job candidates, along with some examples:

Customer service

Question: Tell me about the most challenging conversation you've ever had to have with a peer and how you handled it.

You know how you would prefer your employees to communicate with their customers, but this question will help you find out if the candidate has excellent diplomacy skills.

Coachability

Question: Tell me about a mentor or teacher who has taught you something new. What about their style helped you learn?

Highly coachable candidates may bring up asking for or using feedback to achieve success.

A sense of urgency

Question: Tell me about a goal that you set and then achieved. How did you know when you'd completed the goal? What steps did you take to succeed?

It doesn't matter what goal the candidate gives you here; you are finding a candidate who worked hard to accomplish something.

In this day and age, someone who's good at managing time can be a very valuable part of an organisation.

Time management

Question: What was your last big deadline? How did you make sure you met it?

You are testing for two separate issues:

The candidate's reaction to the idea of deadline.
How they organise their time during a big project.

If you are hiring someone good at time management, the perfect hire is someone who works to deadlines and meets them.

Organising skill

Question: Tell me about how you manage your schedule and your email inbox.

Organised candidates will have a system. You can ask for details of their system to understand how they keep from missing or forgetting important things.

Resilience

Question: Tell me about a time when you made a mistake. How did you get back up again?

Everyone makes mistakes, but what is crucial is to find out how the candidate responds to this question, so you'll know how they will react to mistakes at your workplace.

Attention to detail

Question: How do you check your work for errors or mistakes?

Candidates who pay attention to detail will always describe a system that they'd use to ensure their work is without error or mistake.

Team player

Question: Tell me about the last group project you worked on.

Team-oriented candidates can explain how they worked with others to finish something. If you need a team player, the key is how they work with others. A candidate who tends to take over a project is probably not a good fit.

These interview questions should help you judge entry-level job seekers for your open position. Even without a job history, all an entry-level candidate needs is a chance to prove themselves.

Hi, we're AJobThing! Click here to learn more about us and what we do!

Source: Localwise