I have been in recruiting now since 1998 and have learned through the years how important it can be to ask the right questions of the hiring team so I can pinpoint my search activity and deliver the candidate who will be a great fit.

Many times the hiring authority will quickly spout out what they are looking for and seems to expect me to fill in the blanks for the details that they didn’t provide.  Earlier in my recruiting days, I would accept this and was happy to simply have the search to work on.  What I realized through the years was how much time I could waste making assumptions about what those “gray area” details were.  I have adjusted my approach when getting the position requirements and have a prepared list of questions that I make sure to ask to avoid fishing in the wrong pond or missing an important detail that ends up derailing the search after weeks and weeks of phone calls and screening.

Job seekers need to be asking the same questions when they are approaching the job interview process.  If they understand the nuances and the critical hiring criteria for the position they are considering, they will be in a much better position to articulate their match of skills and accomplishments  further down the interview process in the face to face segment.

Based upon years and years of recruiting and digging out the true hiring criteria, I offer the following questions to job seekers to be asked of the first person they speak with in the interview process. This could be anyone from an executive search consultant to the in house Human Resources representative.  The job seeker should be sure to take good notes upon getting answers to these questions so they may prepare their interview strategy and comments during the face to face part of the process.

Here are some examples of questions that should will reveal some of the true hiring requirements.  Note that these questions are also included in the free WinTheView Workbook that is downloadable upon log-in at www.wintheview.com

What are the primary “must have” skills/attributes a person needs to be successful in this position?

What are the skills and attributes you value most for someone being hired for this position?

What is the single most important attribute for success in this role?

What do you consider the greatest overall challenge of this position?

What are the most immediate challenges of the position during the first three months?

What are the major challenges this position presents over the next 6 – 12 months?

What are the performance expectations of this position in 6 – 12 months?

What will I have done to be viewed as a over-achiever after 6 months?  After a year?

How will I be evaluated and how often?

Who are some of the people this position requires interaction with on a regular basis?

Can you describe a typical day for a person filling this position?

What are the most important personality characteristics for a person in this position?

These questions will help the job seeker to understand the specific needs and pain points for the career opportunity and enable the development of a sales oriented presentation of why the candidate is a strong fit for the position and why they should be hired.  The questions may be asked of each person on the “interview team” to get a sense of consistency and what requirements should receive the greatest priority.