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The Importance of Skills-Based Interview Questions

Asking skills-based interview questions can help you narrow down your candidate list and hire only the most qualified person for the job. This is important, because previous experience in an industry doesn’t always guarantee that someone has the skillset required to perform at your company. Knowing the right skills-based questions to ask when interviewing a candidate will help you hire someone who stands apart from the rest and save you the hassle that comes with needing to train someone from the ground up.

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What are skills-based interview questions?

Skills-based interview questions are questions that ask a candidate about the hard and soft skills they possess, as they relate to the vacancy you’re looking to fill. In some professions and industries, workers may have skills that can transfer between companies. In industries where skills are highly specialized, such as healthcare or tech, workers often need specific skills and experience that go beyond the basics. It is important to ask about these skills during the interview process to avoid misalignment between the candidate and the role you want them to fill. Skills-based interview questions confirm a candidate’s abilities and competencies match what is required to perform a job, above and beyond things that all potential candidates should have in order to secure an interview (like experience and education).

What should skills-based interview questions ask?

The specific skills-based interview questions you should ask a candidate will vary depending on your company, industry and the profession for which you seek to hire. There are general topics you should try to address though, regardless of these variables.

Hard skills

Hard skills represent the job-specific skills a candidate needs in order to perform the core responsibilities of their role. Depending on the industry, hard skills include things like knowing how to use specific software programs (such as accounting software), speak a second language, use certain tools or hardware, etc. Odds are, the candidate you are interviewing already possesses the hard skills you’re looking for, so it’s a good idea to ask interview questions about how the candidate applies their hard skills on a day-to-day basis or plans to master them beyond their current level of knowledge.

Soft skills

Soft skills are broader than hard skills and generally can apply to any job in any industry. Soft skills typically include things like leadership skills, communication skills, problem-solving skills and other interpersonal abilities that make working with other people easier and more enjoyable. People with strong soft skills usually have experience in customer service and with large, cross-functional teams where people have different working styles. It is therefore a good idea to ask about the candidate’s experience applying their soft skills in difficult business situations, where their actions helped facilitate a task or smooth over a rough experience.

The benefits of asking skills-based interview questions

Asking skills-based interview questions can benefit the candidate you’re interviewing as well as your company as a whole, for a wide variety of reasons.

Better candidate selection

If you have a wide range of candidates applying for your job vacancy, chances are they represent a broad spectrum of available talent. Some may come from the same industry as you, perhaps from a competitor. Others may come from entirely different industries but possess similar skills as those required by your company. In any event, asking skills-based interview questions gives candidates the choice to put their skills into context for you. You can make an informed decision about whether a candidate fits into your company and can get to work right away, or if they require significant training and onboarding before meaningfully contributing. Don’t use the need to train or onboard an employee as a reason for not hiring them, though: many of a company’s best employees are often tenured and have been developed internally. It is rare that even the most ideal candidate won’t require any training or onboarding.

Candidates get a clearer understanding of the job

Assuming you wrote the job description correctly, there shouldn’t be any doubt as to what a candidate can expect in their day-to-day functions. There are times where the job description can’t truly capture every detail of every task an employee would perform. This is especially true in industries where specific responsibilities can vary on a shift-by-shift basis, such as healthcare or law enforcement. Asking skills-based interview questions can give candidates a chance to clarify any details they don’t understand, while also offering you an opportunity to query a candidate’s skillset relative to the dynamic realities of the job. Both you and the candidate will leave the interview with a greater understanding of the job and what to expect out of each other in a working relationship.

Resumes gain context

Just as job descriptions and posts on job sites might not always capture the entirety of a role and its responsibilities, resumes might not always fully explain a candidate’s skills or experience. Asking skills-based interview questions offers you the chance to add context to a candidate’s resume. If you think you might’ve found a resume red flag (such as exaggerating a skill), skills-based interview questions give you the sort of information you need to rule them out. Conversely, getting the chance to let a candidate speak about their abilities and how they apply them, develop them or plan to use them for your company will add colour to their backgrounds and give their resume a new dimension.

Ultimately, the right person gets hired

If you’re like most other small- or medium-sized businesses, you probably realize how expensive and time-consuming the hiring process can be. Doing everything in your power (like using Indeed) to attract and hire quality candidates can make the difference between someone joining your company and immediately making an impact, and someone being a poor fit and being set up to fail through no fault of their own. The reality is, not everyone is suited for every job. Skills-based interview questions allow you to go beyond the baseline education and experience a candidate requires to get an interview in the first place. The result is a productive working relationship where your company benefits from increased productivity and the candidate feels empowered to contribute. The importance of asking skills-based interview questions cannot be understated, especially in today’s job market.

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