Thanks to the internet, we now can find out the most asked interview questions with a simple Google search. With this information on the world wide web, candidates and job seekers can prepare answers for these questions before the interview and get a head start.
Not only are these popular question overused in interviews and job recruitment in Malaysia, but they are ineffective in revealing a candidate’s true potential. If you’re a recruiter, do yourself a favour and stop asking these questions to your potential employees:
“Tell me about yourself.”
Interviewers often ask this question to get to know their candidates and identify their personalities, but this question is too vague. With this question, a candidate can give any answer, and it probably wouldn’t be enough to determine a candidate’s character.
Instead of letting your potential employees struggle with coming up an answer that showcases their engaging personality and skills, try asking more specific questions. For example, ask what their hobbies are and how it relates to the company’s industry.
“What are your strengths and weaknesses?”
While we understand the intent of recruiters asking this question, we also believe it is unnecessary to bring up this question at all. It is most likely candidates have already rehearsed perfect answers since it is so overused.
What you can do is to ask a candidate to elaborate on their skills and experience. As you let them talk about themselves and go into detail of their history, you’ll be able to pick up their strong and weak points.
“Where do you see yourself in five years?”
The truth is, no one can see the future. Asking this question to anyone is useless as nobody can even predict what is going to happen tomorrow. However, employers ask this as they are curious about a candidate’s interest in working at the company long-term.
There’s a better way to see a potential employee’s loyalty: look into their work history, and it will give you an idea of how long they’ll stick around.
“Why should we hire you?”
This question is probably the most disliked among candidates. However, all candidates will likely respond with a unique proposition and bask themselves in the most favourable light. It’s safe to say these well-prepared answers won’t help you in finding the perfect candidate.
Don’t waste your time and skip this question.
Conclusion
Recruiters conduct interviews to get to know a candidate’s traits and skills, but there’s only so much you can get from a short meeting. There’s no time for vague and general questions, so you’ll have to get straight to the point.
Looking to hire? Visit https://www.jobstreet.com.my/en/cms/employer/ for more information.
