Staffing for an IT role requires looking beyond the regular skills and technical qualifications of a candidate. Often overlooked, there are several skills that serve an equally important purpose in determining a candidate’s potential for a particular job role.
To get a proper insight into the capability of a techie, a recruiter for a startup ought to put down the resume and resort to questioning the prospective individual with a bunch of technical, situational, and thoughtful questions.
These should not be simple ‘yes-no’ questions and aim to draw out a generous response from the one attending them. At the end of these questions, you will know a lot more about the aptitude of the candidate beyond the abilities listed on their resume.
Let us explore the questions you can ask during an interview in case you are looking to hire WordPress web developers or similar professionals.
Top 10 Interview Questions to Ask a Techie For Your Startup
Do You Use Any Online Resources To Help Yourself With Your Job?
When it comes to IT workers, websites such as StackExchange and Github are common online resources which most professionals turn to. Pick more focused professionals, and you will discover that they have a dedicated selection of online communities, websites, and social media channels, which they use to stay updated on areas of their interest.
The response will help you understand how a candidate chooses to stay updated with the ongoing trends in their field and make the best use of available resources.
Could You Explain A Particular Technical Term To Me In Layman’s Language?
It is vital for someone from IT to be able to communicate seamlessly with those who do not belong to the technical world. Asking this question helps you identify the ability to communicate in an individual and how easily they are able to make use of technical jargon at the right moment.
More often, you might not want to hire someone who is overtly technical at all times but someone who can make the best of their knowledge.
What Are The Three Words That a Friend Would Use to Describe You?
While a resume is a well-polished version of one’s personality, it is questions like these that can really startle an accurate response out of an individual. How a candidate answers this question speaks a lot about their perception of their personality in the minds of others.
You can expect to gain an abundance of insights about the individual’s skills from this question.
Describe Your Most And Least Favourite Tech Products
This is not something that you will find on a resume; this question might even take some people by surprise. Yet, it is quite imperative to ask it since it lets you understand the candidate’s level of knowledge and enthusiasm about their work.
You might be able to learn about the areas of work that they are most interested in, and what turns off their interest in their work.
What Tech Related Projects Have You Worked Upon In Your Spare Time?
For a startup, it is crucial to hire a techie who is driven with enthusiasm about their area of work. So, it makes sense to catch someone who runs by tech even in their spare time. Getting to know about their project work will tell you a lot about how a candidate can model time and resources and put them to their best use.
What Qualities Do You Deem Necessary For A Successful Team Leader?
Simply asking or seeking whether a candidate has the right team leading skills is not the optimum way to go.
To be able to hold a position of management or leadership, it is crucial to understand if the candidate truly has what it takes to lead a team. Skills such as organization, motivation, and communication supersede the general pointers listed on a resume.
How to be Effective As A Remote Worker?
For a startup, it is vital to pick someone who can work even in the absence of supervision and manage the work. The right skills to mine in an individual for effective workflow include communication abilities, self-discipline, and time management.
How a candidate answers this question has a lot to tell you about the flexibility with which a candidate can thrive in different work environments.
What Is Your Take On A Tight Deadline?
As a startup, work pressure for you is going to be unbearable at times, calling for strict and unfathomable deadlines. Ideally, you should hire a candidate who can handle the stress of being under pressure and, at the same time, manage the workflow of different projects.
Additionally, you may ask how they handle an instance where they have missed a deadline and the resulting situation.
How Will You Make Yourself A Useful Addition For Our Startup Within The First Six Months?
Depending on the role, this question can answer just how capable a candidate can be for your startup. The answer to this one will give you an insight into the role that the candidate hopes to fill by bagging the job on the table.
It could be anything like working on a specific project or streamlining a particular process, but what matters is how the candidate envisions the possibility of carrying them out.
How Do You Perceive the Changes in Technology Impacting Your Job Role?
Technolgy updates will continue to occur in the foreseeable future, and there is no stopping them. Does the candidate understand the implications of such changes on their job profile and the fact that they will have to stay updated with them in the times to come?
If you are currently looking to hire expert Swift developers or someone in a similar job role, discuss the possibilities for diverse future pathways with them and how they plan to advance along the route.
In Conclusion
These questions should ideally immerse the prospective candidate in an interactive discussion with the hirer for a startup. The answers to each of them will invoke a deeper understanding of the suitability of a candidate for a particular job role.
At the same time, you stand to gain a wider expanse of knowledge about the potential of an individual for a role, which a resume is most likely not going to reveal.
