The Art of Being Professionally Curious

As a candidate, asking questions is your chance to demonstrate what you have learned in the interview and that you are excited about the position and the company.

• Ask questions to clarify what the 1st few days or weeks of the job will look like everyday
• Ask how success is defined at 30 days, 90 days, and/or a year
• Ask about the team you will be joining (communication style, size, strengths, weaknesses, etc.)
• Ask what made the manager decide to work for the company, along with what they like most about the work their team does.

As recruiters, we seek and share information constantly. We ask candidates about their experience/career goals and Hiring Managers about the requirements for the role they need to fill. Most recruiters are skilled?at asking essential questions. The real art is asking questions that get the information “in between the lines.”

Make sure you understand how the candidate’s skills will apply to the role, and whether there are tools they need expertise in or not. For example, if a requisition requires CAD skills, ask Hiring Managers if the role requires hands-o. design or the ability to “pull sections and review history”

Understanding the team’s size and communication style will help identify some of the ‘soft skills’ an ideal candidate will have when they join. Without the additional context, recruiters can miss out on a great candidate due to an average resume.?

View each new requisition as a chance to investigate before the matchmaking begins. A little bit of online research is recommended if the position and/or company is new to you, it will help you identify questions that go beyond the surface. ?

Ask the hiring manager about someone who is successful within the role—what stands out about that person? (Communication or organizational style, previous roles they had before the current one, etc.)

If the role is to replace someone, ask what the hiring manager would like to see more of in the next candidate. If the role requires niche process or industry experience, what additional mainstream processes or industries are close enough to transition?

When working with the candidates, the resume will give you a lot of information.

When talking with the candidates, you can focus on learning about what is not on the resume. Ask a candidate what attracted them to the work that they do—what do they love about the job or the company, and what they would like to change.?If the candidate has a passion for a particular attribute of the role you are looking to fill, make sure the hiring manager knows.?

Written by??Laura Demchak

Laura Demchak is a Technical Recruiter at LER TechForce.?She has over 10 years of Recruiting and training experience in the automotive industry.?She loves helping people, with a passion?for the automotive industry find their dream jobs.??