Stop asking dumb questions!

I read a post the other day of the top questions that are being asked in job interviews. I couldn't believe some of the ones that made the list. In all the years that I've been doing career coaching, the same dumb questions make the list.

What are interviewers really interested in? What they should be interested in is simple. Can the person do the job? Can I work with them? That's it, which means that interview questions should be geared toward identifying those two things.

Why do you care where I hope to be in five years? I guess in some way it's supposed to indicate whether you still intend to be with the company. Shouldn't an interviewee follow up question be, "Well, if you can guarantee me that I'll still be here, I would like to ...?"

What are your greatest strengths? Hopefully people would be honest and state their greatest strengths. However, what is the interviewer going to do with those answers? Do they take the time to match the strengths with what's needed for the position? I'm guessing not. What they are interested in, is whether you can name some of your greatest strengths. And if the interviewee is lying, how would the interviewer know? Shouldn't a good follow up question be, "can you prove it?"

What are your weaknesses? Everyone has weaknesses, not everyone admits them. Interviewees will give answers that they believe will not hurt their chances. What are the interviewers looking for?

Years ago, an Executive Recruiter friend of mine told me that when he works with companies, he tells the interviewers to ask real questions of the interviewees. "Put them in the job," he used to say. When you ask situation questions, give them an actual situation that they may run into and see how they answer it.

If you want to know what their strengths or weaknesses are, ask them behavior or situation questions related to the job that will indicate how those strengths and weaknesses affect how they will do the job.

It's tough out there. If you've never been laid off, you have no idea what interviewees are going through. Treat them with enough respect by asking them more impactful interview questions related to the job and the team, rather than "How do you plan on achieving your career goals?"

One man's opinion. Comments welcome.