75% of surveyed companies reported average losses of nearly $15,000 from bad hires. To avoid losing this sizable chunk of change, make sure you’re hiring an assistant who is right for the job.
Five Effective Interview Questions
Hiring an assistant is no exception to this. If you’re interested in learning five effective interview questions to ask potential assistants, read on.
1. What Were Your Daily Tasks in Your Previous Job?
Listen carefully to the details of the interviewee’s answer. If he or she is telling the truth about his or her experience, he or she should give you very specific details. You can also write their responses and ask about them later to make sure his or her story stays consistent.
Also, remember that you’re hiring an assistant who needs to fit into your company. Compare the interviewee’s previous daily tasks with the tasks of the open position. Strongly consider hiring the interviewee whose previous position has the closest resemblance to your open one.
2. What Are Some Ways You’ve Used (Software) in Your Previous Job?
You can ask this question multiple times and fill in the blank with different software programs as you hire an office assistant. Consider asking the potential office assistant to list the steps of certain software applications.
In addition, if a computer is within reach, consider booting that program up and asking the interviewee to run you through it. Another option is to list his or her steps and try them yourself later. An interviewee who can find his or her way around each program well is one you should consider hiring.
3. What Was a Problem You Overcame in Your Previous Job?
An employee should have good problem-solving skills and job-specific skills. In many high-pressure situations, the latter becomes useless when an employee can’t keep a cool head.
The best answers to this question involve the interviewee telling you a story. The interviewee should identify the problem, tell you how he or she reacted, and the steps taken to solve it. Try to guide the interviewee into giving you an answer like this.
4. What Are Your Ideal Coworkers Like?
This is another question that helps you gauge how well an interviewee will fit into your office dynamic. Ideally, the interviewee should speak about how he or she wants to interact with the coworkers. In general, his or her personality shouldn’t conflict too much with those of the other candidates.
For example, you may have an office of outgoing individuals. In this kind of space, it’s not a good idea to hire an assistant who’s too introverted. He or she may not want to talk to others, and this could lead to bad feelings.
5. What Are Some Questions That You Have for Us?
Finally, this question lets you know where your potential hire’s priorities lie. If he or she asks about salary or benefits, the potential hire may not be passionate about the work itself.
Don’t be afraid to not hire an office assistant candidate if you don’t believe he or she isn’t passionate enough. As you can see, there are plenty of highly skilled assistants out there.
Learn About More Things Than Just Hiring an Assistant
Along with these questions, be sure to create some of your own. List your ideal candidate’s qualities and come up with questions that could help you find him or her. With enough hard work, you’ll succeed in hiring an assistant.
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