Is a Skill, Filter or Application Question the best option for your vacancy?
Figuring out which type of questions to ask when recruiting for a new position can be a difficult task. Our ATS offers three different types of questions which you can use to find the perfect candidate.
We can split these three questions into categories that I like to call the “Three S’s”: Specific, Scout and Survey:
Specific
Finding that perfect recruit can be extremely time consuming at the best of times. As a frequent user of our ATS, I have seen first-hand some vacancies which receive more than two hundred applications from avid candidates.
To streamline the process of sifting through applications and help you find the right candidate, you could use our Filter Questions. These can be especially useful when you would like candidates to have a specific requirement to be able to apply, while removing any possible applications you might receive that do not fit your criteria.
You can use these filter questions to manually sift through all answers, which are displayed on the summary page of all applications, or you can add a knockout value, which will automatically kick an applicant out of their application if they select the ‘wrong’ answer.
Scout
The most traditional way of getting to know an applicant is to ask them for their experience. Asking a specific question and seeing how they react literarily can be a fantastic way to see how strong a candidate is with the written word, as well as delve deeper into their personality.
Our Application Questions have the option to add specific questions which might not already be on your application form but are specific to a vacancy. These tailored questions can provide candidates who struggle in interviews the chance to express themselves, whilst also giving you the chance to scout a strong runner from the bunch.
For some advice on the best questions to ask on your vacancies, find some expert tips from our Resourcing specialists today.
Survey
Rather than assessing the candidates yourself, another perspective could be to gauge how a candidate assesses their own skills related to your vacancy, such as with the infamous interview questions “Tell me about one of your weaknesses”.
One option, which you may not see often and is certainly not a conventional mode of questioning, is to ask a candidate a Skill question (I know, I could have put the third of the “Three S’s” as “Skill”, but that’s just lazy writing).
This type of question could remind you of one you would see on a Survey, such as giving them the option to select from a numbered range of your choice. To be more specific, you could ask a candidate to rate their skills on a specific subject on a scale from 1-5.
Do you need further advice on finding that candidate you’re looking for?
Reach out to our expert Resourcing team, who can help even in the most difficult of recruitment campaigns.