While at the Maine Human Resource conference in Rockport last week I got the chance to sit in on a few sessions. One of them was on improving your candidate interview experience. Mike Brown, a 25 year veteran of HR and who runs that department for a large construction firm in Maine spoke for 60 minutes and told some great hiring stories.

At one point he trotted out his top 10 interview questions. These are a great primer for any newbie recruiter as well as experienced pros who need a reminder of why these questions work well to gain insight. The audio is about 20 mins long, the questions are below. He’s got some good stories too.

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10. What do you know about our company? Gets them to talk and start the conversation…

9. What caught your attention when you learned about this job opening? Gain insight to the motivation…

8. How did you prep for this interview? See how well prepared they are…

7. Why do you want to leave your current position? Find out their motivation…

6. How does this job fit with your career goals? Make sure you are both in alignment…

5. Tell me about an accomplishment that you had as part of a team. What role did you play? Discover if they have what it takes…

4. Tell me about a time when you were stressed at work and how you dealt with it? An important insight…

3. Tell me an example of outstanding customer service that you provided once? Look for a story…

2. Tell me about a day at work that ended with you feeling like ‘that was fun’. See if they have a good tale to tell…

1. Up to you. The most important question is really role specific and totally depends on the job in question…