The Top 10 Video Interview Questions to Ask Job Candidates in 2020

You’re ready to hire a new member for your team, you’ve posted the opening, and now it’s time to interview and select the perfect candidate from the list of applicants. You’ve chosen video interviews to evaluate talent. Now how do you ensure that your recruiters and hiring managers choose the right person for the job? 

It goes without saying that the interview is critical to the hiring process, evaluating job applicants, and discovering which candidates are the right fit for your company. The video interview process is in many ways similar to an in person interview. You still want to ask the tough questions that will keep applicants on their toes and force them to think critically about their responses. 

Asking tough interview questions of each interviewee helps to ensure that you select  candidates that listen critically and can answer thoughtfully. Conducting a video interview of the applicant answering those questions can help you identify emotional and non verbal cues in addition to spoken answers. 

Asking the right interview questions can help to determine if that applicant that looks great on paper is just as good in person. Check out the below interview tips to most effectively evalute your job seekers. 

1. Tell us about yourself and your current role/job

This is a pretty standard job interview question, but still one of the most important. A candidate will often tell the interviewer quite a bit about their goals, values, and much can be learned from how they answer.

2. What do you know about our company, and why do you want to work here?

A qualified job candidate will typically do their homework prior to the interview in an effort to be most prepared, and to determine if your company is somewhere they would truly like to work. Still some candidates will not. Some candidates may not even bother to look up what product or service your company offers. Asking this question will help you to determine whether your job applicant truly is interested in working for you, and whether they identify with your values and mission.

3. Why should we hire you? 

This question turns things around on the candidate and forces them to answer from your perspective. How the candidate answers may help to identify their confidence in their ability and skills that may match the position. If your video interview shows that the candidate isn’t able to answer confidently, it’s possible that they may not be a good match for the position. On the flip side, a qualified candidate should be able to answer directly and fluidly exactly why they would be a good fit. 

4. What’s your greatest accomplishment

Paper resumes are pretty standard stuff and haven’t changed much over the years. Asking a candidate about their accomplishments should flesh out real life examples that may have not been mentioned on the paper resume. Ideally those examples should be compelling experiences that the candidate is proud of, and relevant to the position for which they are interviewing. If the candidate has trouble citing any examples this could be a red flag that they may not be a great fit for your company. 

5. What’s your greatest failure and what did you learn from it? 

You can learn a lot from someone by simply asking them about their failures, and what they learned from them. How a candidate answer this question in their video interview will give you a good idea of how they will react to adversity and failure in the real world and when working as a member of your team. Mistakes happen and knowing ahead of time how a potential team member might react in a stressful situation is extremely valuable.  

6. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 

A candidate that has aspirations and motivations to succeed and grow is valuable to any team. Finding a candidate that wants to succeed and advance with your company is ideal, as turnover can be costly. Mention how your company can help the candidate achieve their goals and objectives in their career. You are best served by a candidate that wants to stick around and when they see the opportunity to advance, chances are they will be happier in the long run, and stick around longer.

7. What strengths or skills do you bring to the table?

This question will help determine whether a candidate simply applied without much thought, or rather if they applied because they truly felt their skills and experience are a great fit for the open position. The right applicant should be able to clearly detail how their skills will benefit your team in their response. 

8. What is your ideal work environment?

Asking potential job candidates this question can help determine if they will succeed at your company or not. How they answer will help you determine whether or not they identify with your values, your goals, or even the day to day atmosphere in which your team operates. 

9. What is the most interesting project that you have worked on?

The goal of this question is to determine whether or not the candidate will be happy working for your company. Ultimately happy employees do better work, and they stick around longer. Having satisfied workers is one of the greatest factors in overall long term retention. 

10. What is your definition of success? 

Asking this question in your video interview will give you a good idea of what a candidate is looking for in their career. You may discover their primary motivating factors from their answers whether that be compensation, responsibility, challenging work, company values, etc.