Ever wondered how some firms always seem to get the exceptional people for the job? Maybe your interview process just doesn’t do enough to excite candidates who come through the door. At Coburg Banks we’ve put together some interview questions and techniques that will test the interviewees and allow candidates to show off their capabilities.

1. 12 Interview questions that will identify the top
candidate for the job
coburgbanks.co.uk/blog/assessing-applicants/12-interview-questions-that-will-identify-the-top-
candidate-for-the-job/
By Charles Trivett | Feb 24, 2014 |
Ever wondered how some firms always seem to get the exceptional people for the
job?
Maybe your interview process just doesn’t do enough to excite candidates who
come through the door.
At Coburg Banks we’ve put together some interview questions and techniques that will test the
interviewees and allow candidates to show off their capabilities, ideas and innovations.
The following 12 questions will help you to quickly reveal which one of your applicants is the very best.
Problem Solving.
Generally the best hires are those who can identify problems accurately and then solve them
efficiently. The following questions will help to identify the candidates who can do this the best.
1. Pinpointing the problems and opportunities of the position:
Ask: “How will you identify the most important issues and opportunities that will face you in your new
job?”
2. Can you identify the likely problems in our processes?
Ask: “From the systems that we currently operate (hand them a single paper showing this) can you
identify three areas where problems are likely to occur?”
3. Problem solving:
Ask: “On your first day you are faced with this problem (hand a sheet with bullet points outlining the
issues) in broad terms how would you solve these issues?”
How to demonstrate your organisation as forward thinking.
If your organisation works in a fast-evolving environment such as IT you want candidates who can who
reflect this, so ask questions to find the candidates who can meet your requirements.
4. How do you think this job will develop?
Ask: “Can you project 5 ways in which your role will develop in the next three years as a result of the
changes in the industry?”
5. How do you think the industry will develop?
Ask: “What do you think will be the next 5 industry trends and which firms do you think will have to

2. change to accommodate these changes?”
Identifying a candidate’s ability to innovate, adapt, and learn.
Learners, adaptors and innovators are often the best employees. The following questions will help you
to identify these people.
6. How would you become a continuous learning expert?
Ask: “Can you give us an example of important matters that you need to keep learning about and tell
us how you would maintain that knowledge? (or you could ask how they do this in their current
position)”
7. Demonstrating adaptability to change:
Ask: “Can you tell us how you have successfully adapted to a rapidly changing situation in your
current role and how this has developed your position?”
8. Illustrate to us how you will innovate:
Ask: “Which part of your job do you think will benefit the most from innovation and how would you
achieve this?”
Understanding what makes the candidate tick.
Asking candidates to rank answers can help to distinguish what is important to them so you can
successfully sell your organisation to the top candidates. They will also reveal their preferences,
motivators, strengths and the best way to manage them.
9. List and rank your job acceptance factors:
Ask: “If you had the choice between this position and another, list the factors that you would use to
decide which one to take listing them in their descending order of importance to you.”
10. List your job motivators and rank them in importance:
Ask: “What are the top five factors that you have found that best motivate you on the job. Please list
them in their descending order of importance to you.”
11. What is the most effective approach for managing you?
Ask: “To help our employees succeed and get the most out of their jobs how can we help you reach
your goals ie feedback, results etc?”
12. List and rank the capabilities that you bring to this job:
Ask: “When you consider knowledge, experience, education and skills can you list what you have
found to be your 5 strongest capabilities that have made you perform well in your current job”
Don’t rely on typical interview questions – you will likely get fully rehearsed answers. By asking good
questions you will be able to see the exceptional candidates and find the ways in which to hire them.
Who are Coburg Banks?
Coburg Banks are an award-winning UK-based, multi-sector recruitment consultancy, specialising in
the health and social care, marketing, sales, technical, and IT sectors.

3. Having been in the business since 2002, we’ve headhunted, interviewed and secured thousands of
candidates for our clients and we’ve racked up a wealth of knowledge about how to attract the most
prestigious employees to a business.
But we’re not going to keep that knowledge to ourselves…
We’ve started spreading the word with our blog, which delivers…
Cutting edge guidance, revealing how to attract and retain the best candidates, without
wasting precious time on inappropriate ones.
More insider secrets revealing how to draw out the best (and the worst) in your
interviewing candidates.
Shocking and embarrassing true confessions from recruiters across the globe; we’ve
all made mistakes, now you can learn from them!
Enjoy and Good Luck!
Charles Trivett
Charles heads up Coburg Banks’ IT Division, and has worked in
recruitment for nearly 20 years. His knowledge of how to optimise and get
the most from a recruitment campaign is second to none, and he now
works with a select handful of clients in maximising their recruitment ROI.