Most hiring mistakes aren’t made in the interview, they happen before it even begins.
In many organizations, whether for-profit or not-for-profit, team members juggle multiple roles without dedicated Human Resources support.
That doesn’t remove the responsibility to hire well, but it does mean you need simple, effective tools to do it.
Who are the right people to hire?
The right people aren’t just the most qualified on paper.
They are the ones who can think when the answer isn’t obvious, stay steady when things don’t go as planned, and respond with intention instead of reaction. They handle ambiguity without shutting down and don’t rely on rehearsed answers when the situation changes.
In my experience, the strongest candidates don’t just answer questions well, they ask better ones. They listen, process, and adapt in real time.
Just as important, the “right people” must be defined broadly and fairly. Strong candidates come from all backgrounds, including those who identify as Black, Indigenous, People of Colour, and those living with disabilities (BIPOC-D). A well-designed hiring process should reveal capability, not unintentionally filter it out. If your process disadvantages capable people because of how it is structured, then it is not identifying the best candidates, it is missing them.
What “right” looks like will always depend on the role, the environment, and your organization’s expectations. But before you begin any hiring process, you need to be clear on one thing:
What does success actually look like in this role, and what kind of thinking does it require?
If you can’t answer that clearly, no interview process or tool will consistently give you the right result.
The Why
I can’t emphasize enough the importance of properly screening applicants. It is often easy to filter out weak candidates; the real risk to your organization comes from the ones who appear strong but aren’t.
With the internet and artificial intelligence, almost anyone can produce a polished resume that hides gaps in judgment or thinking. Many candidates memorize strong interview answers without developing the ability to solve real problems.
Perhaps most importantly, charisma and confidence can mask poor decision-making, and sometimes make stronger, more capable candidates appear less impressive by comparison.
If your process relies too heavily on resumes and interviews alone, you will miss things that matter.
That’s why I use a pre-interview questionnaire.
The Tool
One of the simplest and most effective tools I’ve used to expose real thinking is this pre-interview questionnaire.
It’s simple by design, but it exposes how people actually think.
My organizations usually require associates who can handle pressure and think “on their feet,” in unpredictable situations. This particular questionnaire is designed to test applicants on those very skills. The format can be easily modified to test for other qualities depending on the needs of your organization. For sales, customer service, receptionists, people who work on “helplines,” and supervisors/managers, this this questionnaire works particularly well.
Initially, this tool was used as a screening tool for new applicants who brought in their resumes to apply for positions. As people began to apply online, we modified the tool to serve as a pre-interview test.
How the tool helps:
Many applicants present polished resumes that don’t reflect how they actually think.
Simply reviewing a resume is often not enough to determine their suitability. As a result, simply looking at a resume may not always be a useful tool to determine their suitability for your organization. This tool can provide valuable insight into how a person responds when things don’t go as expected.
When an applicant arrives for an interview, give them ten minutes to complete the questionnaire. Ask the office associate to gauge their reaction to the test, as well as the applicant’s attitude towards the office associate. If chemistry is important to your organization, how an applicant treats your other associates can help determine who is hired.
Here is the questionnaire I use:
NEW APPLICANT’S QUESTIONNAIRE
Please complete this form before we begin the interview.
Name: _____________________________________________________________________
Position Applying for: _________________________________________________________
Full time: ___ Part-time ______ (Please check)
1.List 3 reasons why you would like to work for our team:
a. _____________________________
b. _____________________________
c. _____________________________
2. Please list 2 things that you have done as part of a team in the past two years
a. _____________________________
b. _____________________________
3. Please list 3 things that you have done in the past 6 months to improve your skills.
a. _____________________________
b. _____________________________
c. _____________________________
4. Please list 3 skills that you have that would make you a great applicant for this position.
a. _____________________________
b. _____________________________
c. _____________________________
5. Rate each of the following on a scale of 1 to 5, one being the least important and five being the most important
a. Winning an argument with a customer or co-worker ___
b. Length of service with a company ___
c. Providing great customer service ___
d. Answering the telephone before it rings 3 times ___
——————————————————————————————————————————-
What I look for:
Critical Thinking: I allow extra time when booking interviews for each person to complete the questionnaire; however, I do not provide any advance notice of the questions. I want to see how they handle this situation and how they think in the moment.
Their reaction: The questionnaire is unexpected. How the person reacts is important to note. My office staff is typically the ones who present the questionnaire, and they will tell me later how the person reacts. I also ask for their input on how well the person treated them, for example, were they polite, respectful, and did they say thank you. This is a key part of how we assess emotional intelligence. People can disqualify themselves because of their behavior towards people whom they believe have no bearing on the interview process.
Can you read their writing? This questionnaire is purposely not available online. It provides insight into how candidates organize their thoughts without relying on the tools they use every day.
Did they answer all of the questions? I have found that ten to fifteen minutes is ample time for all of the hundreds of people who have done the questionnaire.
Question 1 – This question asks the person to list three reasons why they would like to work for my organization. How articulate are their answers? If a person cannot provide three reasons why they want to work for my organization, I believe that is a major “red” flag that they have not done any research or that they have not thought seriously about the role.
Question 2 – Listing two things they have done as part of a team provides me with a starting point to probe deeper during the actual interview. A person’s ability to work effectively on a team is a good indicator of how they may interact with other people.
Question 3 – People who demonstrate their ability to build new skills, to address gaps in their abilities, are usually people who can work effectively outside of their comfort zones. Resilience and reinvention are hallmarks of superior people, in my opinion. In our constantly changing work environments, having people who proactively adapt will help my organization adapt to its own changing environment.
Question 4 – This is the person’s first real opportunity to answer the question: “Why should we hire them?” A person who can quickly answer this question well will tie their answer back to the job posting.
Question 5 – This is a key question on this form. For my organization, attention to detail and the ability to respond accordingly to what is being tested. It was created to test a person’s ability to interpret and gather the appropriate facts before acting. This question is usually answered incorrectly by more than 75% of the applicants.
Most candidates fail this question, not because it’s hard, but because they don’t read carefully. That’s the point.
It asks them to rank priorities from least to most important. Their answer tells you whether they understood what was being asked.
How the quiz helps with decision-making
After the interviews, the results from the questionnaire can help with the struggle to determine the best person. Every person applying for a position will have different strengths and weaknesses. The questionnaire answers often provide me with additional insight to help my team decide who to select.
Is this fair?
This approach is designed to reveal how people think and respond when expectations aren’t clearly defined. It isn’t perfect, but it is practical, and it works.
What other tests are helpful?
Depending on the position being interviewed for, other tests could include aptitude using software such as Word or Excel, behavioral or situation scenarios, and multiple choice questions. All of these can provide additional insight into how a person responds without external support.
In the interview, I typically use the same questions for each applicant; however, where necessary, to drill down, I use the answers from the questionnaire to ensure I am satisfied with the person’s responses.
You are being tested.
In the past, I was almost totally focused on “How do we evaluate people applying?” When designing and explaining your questionnaire, be careful not to forget “How does this process affect who accepts your offer?” Always be sure to provide clarity, be professional, and respect each person applying.
Making adjustments.
The hiring process is not static. The first step is to identify what success looks like; the process is designed to arrive at that outcome. However, it is equally important after the hiring process to evaluate whether the questionnaire helped with achieving success and to make any adjustments that would be helpful next time.
Interviewing and hiring people is not necessarily easy; however, using tools like a questionnaire designed by your team to find the right people is still challenging, but it is very doable by using these very simple tools to ensure that the people you hire are the best you can find. Hiring isn’t about finding perfect people. It’s about understanding how people think before it costs you.
Tools like this won’t make hiring easy, but they will make it better.