What is a non-technical interview?

A non-technical job interview is a job interview that does not focus on technical knowledge. In this interview you assess the candidate’s soft skills, such as their management, leadership, values and teamwork skills. You also judge the candidate to have clear communication skills, autonomy, and lastly but not the least his problem solving mindset.

Pitfalls to Avoid

You must also be vary of the following pitfalls in a non-technical interview like “bias.” If a candidate poorly performs in the first parts of the interview, you may have already developed a bias and not be as impressed. You should till till the interview is over to develop a bias. Bias detracts you from choosing the best candidate. A structured interview is an easy way to mitigate bias.

Another pitfall is a cultural fit. Many companies hove moved away from culture fit assessment as they usually misrepresent how well the candidate will perform their jobs. Instead of looking for a cultural fit look for the values the candidate hold. It’s the values not the culture that decide if the candidate will make future decisions in your company’s best interest.

Here are the top five commonly asked non-technical questions:

1. Tell me something about yourself
This is an ice-breaker question that makes it easy to develop rapport with the candidate for further questions.

2. What’s your greatest strength or better what are your top 3 technical skills?
This is to filter out candidates based on their resumes you were looking for some specific skills, such as .Net development or PHP.

The order of skills in the answer is important because the candidate will start with the skill, he is most confident about. And you want to hear the skill you think is most important for your project listed first. If you are looking for .Net then he should start with .Net not PHP or SQL. Make sure your applicant answers this as clearly and unequivocally as possible.

3. What is your greatest weakness?
This question is to reveal something vulnerable about the candidate. If he’s too clever he will offer an answer that’s a strength disguised as a weakness. This is a red flag.

4. Where do you see yourself in five years?
The the candidate answers “I don’t know,” he might be too indecisive. However, if he tells you he’s probably going to be working at a different job then, it’s a red flag.

5. Why did you leave your last company?
Even if the candidate has been fired he should put the experience in a positive light. You don’t want the same candidate bashing your company in the next interview after you hire him.

KashmirOverseas is one of the best recruitment agencies of Pakistan. Contact us if you want the talent from Pakistan to work on your project.