Types of pre-employment questions

If you want better answers, you need to start with better questions. Poorly designed pre-employment questions can lead to weak insights and missed hiring opportunities. That’s why it’s crucial to understand the different types of questions you can ask—and how each type contributes to predicting job performance.

At ThriveMap, we group pre-employment questions into four key categories: Capability, Commitment, Environment, and Withdrawing Opportunities. A well-rounded assessment includes questions from all four areas to ensure you gain a comprehensive understanding of candidate fit.

Capability:

1. Situational Judgement

Situational Judgement questions are a powerful way to evaluate how candidates approach real-world challenges they might face in the role. These questions are most effective when they present job-specific scenarios.

The strength of Situational Judgement questions lies in their ability to reveal how a candidate is likely to behave in similar on-the-job situations. Their responses offer insight into soft skills such as communication, problem-solving, adaptability, and teamwork—qualities that don’t always show up on a CV.

When using these questions, it’s important to ensure that responses are scored consistently. In a structured pre-hire assessment, candidates would typically choose from three or four predefined options, each carefully weighted to reflect desirable or undesirable behaviors. This standardisation helps you compare candidates objectively and make more informed hiring decisions.

Example:
“You’re working on a project with a tight deadline, and one of your team members is consistently late with their part of the work. How would you handle this situation?”

2. Real-life Tasks

Certain tasks are essential for the success of specific roles, and it’s crucial that candidates are proficient in these basic yet fundamental skills. Real-life task questions assess how well candidates can handle everyday tasks that are core to the job.

The goal is not just to test their knowledge but also to evaluate whether they take the time and care to perform critical tasks properly. You may be surprised at how many candidates overlook seemingly simple yet essential job functions.

By incorporating these types of questions into your assessment, you can better determine whether a candidate has the skills required to meet job standards. The tasks should be relevant and fair, enabling you to gauge both their technical abilities and approach to performing the role effectively. Below is an example of a real-life task question for a technician role in an automotive company.

3. Real-life Skills (Timed)

In some roles, speed and accuracy are crucial. Timed real-life skill questions are an effective way to assess these abilities, measuring how quickly and accurately a candidate can complete a task under pressure.

By using time-based evaluations, you can identify candidates who thrive in fast-paced environments.

To ensure a fair assessment and reduce the likelihood of success being influenced by chance, it’s often helpful to repeat variations of the questions. This approach helps pinpoint candidates who can consistently perform under pressure.

4. Abstract Skills

When certain skills are difficult to measure directly, especially those crucial to the role but not easily quantifiable, abstract skill questions are a valuable tool. We recommend using these questions to assess capabilities in a way that reflects real-world job requirements.

Incorporating abstract questions into your pre-hire process is essential for roles that require complex problem-solving or specialised knowledge, which traditional questions may miss.

The below example ensures the question is asked in a measurable and practical way.

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Commitment

5. Knowledge of the Role

It’s important that candidates are fully aware of the job expectations before proceeding further in the hiring process. Misunderstandings about working hours, job duties, or company culture can lead to frustration for both parties down the line. Knowledge-based questions help gauge how much research the candidate has done and whether they truly understand the realities role.

This type of question helps identify candidates who may be unaware of key job requirements. Those who know exactly what the role entails are more likely to be retained, happier and more productive.

Environment

6. Physical Job

For many roles, the physical environment plays a large role in success. Whether the job involves standing all day or working in a high-pressure environment, candidates need to be prepared for the physical demands of the role.

Questions about the environment give candidates the chance to self-assess their comfort with the physical demands of the role. It also helps gauge whether candidates will thrive in the working environment or experience challenges down the road.

7. Performance targets

Job performance is often measured against specific targets. It’s essential for candidates to understand the expectations they will be held to. These types of questions help communicate job targets and assess whether candidates are willing and able to meet them.

By addressing performance expectations upfront, these questions help to align both employer and candidate on the same page from the outset.

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Withdrawing

8. Self-selecting Out

Pre-employment assessments should not just focus on selecting the right candidate—they should also help identify candidates who are not a good fit for the role. Self-selecting questions allow candidates to assess whether they are truly suited for the job.

If a candidate answers negatively, they are effectively self-selecting out of the process, which can save time and prevent the costs of early attrition.

9. Withdrawing – Automation

For candidates who might not answer self-selecting questions appropriately, an automated withdrawal option can ensure that they opt out of the process if they realise the role isn’t a good fit.

This automated mechanism provides an easy exit for candidates who recognise that the role may not align with their preferences or capabilities.

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Ready to put this into action? Try our Smart Assessment Builder

By incorporating a variety of pre-employtypement questions, you can gain deeper insights into a candidate’s abilities, commitment, and role fit.

Realistic Job Assessments are an effective way to ensure you ask the right mix of relevant tasks and scenarios. This helps you identify the best candidates while minimizing the risk of poor hires. Our online assessments strike the perfect balance of capability, commitment, and environmental questions in a fair and unique way. Get started today with a demo or our Smart Assessment Builder!