Sometimes it feels like your staff is just moving through a revolving door. You hire someone, and within months, or sometimes even weeks, he or she is off to the next job. How do you find people that will fit your dealership, and are committed to stay? It’s all in asking the right questions. Try asking some of these to get a better picture of your next candidate:

What would your last supervisor say is the area you needed the most improvement on?

This question is a variant of “What is your biggest weakness?”, but it is more likely to get an insightful answer. Having a candidate reflect on what past feedback has been given helps you see how you can better approach managing them. It also gives the candidate a chance to demonstrate how he has taken steps to improve.

Tell me about a time when…

These kinds of questions are a great opportunity to see how a candidate handles situations similar to those he would see in your dealership. For customer-facing roles, you may ask about a time when he had to handle a difficult conversation with a customer. Or you can ask how he manages multiple tasks to see how he prioritizes work. If the candidate has non-automotive experiences, these questions can help you see how those experiences will translate to a new position and industry.

What motivates you?

This is a great way to see a glimpse of what managing this candidate will be like. Knowing a candidate’s motivations can help you see what will get the best performance. You can also start to assess if your dealership’s culture will be a good fit.

What are the biggest traits and skills you would bring to this position?

This is a great way of assessing what traits a candidate feels would help him most in this role, and why he thinks that way. He may point out something you haven’t thought of, or make a connection to a skill he has in an unusual way. This also may be a good indicator that he doesn’t have a firm grasp of what the position involves.

What attracted you to this position?

This question digs into what parts of the job sounded appealing to the candidate. If he latched on to a part of the job description that you know is only a small part of the role, it may be time to reset his expectations. This question is another great way to see what matters in a job to a candidate. He may be looking to specifically work for your organization, or he wants that particular position. Perhaps he is looking for a challenge he thinks the position will give him.

Conclusion

No matter what position you’re hiring for, pull out a few of these questions at your next interview to see how your candidate will fit in to your dealership’s environment.

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