“How many gallons of paint would it take to cover this entire city?” These types of questions stump everyone and are used to see how you think. Unless you’re a genius hiring geniuses, there’s not much direct benefit to asking these types of interview questions. But there are other ways to stump the interviewee, not just for your own amusement or what is technically called “interviewer-messing-with-people-syndrome.” Asking tough questions shows an interviewees preparation, knowledge, relevant work experience, and how they think, without asking an intangible question like, “Why are manholes round?” Here are four interview lines to stump the interviewee, with the purpose of getting a quality answer from the candidate.

“If you were an employee here, how would you…”

It’s not hard for an interviewee to talk about what they’ve done and their relevant work experience. Instead of talking about their past responsibilities  turn the tables and ask them hypothetically how they would do X as an employee of your company. This does two things; it reflects how deeply they researched the company – not just the position – and gives you the chance to test drive the candidate. Instead of speculating on what they would bring to your company, this gives you a solid analysis of their abilities and thought process. Lastly, instead of hearing the hypotheticals that follow, “How many basketballs fit in this room?” you receive a thought out, genuine answer.

“Give me another example…”

A good interviewee will think of one past relevant experience that connects to each responsibility. When you ask an interviewee to “give you a time when…” after they are done explaining, ask for another example. This reveals the extent of the work experience that the candidate has. It also shows that they really had the responsibility and didn’t just plan out what scenarios they were going to bring up in advance. A great interviewee will share another example on the spot.

“Explain our product / service as quickly as you can.”

It’s surprising how many job interviewees don’t actually know what the company they are interviewing with does. This question shows if the interviewee researched the company, and not just the position. This kind of question not only makes the interviewee have to think of a whim, but also shows how concisely they can explain something.

The Implication

This one’s tricky. With the implication, you set up a scenario, then ask if the interviewee would do it. You make it seem as though it is the right thing to do, however the best answer is if they disagree and tell you why they disagree with it.

Trying to stump the interviewee in the job interview will give you tangible insights to the candidate’s ability to think critically, as well as, talk about the self and the company. When conducting a job interview, use these interview prompts to discover how the job seeker would perform as an employee of your company.

“Resumes are dead. People don’t see it yet, but it’s clearly there. There is no sense of having a resume, because what’s a resume? It’s a piece of paper that has no interactivity, no history, no context,” said Jerome Ternynck, CEO of SmartRecruiters (Video Below).

Recruiters are not just relying on a simple paper cover letter and resume today. Resumes, limited to one page, simply don’t paint your professional picture. At SmartUp: Big Data Recruiting, Peter Kazanjy, Founder of TalentBin stressed the need to look deeper into candidates, farther than just a resume.

With the Resume “you’re talking about thousand characters of content to make a judgment about somebody, its more like ten thousand or one hundred thousand characters of professionally relevant content that describe a human.” (Video Below)

Technological developments in candidate management softwares and sourcing systems, as well as, online social media profiles have changed the game for both employers and job seekers. Recruiters are moving more and more towards the web to source candidates, but they aren’t just clicking through hundreds of LinkedIn profiles. They don’t just want to hear what you’re good at, they want to see it. And what shows them this?

Your social footprint.

Any programmer can say they’re good at something. They can list their certifications, experience, and degrees on their resume. But finding out how good they actually are is a challenge that recruiters face when sourcing programmers and developers. The recruiter’s need to look deeper into a candidate’s job history and experience has led to the development of databases that rank developers and programmers based on their social footprint.

So what is a social footprint? It’s a person’s presence and impact on the internet. When looking at someone’s social footprint, you are measuring what and how well they have done anything online. Kazanjy explained on Quora how you look at a developer’s social footprint, and why you should recruit using it:

“The belief is that using implicit professional information that is visible on the web, properly interpreted (e.g., “This person is a member of these professionally relelvant Meetups, does this on Quora, tweets about these things, and does this on Github, thus they’re into Java, Ruby, Objective-C, and mobile.”) is a better way of finding people who have the requisite skills for roles you’re recruiting for.”

The social footprint gives you an idea of what they’ve done, both professionally and independently.  It gives you an actual idea of their skills and interests, and some companies and recruiting softwares even developed a system to rank candidates. It’s about looking at more than just bullet points on a resume.

Because skills and qualifications of programmers and developers are harder to measure, the social footprint gives a recruiter a better overall profile of a candidate.  Not only does it paint a better picture, social footprints are also more efficient for recruiting both active job seekers and passive candidates. Referring to the current inefficiencies of recruiting, Entelo founder Jon Bischke said on Quora:

“They carpet bomb everyone who looks even remotely like a fit in the hopes of hitting the needle in the haystack and finding the candidate who is actually looking for something new. And that’s horribly inefficient.” 

Instead of spraying and praying for candidates, recruiters can use a social footprint to get a better idea of not only who would make a good fit, but also source passive candidates who are actually looking to move. These databases use an algorithm to track candidates that might be looking for a change in career. For example, the algorithm will take into account a company’s large drop in stock, layoffs, or executives leaving the company.

The social footprint will have a major impact on recruiting in the future, especially for programmers and developers. Companies not only will be able to see concrete evidence of a programmers work. Recruiters will also be able to source passive candidates who are actually interested in a career move, as while as job seekers actively searching for work.

At SmartRecruiters’ SmartUp: Beyond the Resume, Bischke summed up the power of the social footprint, and its impact on future recruiting.

“We believe that when people hire in the future, they’ll hire on the basis of what people do, not what people say about themselves.”

SmartRecruiters is the free hiring platform.

From our SmartUp Events, learn more from TalentBin‘s Pete Kazanjy:

From our SmartUp Events, learn more from Entelo’s Job Bischke:

And SmartRecruiters CEO Jerome Ternynck on the Death of Resume:

A nightmarish hiring process turns off candidates. How can hiring be made easy?


Joe Hanson, the @TheJobChaser, is a blogging intern with SmartRecruiters.

“If you’re not on Facebook, then you’re not out there. If you’re a company and you’re not on Facebook, you’re not in the market,” said Amy Craig of SmartRecruiters at SmartUp: Facebook Recruiting.

Facebook makes a company organic. It gives you insight into the workplace, showing you the people behind the company. Facebook is an effective recruiting tool, especially when it comes to job candidates researching your company. If you have an updated, unique Facebook page, you can increase interest from job candidates, building better talent pools.

When researching a company, social media is a starting point for many candidates.  For example, search a company’s name. There’s a good chance, they’ll have a company Facebook page. So as a job candidate, when you’re researching a company for the first time, naturally you’re going to check out, in addition to their company website, the company’s Facebook. So what are candidates looking for when they check out your company Facebook? Below are four things that your Facebook says about your company, and how you can make your Company Facebook page recruit for you:

1. Work-life balance

One thing that is very appealing to a job seeker is seeing that your company doesn’t just have a ‘come in, work, go home’ mentality. Candidates will want to see photos of your employees outside of working, for example, having fun at a company retreat or an after work happy-hour. Facebook is a perfect medium to show your company’s work life balance, so keeping your company Facebook page up to date with this kind of content is a major benefit for attracting quality job seekers.

2. Coworker comradery

People also want to work for a company where employees like each other.  This too can be shown on your Facebook (if your employees like each other). Take pictures of daily life in your office; coworkers eating lunch together, working together on a project, or playing foosball. At SmartRecruiters, one of our massive light shades began to fall from the ceiling. In a team effort, it took 6 or 7 of us to put reattach it.  The picture is not only funny, but shows the type of comradery we have in our office.

3. Your office

If you have a sweet startup office, building, or location, show it off! Who wouldn’t want to work somewhere unique, especially if their last job was in a 1960s office building with pale pink cubicle walls, in a scuzzy part of town.  If you have an awesome kitchen, unique wall art, ping pong table, or your office is a restored warehouse, don’t hide it.  Your office space is one of the ways that you can brand yourself, so have pictures of your workplace on the Facebook. Allowing a job seeker to take a virtual tour of your office may get them even more excited about the position.

4. Company values

What does your company do outside of work? Whether it be a charity, volunteering, or having a softball team, you can show your company values through your company’s Facebook. Many job candidates are looking for a company with values that align with their own, and showing your company’s involvement with social good or activity outside the workplace shows your company’s values.

Facebook is one of the ways that you can show a job candidate what it is like to work at your company. Instead of reading corporate descriptions of the company, Facebook gives a personal touch to job research. The more effective you are branding your company through Facebook, the more attractive your company will be for job seekers.

Joe Hanson, the @TheJobChaser, is a blogging intern with SmartRecruiters, the free hiring platform, including a free app to list your jobs on Facebook. Joe helped make this video:

Everyone has a #smartjob. What’s yours?

Joe Hanson, the @TheJobChaser, is a blogging intern with SmartRecruiters, the free hiring platform.

“I love what I do. Nothing beats a great comment, like ‘you helped me to make a great hire and help our business and organization grow,’ and whenever I hear something like this, it really makes my day, and this is why I go to work in the morning and stay late.”

Nik Hristov is the service manager at SmartRecruiters, responsible for all things customer service.  As the first hired employee of SmartRecruiters, Nik has been there since the start, and has a developed a deep understanding of the product and the industry.  When a customer encounters any questions, concerns, or difficulties, Nik is there to help. He’s accessible to the user, whether it’s training clients on new features, helping clients set up their page for the first time, or educating clients on how to use their platform better, Nik sums up his purpose in one sentence:

“I ensure that SmartRecruiters has raving fans, and that everyone can use and enjoy it to its fullest.”

Before SmartRecruiters, Nik started at SmartRecruiters’s founder Jerome Ternynck’s company, MrTed. Starting as a marketing intern, Nik’s natural progression to service manager came as he worked with the product, development, and interacted more and more with clients. Being apart of both SmartRecruiters and MrTed, Nik gained comprehensive knowledge of the online recruiting industry, as well as the recruiting platform.  Think of Nik as your living SmartRecruiters owner’s manual.

“If you have a question or if you might be running into any difficulties, we are here to help. We are always here to help. And using free software doesn’t necessarily mean that you are on your own.”

It’s common to think that using a free platform will come with no client services. However, Nik is proactive in helping clients with any issues they may have. Whether it’s a call, an email, our GetSatisfaction community or a tweet, Nik quickly contacts that client and resolves the problem. With a big company, you may have to go through a series of automated phone programs. With SmartRecruiters, you’ll have a real live human on the other end who is there to help.

“Being client centric, and really understanding our clients, it’s just something that adds to the whole SmartRecruiter’s experience.”

So other than helping clients resolve issues and the satisfaction of good feedback, why does Nik come into work every morning?

“When I get into the office in the morning, I know that today, and every single day, there’s going to be someone new to talk to or to get in touch with. And this speaks to the reach of SmartRecruiters. We have businesses using us, from small mom-and-pop shops, to quite big and serious organizations. So this part of my job, talking to all sorts of business owners, recruiters, and HR people, this is something that I love.”

Nik’s passion for helping clients is complimented by his fascination with the online recruiting industry. And combining a passion to support users with a deep understanding of the industry, as well as seeing its importance, makes Nik a valuable resource.

“It’s something every company participates in, but it’s something that’s in the background. Everyone hires. It’s like a fabric that holds everything together. It might not be at the forefront, people might not hear about it as much, but it’s actually something that really helps people and drives business.’

What’s the most common questions that Nik hears?: “How can you guys do that? How are you able to give us this great software?” which is a question that Nik Hristov loves to answer.  He can assure a client that there is no catch.

“SmartRecruiters is what SmartRecruiters is. We are here to help you hire better, easier, and faster. And we are here to make sure that every business has the best tools at their disposal, and that every business can compete and can hire easily.”

Check out our best in class Service Lebel Agreement for SmartRecruiters members.

Who will you hire with the time and money you save with SmartRecruiters?

Joe Hanson, the @TheJobChaser, is a blogging intern with SmartRecruiters, the free hiring platform.

With over 200 million registered users, the LinkedIn company page is becoming an increasingly important branding tool for companies. The company page is all about informing and educating potential candidates and business contacts. Companies can keep LinkedIn members updated with job openings, new services and products, as well as, share content through their page (this now includes pictures too).  There are four tabs on the LinkedIn company page: Home, Careers, Products, and Insights.  Each one gives you the opportunity to engage and share with users in a different way, and each one is important for branding your company on LinkedIn. And as LinkedIn continues to grow to hundreds of millions of users, it’s essential that companies grow their LinkedIn page as well.

Home: Share Updates and Content

This is the first page they land on your company page. First, make sure that your company overview is accurate and unique. This is where you can write briefly about your company, its specialties, and other basic information. Also on the home page is the recent updates feed. If users are increasingly visiting your LinkedIn company page, sharing content from your company’s blog, external articles, and now even photos is key. It’s all about creating a conversation with users. The more information your share with users, the better your employer brand, and the more people will talk about your company.

Careers: Post Jobs

This is about the prospective employee. If the other tabs are able to attract the candidate, they will funnel that candidate onto the careers  tab. Here, you don’t just have the option to post jobs. You can post videos about working at your company, have current employees write reviews, and share updates about current openings.  It also lists current employees, so users can scroll through them, check out their backgrounds, and see what kind of people work for your company. Because it may be a candidates first look into your employees, it’s important to make sure that your employees have updated LinkedIn profiles. Revamping your careers tab is possibly the most important part of the company LinkedIn page.

Products & Services: Show What You Do

The products tab is a way to interact with both users and customers and show what your company does. You can simply create a page for any product or service your company offers by giving a quick overview and attaching a picture. It also gives users an opportunity to recommend a product.  It’s important to update this page whenever you have a new product, not just for prospective customers and increasing sales.

Insights: Promotions, Former Employees and Competition

Users want to see a company that promotes from within, and where employees have the opportunity to move up in the company. Insights shows movement within the company, which in turn reflects room for advancement. The most dangerous aspect of the insights tab is that it lists to the pages of competition within your industry. Insights also links the pages of former employees, their old positions at your company, and their current positions. Though this will show that people have left your company, it also shows that your company is good enough that recruiters will come to find talent there. If an employee has to leave, it does look better that they left for another great job.

Remember it is your company page and not your company website. You must optimize the area of the page that you can control. While the LinkedIn company page makes it easy to learn more about the employees of the company, the “people also viewed” section will link to your company page to a different company page.

As LinkedIn continues to grow, the company page is an easy way to gain an edge on the competition. What it comes down to is: keeping news and content updated, posting job openings, and making sure employees have updated profiles as well. If you can stay up to date, users will return to your company page, and you’ll continue to build talent pools of interested, qualified candidates.

Check out who LinkedIn named the best 12 Linkedin company pages:

SmartRecruiters Post jobs, Manage Candidates, Make the Right Hire.

That ten hour 24 marathon on TV last night really got to The Job Chaser. For his job interview the next day, he decided to channel his inner Jack Bauer and take the interview by storm in, The Hour Before the Interview.


Joe Hanson, the @TheJobChaser, is a blogging intern with SmartRecruiters

Joe Hanson, the @TheJobChaser, is a blogging intern with SmartRecruiters