The answers to these questions will give you a good sense of whether the person has the necessary core knowledge. Critical incidents are examples of behavior where a person could perform either very well or very poorly in the job. A variation would be to ask the prospective employee to identify specific experiences she has had related to a particular behavior. Perhaps she dealt with a difficult client or was under pressure and someone was demanding a quick answer. Asking either of these types of question can be very effective because they really get at how a person might perform for you.
Many interviewers talk too much during the interview .
Sometimes they want to rescue an uncomfortable candidate by giving him the answer or by talking about the firm. Ask your questions, and then get out of the way and let the candidate talk. Interviewers often ask very general and vague questions . These questions produce very little of value, and it's easy for the prospective employee to have a stock answer ready. Unfortunately, interviewers occasionally ask questions that are illegal .