5 Interview Questions to Help You Hire Ethical Employees

Pinnacle All, HR & Recruiting Advice 1 Comment

As one of Winnipeg’s top recruiting agencies, we know that most employers want to hire employees with strong ethics. The problem, though, is that ethics aren’t tangible. And candidates who are unethical will have no problem lying about their “strong moral compass” and “integrity.”

So is there a way you can better judge a candidate’s ethical standards during the interview process? You can, if you take the right approach and ask the right questions.

Obviously, if you ask a candidate if they consider themselves an honest person, most will say “yes” without batting an eyelash…whether true or not. So to really gauge ethical standards, you have to dig deeper and ask very specific questions.

Some examples of questions to ask include:

    • What’s your idea of an ethical organization? This is a good opening question because it’s more general and allows you to break the ice into a conversation about ethics.
    • Have you ever had an issue of ethics arise in past positions? What happened? How did you handle it? When asking this question, you’re looking for answers that demonstrate the candidate dealt with the situation in a positive manner, such as consulting with HR, their boss, or a co-worker. If they answered “no,” be wary. Most candidates, if they have any work experience at all, will have faced issues with ethics or misconduct at some point in their career.
    • Have you ever suffered in your career for doing what was right? Do you have any regrets? Like the question above, this question also helps you uncover specific examples of the kind of behavior you’re looking for. It also gives you some insight into the candidate’s personal ethics and their ability to take a stand if necessary.
    • If your boss asked you to lie for them, what would you do? The answer you’re looking for is that they wouldn’t do it at all. If an employee will lie for you, they will also lie to you.
    • Did you see our Code of Conduct/Ethics on our website? This question tells you that 1) the candidate did their homework and 2) that ethics are important enough that they sought information about them on your website.

If you’d like some additional help in recruiting and interviewing candidates, check out our blog post 3 Recruiting Tips from Hockey Scouts. And if you’d like a hand with the hiring process, give us a call. As one of Winnipeg’s top recruiting agencies, our approach to staffing enables us to meet your staffing needs across all divisions and departments. Find out more.

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Comments

  1. Exactly the questions i was thinking of before hiring employees. It will make the employees to handle the situations in critical times. Thanks for sharing the blog it was informative.

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