What kind of interview questions should you ask IT infrastructure candidates?

When you’re presented with several great candidates, it can be difficult to decipher which one will be the perfect fit for your business without asking the right questions. When it comes down to comparing top talent, it’s important for employers to look beyond their technical qualifications and evaluate a candidate’s soft skills, passion for learning, and drive to succeed. What many hiring managers find challenging is drawing these qualities out through questions that dig a little deeper than your standard interview questions; discussing previous employment history, experience, etc. Enjoy the IntaPeople guide to information technology interview questions to ask candidates to draw out the nuanced information you need to make an informed hire!

Information technology interview questions to ask candidates

To determine whether an IT professional will be the best hire for your business, you will need to draw them out and ask a mix of technical and situational questions. It is also important to remember to not just listen to what they have to say, but how they say it to help you reach a decision! Some questions to ask and listen closely to include:

1. How do you ensure you stay up to date with emerging tech?

Tech is an incredibly fast-moving and innovative field. By asking candidates how they keep their knowledge and skills current you can gauge a number of factors.
How a candidate responds will tell you how motivated they are, their level of connection with the wider tech community and how enthusiastic they are about their chosen profession.

2. What strengths do you think are the most important for IT infrastructure?

This might seem like a pretty broad question, but the answer can tell you a lot about how a candidate perceives their own strengths and what they will bring to the job.
Some candidates may focus purely on their technical skills. Others may focus on problem solving, critical thinking or other “soft” skills. Look for a candidate who gives a well-balanced answer of soft and technical skills. Feel free to follow up and ask how they incorporate those skills into their own day-to-day work!

3. How would your colleagues describe you?

This is another question that can give good insight into how a candidate perceives themselves and may throw up some personality traits that may not be easy to judge in an interview.
If a role is more analytical in nature but a candidate focuses on their creative, innovative nature they may not be right for the role.

4. Who inspires you in the tech industry?

When answering this question many candidates may be tempted to describe famous figures in the tech world such as Bill Gates, or unimpressive figures such as a relative who bought them their first PC.

Both of which are equally important and relevant to their passion and drive, however, the best candidates will be able to answer with a person who is relevant to the field and integrate how that person encouraged them to develop the applicable knowledge, skills or industry passion.

5. How do you think further advances in tech will impact your job?

IT roles are constantly shifting as technology advances. This question opens up a conversation about trends and advancements and allows you to judge how a candidate perceives their role long-term. Look for a candidate that can answer with relevant examples to the role they are interviewing for and if they can describe how future technology might impact projects they hope to work on with you.

6. Please describe a recent tech project you’ve worked on that you are proud of.

When asking candidates to open up about this kind of topic, you’re getting a subtle sense of what a candidate considers a success and how they collaborate to accomplish goals.
Great candidates will use their answers to show how their work made a difference for the business. Can they see beyond their individual accomplishment and set out how they contributed to a win for their organisation?

7. What are your long-term career goals in the industry?

This question allows you to judge a candidate’s commitment to advancement within your company and acquiring new skills within the field. It also allows you to judge some important soft skills such as identifying achievable objectives, planning for and anticipating obstacles and setting short-term goals in pursuit of a longer-term objective. It will also allow you to judge their understanding of the tech industry and what skills, responsibilities, and roles they will need to advance toward the goal and how that aligns with the role they are applying for.

8. How do you manage your work-life balance?

The tech industry is fast-paced and comes with time constraints, pressing deadlines, on-call duties and frequent crunch periods. How a candidate copes with this stress and what strategies they have in place to maintain their work-life balance will tell you how efficiently and accurately they can work under pressure and if they will be able to keep pace with projects at your company.
Make sure to follow up with how your company supports its staff in maintaining their work-life balance and avoiding burnout though, you don’t want to scare them – you’re just checking they have their own processes in place too!

9. How would you explain (relevant technology) to a non-technical colleague?

This question is perfect for assessing a candidate’s communication skills. In almost every company, those in IT positions will need to communicate and advocate for themselves with colleagues in non-technical roles. If the candidate can frame an explanation in simple language, avoid technical jargon and break down complicated processes to make themselves understood then they will have an advantage over those who cannot.

10. Why do you want to work for our business specifically?

This question is the perfect way to check that a candidate has done their homework on who your company is, how you fit into the wider technology sector and how they envisage themselves fitting in. It’s also a great way to get an idea of how they’ll fit in with the culture of the business.

What you’re really asking is do they want this particular job or would they be happy with any job.

Looking for support when hiring top IT infrastructure talent?

If you’re looking for more tips and insights on how to ask the right questions during the interview stages and hire the perfect fit for your business, get in touch! Our recruitment consultants would be happy to help you. They can also help you if you have any recruitment needs and can find you the talent you need – either in person or remotely – to drive success in the future of your organisation.