Our Employers Interview guide.

At Halliday Marx, we’re increasingly being asked by our clients if we have any tips to interview the candidates that we provide to fill the roles that we are mandated on. The interview process is equally as important for you AND your company as well as for the interviewee in the room. Candidates will be feeling nervous, anxious even. However, it’s important for you to make them feel comfortable and relaxed. Giving them the best opportunity to express themselves to let their true colours shine in that initial interview.

As an employer, you also have pressures. If you ask the wrong questions , you run the risk of hiring the wrong person for the role. At Halliday Marx, we’ve combined our vast experience and knowledge to create an interview guide to steer you in the right direction.

Kicking off the interview

It’s important for you as the employer, to make sure that you set the tone of the interview early, making sure that the candidate is feeling relaxed and calm. Commonly, candidates will be feeling stressed, to help them calm down, use the below techniques:

• Offer them a drink, coffee, tea, water etc
• Talk about your personal journey with the company to date
• Perhaps mention a recent social event or a big win the company has had
• Ask about their hobbies / interests outside of work

Halliday Marx Co-Founder, John Marx, said “I’ve interviewed thousands of candidates throughout my career; you’ll never get to see the real personality of someone unless they let their guard down. So, infuse some humour, make them feel comfortable and you’ll get to see the real them…. You want to see the “real Gavin”, not “interview persona Gavin”……”

Types of interview questions

Now, everyone is feeling more relaxed. It’s time to gain useful insight into the candidate sitting across from you. Typically, you’d run through the applicants CV, asking questions regarding their previous work history and relevant experiences.

During the interview, you’ll need to start asking relevant questions in regards to the role specifically. Here are some tips on how you can ask those tougher questions to get the answers you want:

Personal questions

The entire purpose of these questions is to see what makes the candidates tick, their personal likes/dislikes, achievements and ambitions. This will help you determine whether their personality will be a match for your company.

Example of good personal questions:

• What do you like to do outside of work?
• What are you passionate about?
• What is your greatest personal achievement?

These questions are straightforward and are structured in a way where you can gain further insight into the candidate.

Hypothetical questions

Hypothetical questions are scenario based, putting the candidate’s on the spot, testing their critical thinking skills. They give insight into how good their knowledge is on specific topics.

Example of good hypothetical questions:

• If a disagreement broke out in the office between two other team members, how would you resolve the situation?
• One of the people you manage is not meeting their targets, how would you handle this situation?

Behaviour vs Technical

Experience based questions are self-explanatory, they’re open-ended questions that get the candidate thinking, covering who, what, where, when, why and how, so they show critical thinking.

Experience-based questions, fall into two categories, Behavioural and Technical.

Behavioural questions

Behavioural questions are all about assessing a candidate’s past behaviour, asking them about how they’d react in specific situations, professionally and personally. The aim of asking these questions is to gain a better understanding of whether or not the candidate suits your team culture:

Example of good behavioural experienced based questions:

• If you were given two tasks to complete at the same time, how would you go about addressing this?
• Can you provide an example of you setting yourself a goal and how you went about achieving this.
• Has there been a time where your manager has set you a target and you didn’t achieve it? How did you handle this setback?

Technical questions

Technical questions aim to test the knowledge of the candidate and see how they would perform specific tasks.

Examples:

• What steps did you take to ensure the successful rollout of a new financial system or software in your previous role?
• Can you walk me through a time when you used data visualization or reporting tools to influence a business decision?
• Give an example of how you identified an inefficient workflow within the Finance team you were working with and how you came up with a solution to resolve this inefficiency.

Andy Halliday, Halliday Marx Co-founder, said “Technical questions aren’t just about testing knowledge — they reveal how a candidate thinks, solves problems, and applies their skills into a Finance team. In interviews, they separate proven performance from mere potential.”

The takeaway is…

The questions you ask in an interview matter more than you might realise—but they’re just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to finding top-tier talent.

Creating a comfortable and respectful interview experience is just as crucial. Not only does it help candidates show their best selves, but it also reflects directly on your company’s brand and culture. A thoughtful, well-executed hiring and onboarding process will lead to stronger performance, better retention, and a lasting positive impression.

John Marx finishes: “I cannot emphasis enough how important it is as an interviewer to be positive with a clear direction. Candidates are not just looking for a great role, company, package, and commute, they’re also hugely buying into the people who they will be working with. If you come across as a wonderful leader, mentor and person, candidates will always want to come back for a final interview.”

Let the team at Halliday Marx help you simplify your recruitment process, connect you with exceptional candidates who are ready to make a lasting positive impact on your business.