When we meet someone in various business situations, we intuitively size them up – can we work with them, can we trust them? One way we do this is by asking questions.

Job interviews are the most salient example of this. Hiring managers attempt to get a feel for job applicants through the various questions the managers ask. The manager usually has a list of questions that he or she runs through in order to find out as much as possible about the person.

But often, the interviews are not as effective as they could be in ferreting out really useful information about a candidate. One big reason for this is that interviewers don’t ask follow up questions. They will ask a question, listen to the answer, then move on to the next one on their list.

But initial answers often don’t give good information. Sometimes the answers may not even be particularly relevant to what the interviewer is looking for. To really get a good feel for a candidate, interviewers need to do more follow up questioning. They can uncover a lot more that way. Here are some ways to do follow-up questioning.

1. Ask the original question in a different way.

You can preface your questions by saying something like “Let me put it to you another way,” or something to that effect. It lets the person know that you weren’t really satisfied with their initial answer and pushes them to go into more detail, which is a good way of learning more about them.

2. Link the answers you get together.

This is not playing “gotcha” but a sincere attempt to draw conclusions, to integrate what the person is telling you to get a more complete picture of them. You might even be making connections that the person himself or herself has not seen.

It also sends a message to the person that you are really listening to what they are saying, rather than just going through the motions.

3. Follow-up by asking about the significance or ramifications of the person’s answer.

If, for example, the person says his or her greatest weakness is that he is a perfectionist, you can ask how this attitude affects his day-to-day work. You shouldn’t be afraid of asking a number of follow-up questions. The point is to ask until you are satisfied that you have found out what you wanted to know about the person.

If your company is looking for professionals in New York City, Winston Resources , one of the top staffing agencies in the city, can help you . Contact us today.