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Android Developers are professionals who are proficient in developing applications for running on devices powered by the Android Operating system. With Android being widely used as the popular operating system in the world, the demand for Android developers is significantly high.

The best place to find Android developers is Twitter, different Android developers site and technical blogs, and the various job websites. But before you initiate the process to hire android app developers, you must be aware of the questions that you need to ask along with the skills and qualities to be noted specifically in them.

In this article, we will discuss elaborately on the steps involved to hire android developers, the interview questions and even the tools that you must utilize to find android developers.

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Market for Android developers

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), predicts a growth of 24% in the employment of android freelancer jobs. The rate is significantly higher than the average of most of the occupations in the other industrial domains. The key reason behind this growth is the increase in the demand for mobile devices and various mobile applications.

People are more aligned to perform their regular activities like online e-commerce shopping, online banking, online vehicle booking etc through their mobile devices. This necessitates continuous improvements in the operating system and applications development for their convenience of daily operations.

Therefore mobile firms or app development companies are inclined more and more to hire android developer. Glassdoor, a popular staffing and recruiting agency, predicts that the average salary of an android freelance developer is approximately as high as USD 98K per annum.

Companies are willing to pay high wages to recruit best talent and skill for their freelance android projects. To answer the question of what is the best place to find Android developers, you must check out the countries of US, India, Israel and Switzerland.

These countries contribute to the major percentage among the 5.9 million Android developers in the world. In US the cities of Florida, Orlando, Louisiana and New Orleans can be opted to hire freelance android developer at a comparatively lower salary than the other US regions.

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Things to note while hiring Android developers

If you want to hire Android app developer for your company or business specializing in mobile applications, you must verify the past experience and track record. A single mistake in identifying the right talent might lead to wastage of time and effort and even the company’s vision. Let us discuss the things that you must note while interviewing android developers for hire,

1. Check the past experience – The number of years of experience involved in activities and tasks to develop superior quality apps in the market, is vital for hiring professionals in freelance android developer jobs
2. Understanding of the product – An android app developer must be aware of the product to be developed with a good understanding of the design. He or she must not only be a follower, but must possess sound knowledge of the algorithms or methods utilised in the design
3. Knowledge of UI and Graphics – An app with an attractive front end is likely to attract more customers. So if you are hiring an android developer freelancer, you must verify the depth of understanding on UI and graphics design
4. Deploying app on Google Play Store – The last step of android app development is to deploy the app in Google Play Store. Obvious reason of checking it out when you decide to hire android programmer or developer.
5. An App in Google Play store – If the candidate has an app or multiple apps in Google Play Store, then remember you have played the right card in hiring the person.
6. Awareness on database and system administration functions – Any android app development demands creating, maintaining and using a database for storage and even providing the requisite access as per roles. You must check out this aspect while recruiting for android app freelancer projects.
7. Ability to work independently – Companies nowadays are preferring to recruit or hire android app developer freelance who can work remotely. Hence it is vital to check out whether the candidate is capable to handle daily activities independently
8. Understands the app requirements – While you are thinking of the best place to find Android developers, one of the important things that may occur in your mind is whether the candidate can interpret your requirements into the app? You must stress on this aspect during the recruiting process, else your project or program might fail.
9. Report on daily or weekly progress – If you have hired android developers to work remotely or as a freelance professional, it is essential for you to be aware of the daily or weekly progress depending on the complexity of the job. Ensure to verify it at the beginning to prevent any hiccups after the recruitment process is completed.
10. Smart in leveraging the remote communication tools – While working in a freelance mode or remote mode, it is important to be aware of the audio and video conferencing tools, collaboration tools, document sharing software etc. Validate these aspects from the beginning during the interview process.

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Qualities of best Android developers

Both soft and technical skills and qualities must be verified and tested during your search for android app developers for hire. Your criteria for recruitment may vary depending on the development stage you are involved in a particular project or a group of projects.

You may require a junior, middle level or a senior android app developer for hire. The qualities will also vary depending on the experience level. Enlisted below are the qualities that you need to check for hiring the best android developers,

1. Knowledge on Android software development kit (SDK) – SDK is used to create the apps on Android. It is mandatory for an android app developer to be aware of the kit, the tools used in the kit and the end to end functioning of the kit
2. Hands-on knowledge on Java – Java is the widely used programming language in an android app. Hands on experience of coding and programming in Java is crucial while interviewing android developer for hire
3. Awareness on the APIs – APIs like REST APIs, JSON, SOAP, XML are vital while integrating an android app with the external applications to enable data exchange and processing. Your questions must be focused on these technical qualities during the recruitment of android programmers for hire
4. Proficient in mobile architectural details – Since the development is centered around an app to be used in a mobile device, you must check on the expertise of the candidate on mobile architecture and its details.
5. Expert in the mobile apps development full-cycle – You must mandatorily check the knowledge of the candidate on the end to end mobile development cycle else the person may stumble at each stage of progress
6. Good Team Player – Any android apps development project demands working in a team with seamless coordination and support for each other. Check on the candidate’s past experience to verify the quality while recruiting an android programmer for hire.
7. Excellent verbal and written communication skills – Understanding the requirements, documenting the design and executing the development comprise the duties and responsibilities of an android app developer. Without efficient verbal and written communication skills, the activities will not be fulfilled as per expectations. Therefore checking this particular soft skill is crucial.
8. Past duties and responsibilities – Focus on the past experience of the candidate, the duties and roles performed by them especially the apps developed and deployed on the Google app store.
9. Learning Courses and Certifications – Checking the learning courses attended and certifications obtained by the candidate is vital while recruiting android developers. This will highlight the continual learning spree of the person
10. Social Media Impact – You can check the social media accounts of the candidate and check their contributions in various forums. This assists in understanding the wide capabilities of the candidate on the trends, best practices, and standards to be adopted in android app development.

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Android developer rate per hour

Before finalizing on the Android developer rate per hour, you need to evaluate and calculate the cost of developing an app. The cost must be segregated into the various sub-features of the app like access, navigation, notifications, messaging, streaming, in-app purchases etc.

The hourly hiring rates of Android app programmers vary between USD 50 and USD 150 for North America-based developers. In South America or the LATAM countries, the hourly rate for Android developer hire is about USD 50, lesser compared to the countries of North America.

The rate of Australia-based Android app programmers is also quite high about USD 110 per hour. United Kingdom comes next in the rank of hourly rates for Android developers approximately offering USD 70.

Eastern Europe and India are the major contributors of outsourcing when it comes to the best place to hire Android developers. You can recruit at a much lesser cost but with the much talent and skill of mobile apps development.

The hourly rate of Android app developers with 1 to 2 years of experience in Eastern Europe is USD 35 and rises up to USD 100 for professionals with 5 to 10 years of experience. In India, the hourly rate varies between USD 25 and USD 50, far lower than the other countries.

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Places to find best Android developers

Before searching for an Android developer website for hire, you must sort out the mode of employment – full time, part time, contract-based or freelance. The next step is to decide on the best place to find Android developers. Some of the prominent job websites to hire the best android developers are,

1. Upwork – One of the largest job boards to find an android developer for hire. Millions of freelancers and professionals register their profile on this website to find out the best job opportunities.
2. unremot.com – Enables you to gain access into a global workforce of Android app developers within minutes of search, collaborating through video calls, messaging and chats
3. Hired – The unique aspect of Hired website are its search ability to locate “Android app developer near me” with the requisite experience and talent.
4. GitHub Jobs – You have to pay a small fee to list the Android app developer job opportunities. It will help you to gain access to the site’s developer community. It is a unique android developer site where coders with a great deal of programming experience form a huge community.
5. Dice – If you are focusing on hiring android app developers in US, Dice is the ideal place for you to search and hire.
6. Android Jobs – It is one of the largest job boards for Android app developers and programmers. You can easily search for developers with specific skill or domain, mode of employment and location.
7. Toptal – Toptal helps in creating a team comprising of Android developers for your project. Besides you can individually hire either part time or full time developers too.
8. Authentic Jobs – A prominent job board where you can post your job opportunities, specify the roles required, salary range and the location for hiring android developers
9. Stack Overflow – The job board assist you to gain access to Android developers worldwide, with a great deal of experience and expertise in mobile app development
10. People per hour – Essentially focuses on freelance Android app developers and programmers, listing of job opportunities, and access to millions of registered profiles.

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Steps involved in hiring best Android developers

As recruiters for Android app developers, you may often be surrounded with questions like “How to find out the right Android app developer for my projects?”; “How to judge the skill and expertise of the developers?”; and more importantly “Which is the best place to find Android Developers?”

We suggest you follow the step by step approach to hire android app developer,

1. Write out the Job description with clear duties and responsibilities and expectations. There must never be ambiguity in the tasks mentioned to avoid confusion and misunderstanding among candidates.
2. Prepare the interview questions to be asked to the candidates. The questions must be segregated based on the skillset and experience level of the Android developers being hired. You must focus on both technical and soft skills to assess the suitability of the candidate for your job roles.
3. Fix the pay structure of the Android app developers depending on the roles, mode of employment, location, and years of experience. Ensure the hourly salaries are in alignment with the average pay scale in the country of operation.
4. Post your job listings in the websites specifically focusing on registering Android app coders and programmers. The listings must include the roles, the job description, the expected salary, location, and mode of employment.
5. Search for developers in the job boards and scan through the registered profiles as well as the profiles applying for the jobs. You must answer to all the queries of the candidates posted in reply to your job listings
6. Shortlist the candidates after viewing their resume, analyzing their experience and expertise and appropriateness for the roles
7. Schedule an interview with the shortlisted candidates, comprising of both technical and managerial or HR evaluation
8. Finalize the candidates to be recruited and circulate the offer letter

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Top 10 interview questions to ask while hiring Android developers

As recruiters, you must be aware of the questions, to ask the candidates during an interview who apply for Android app developer jobs. Here are the top 10 interview questions for your easy reference,

1. How are the lifecycle of an Activity and that of an AsyncTask related to each other?

Rationale: The intent of asking the question during an interview is to understand whether the Android developer is aware of the pros and cons of using AsyncTask. AsyncTask is not linked to the lifecycle of an activity. Hence if an activity is removed to create a new activity, the AsyncTask stays.

Expected Answer: If the candidate states clearly the problems of using an AsyncTask and the resolution, then you can be assured that the person is aware of the concepts. You must check that the Android developer states that AsyncTask must be avoided for long-running jobs.

2. State the difference between implicit and explicit intent

Rationale: It is one of the key interview questions companies must ask to judge the candidate’s credibility in understanding when to use which intent in the typical lifecycle of mobile app development.

Expected Answer: An experienced Android app developer must be able to point out that explicit intent are used to initiate the components in an application. Whereas implicit intent is utilized mainly to maintain the communication of components with the peripheral applications. If you receive the answer from the candidate, then you can grant a positive point in your evaluation.

3. Discuss when can you use a Fragment and when can you use an Activity.

Rationale: The topic is much discussed among Android app developers and quite a common discussion in various forums. You can ask this question to understand the candidate’s awareness on the most debated topic and the experience of using both in prior engagements.

Expected Answer: If the Android developer mentions that usage of Activities must be majorly during entire screen swap whereas fragments for other use cases, you can rest assured of the person’s knowledge on the subject. Furthermore, if he or she describes the use cases like swipe views, usage of UI across multiple activities etc. for fragments, then you can grant kudos.

4. Do you know how to create a multi-threaded Android App without leveraging thread class?

Rationale: The rationale behind asking the question is to judge whether the candidate has an understanding of how to extend a class when a particular functionality needs modification.

Expected Answer: Implementing Runnable is the answer you must expect from the candidate to override the run method and no other thread methods.

5. Mention the difference between Parcelable and Serializable?

Rationale: The recruiting managers must ask this question to evaluate whether the Android app developer is aware of the performance-friendly techniques that need to be adopted during the development process.

Expected Answer: If the candidate states clearly the benefits of using Parcelable since it is optimized to be used in Android and is completely customizable, then you can provide a plus point to the answer. Serializable uses a slow process via Java Reflection API.

6. What is the definition of an Adapter?

Rationale: The objective of asking this question is to check whether the candidate is aware of the necessity of an additional component for connection between AdapterView and external data source.

Expected Answer: You must expect the Android app developer to state the adapter as a bridge that converts data entry into a view which is finally added to the AdapterView.

7. Briefly mention the process of creating custom views

Rationale: Creating custom views is one of basic and necessary steps in a mobile app development cycle. You must mandatorily ask the question to check the knowledge level and experience of the candidate.

Expected Answer: The Android app developer state about creation of xml file, the attributes used in custom view and the addition of a constructor method in the view class. This will substantiate your answer and you can be sure of the knowledge level.

8. What is the key difference between RecyclerView and ListView?

Rationale: Both of the views are widely used in Android app development and hence must be verified in the interview to judge the knowledge level of the candidates.

Expected Answer: If the candidate mentions that only vertical scroll is supported by ListView and the ViewHolder pattern is optional in ListView, then you can term the answer as positive.

9. When do we need to use Handler?

Rationale: This question should be asked to judge the candidate’s understanding on the basic and key concept of multi-threading.

Expected Answer: If the candidate states about the usage of Handler for communication between threads, you have received the correct answer. You must grant further bonus points if the Android app developer mentions an example of passing action from the background thread to the main thread.

10. When should you use FrameLayout?

Rationale: Using a simple layout in Android app development is one of the key success criteria. Hence you must include this question in the interview to understand the awareness of the candidate in leveraging FrameLayout as the most user-friendly, simple, and efficient layout.

Expected Answer: Usage of FrameLayout for displaying a single view or overlapping views must be your expected answer from the candidate.

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Top 10 tools to use while hiring Android developers

Hiring the best Android developers for your company or firm requires a good amount of research to select the right candidate. Several recruitment tools have evolved substantially to aid the entire hiring process, applicable for recruiting Android developers as well. Enlisted are the top 10 tools to use while hiring Android developers, for your reference and usage:

1. Job Boards – Numerous websites are available listing job opportunities for Android app developers as posted by different mobile app development companies. For example Indeed.com, unremot.com, Upwork etc.
2. Assessment tools – Conducting Aptitude tests in written or online mode to judge the candidate’s basic IQ level, personality and behavioural characteristics, is the vital part of the hiring process. Tools used are mainly Pymetrics, HackerRank etc.
3. Artificial Intelligence and Chatbots – Trending digital tools to shortlist candidates, analyze the information submitted by them and also enable virtual chat or messaging for collaboration. Typical tools used are Zoom, Textio, Ideal etc.
4. Social Media Platforms – Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter etc are powerful social media platforms for hunting the right talent for Android app development. You can post your requirements as well as search for potential profiles.
5. Tracking system for applications – A portal is essential to track the applications received from candidates, along with basic data collection. You can use the tracking system for the end to end hire process and can even screen out candidates not adhering to the mandatory requirements for the role.
6. Recruitment Portal or Tools – Constant communication and collaboration between the candidate and the HR department is essential with regards to exchange of required documents or salary negotiations. Recruitment tools or a portal is useful for example Yello, SmashFly, Avature etc.
7. Audio and Video Conferencing Tools – In the world of remote and freelance working, possessing audio and video conferencing tools and software is mandatory to conduct interviews with the candidates. Examples can be Zoom, GoogleMeet, Microsoft Teams etc.
8. Tools to aid advertisements – Mentioning the right content and phrases for advertising your company’s job roles in different job boards and social media platforms is vital. Else candidates may not apply for the roles. Tools like Textio assist in creating the right content for job advertisements.
9. Onboarding tools – Once a person is recruited, onboarding process is initiated for induction into the company’s payroll and culture. Initial training, employee id generation, payroll initiation, triggering of employee benefits, finalization of the projects and supervisor need to be tracked to closure. Usage of tools like Click Boarding, Applicantstack, BambooHr etc. are effective in smooth execution of the activities.
10. Background Check Tools – The tools are super-efficient in verifying the profile by checking criminal records, past experience, educational qualifications etc. For example GoodHire, Intelifi, Sterling etc.

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Dos and donts while hiring Android developers

It is advisable to be aware of the Dos and Donts while hiring Android developers. Else you may land up in recruiting candidates who are inefficient or harmful to the company’s progress and future growth. The Dos are listed below,

1. Seek the right technical and soft skill without compromising on price
2. State properly the expectations from the job roles without any ambiguity
3. Recruit a person with excellent verbal and written communication skills
4. Hire candidates who are backed by good references and strong credibility
5. Finalize the candidates with good knowledge and experience in Android app development by asking the relevant questions
6. State the vision and objective of your company to the candidate, especially focusing on the expectations from the candidate
7. Verify the domain understanding of the developer based on prior experience
8. Conduct a thorough background check for security verification
9. Video or in person interview must be the norm for selecting candidates
10. The resume details must be validated by asking the appropriate questions related to experience and skill set

The Donts are listed below,

1. The price must not be the only determining factor for recruiting Android app developers. Do not compromise on quality to gain the price advantage
2. If a candidate refuses to sign an NDA for non-disclosure of sensitive data, then never finalize the recruitment
3. Do not recruit a candidate who fails to provide the supporting documents related to educational qualifications or prior experience
4. It is advisable not to hire experienced developers who have not worked in similar industrial domain as yours
5. Never recruit a person without a work experience for a crucial program or project.
6. You must avoid hiring a person with limited knowledge of the Android basic technical concepts
7. You must not wrongly state the job role and description as it may lead to dissatisfaction in future
8. Health and insurance benefits must never be stated incorrectly
9. Salary negotiation must not be avoided as you may lose out on talents
10. Never be rude or unprofessional while interviewing candidates.

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Are Android developers in demand?

With a significant rise in the revenue of the mobile app, the demand for Android developers is constantly rising. Besides the advent of AI and machine learning, mobile app development has earned a new identity.

More and more companies are embracing the latest technologies for efficiency, market identity and customer satisfaction. Therefore the job of Android developers is experiencing a steep increase in the demand curve.

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Why is app development so expensive?

App development involves several pillars, each carrying an individual cost to it. The key ones being the development cost, UI or UX design cost, quality assurance cost, project management cost, maintenance cost, promotion cost, upgradation cost. All these jointly contribute to the cost of the mobile app. On average, the cost for a basic app with core features is generally USD 60K and that of complex apps is USD 230K.

Are you hiring someone new into the team and need help with the technical questions to ask? Here’s a lit of the top 30 critical technical interview questions to ask!

Conducting a technical interview might sound easy, but is it the case? Can you just use technical problems to assess a candidate’s skills? How can interviewers get a sense of how a candidate’s capabilities will help them succeed in the role they are recruiting for?

If you’ve got similar questions, then you’ve landed on the correct page. In this article, we will discuss what is a technical interview, why recruiters use tech support interview questions, and how to conduct a technical questions interview with example questions and answers.

Unlike any other job interview, a technical interview is a specialized, rigorous process that tests the coding skills, problem-solving abilities, and personality of the interviewee. The interviewer in this process must assess the way the candidate approaches the problem, breaks it down, solves it, and arrives at the conclusion.

While arriving at a correct answer can be beneficial in this type of interviewing scenario, interviewers should typically look for your methodology and should place more emphasis on that instead of a correct answer. 

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Best technical interview questions

Below are a few tech interview questions to ask in an interview. These technical interview questions and answers shall help you understand what to expect from the candidate and they could be broadly divided as IT technician interview questions or as practice technical interview questions.

Question 1: What do you do to keep your tech skills up to date?

Rationale: This question evaluates how the candidate approaches his self-development as technology can change quickly.

Sample Answer: I regularly read tech blogs written by IT experts. I participate in short-term skills training and work on personal projects, where I frequently refer to some of my go-to sources and forums to check up on the tools I’m currently using. 

Question 2: What are your favorite tech products that you use?

Rationale: This question ascertains a candidate’s familiarity with different technologies and how well he’ll adapt to working with the company’s hardware and operating systems.

Sample Answer: I love the sleek design and quality user-end experience of working within frameworks that support JavaScript and Python.

Question 3: What are some benefits of working in an Agile environment?

Rationale: This question probes the candidates’ familiarity and understanding of the environment.

Sample Answer: Agile offers continuous fast-paced product testing at each stage of integration. It helps to fix the small bugs and defects of a project before these issues manifest into bigger problems. Agile is also advantageous for collaborating across departments to give and receive feedback during each phase of the development process of a project.

Question 4: Why are doors rectangular instead of round or square?

Rationale: Technical interviews should include complex questions, brainteasers, or numerical reasoning problems. It gives an idea of how the candidate approaches problems along with the way they think about different aspects of problem-solving. 

Sample Answer: I imagine that the shape of a door really has no constraints, but there would be a lot of product waste if manufacturers had to shape and cut circular or rounded doors

Question 5: What type of work do you want to do five years from today?

Rationale: This question can tell the interviewer what direction the candidate wants his or her career to move in and how long will he stay in the company.

Sample Answer: My goal is to become a software architect, is it because I want to make more money and also I am good at managing others.

Question 6: Do you write code outside of the office?

Rationale: It gives you a little bit of an insight into whether this is just a responsibility or job that they come and leave, or they really have a passion for technology.

Sample Answer: Definitely, whenever I get time, I start to upgrade my skills. 

Question 7: What’s the best software project that you’ve been part of in your previous organization?

Rationale: This question is meant to gather information about a candidate’s successes.

Sample answer: In order to get project zee completed in my previous job, I found out the key stakeholders and outlined the major milestones involved in completing the project. I worked backward to break down the work and identified obstacles. I then added some extra time to the schedule in case anything unexpected came up. I solved issues quickly and efficiently.

Question 8: How will you explain APIs to a non-technical stakeholder?

Rationale: This question will give you an idea of how the candidate handles the most difficult communication situations.

Sample Answer: An API is a web-based system, software library, computer hardware, and an operating or database system. It is a set of rules and specifications that software programs can follow in order to communicate. 

Question 9: Do you consider unit testing essential, or a waste of time?

Rationale: Asking this technical question will give you an understanding of the candidate’s attitude towards their working process.

Sample Answer: It is a best practice in code maintenance and software development. Testing is done for logic errors, coding flaws, and preventing bugs from advancing to the finished product.

Question 10: What are your 3 favorite technical languages?

Rationale: This question will give you an idea of the candidate’s programming knowledge, level of proficiency, and whether they are a good fit for your company.

Sample Answer: Java, Ruby, and PHP

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Question 11: which language do you consider as most important?

Rationale: This question will let you know about the proficiency and comfort level of the candidate with the language.

Sample Answer: Python is a powerful and general-purpose language that is used for a range of tasks, including web development, machine learning, and data analysis.

Question 12: What is a SAN?

Rationale: The question will let you know the technical knowledge of the candidate.

Sample Answer: SAN stands for Storage Area Network.

Question 13: How is SAN used?

Rationale: The question will let you know the technical knowledge of the candidate.

Sample Answer: SAN is a high-speed, specialized network that gives access to storage. Mostly are used to improve application availability, enhance performance, increase storage utilization with effectiveness, and improve data security protection.

Question 14: When is it appropriate to denormalize database design?

Rationale: This question tests whether you know how to identify the pros and cons of using denormalization for database optimization.

Sample Answer: Denormalization is needed when improvements are required to be made to a database for it to meet the application requirements.

Question 15: What is the role of continuous integration systems in the automated-build process?

Rationale: The interviewer should ask this question to make sure that the interviewee understands what continuous integration systems are and how they are used in the automated build process.

Sample Answer: Continuous integration is a development process that requires developers to integrate code into a shared repository multiple times throughout the day. Every time a code is integrated, it is verified by the automated build. This allows for the detection of defects and problems within the codebase at an early stage. 

Question 16:  When you don’t know the solution to some technical glitch, what is the first thing that you do?

Rationale: This question tells the interviewer the capability of a candidate to self-manage, and if they’re a fundamental problem solver.

Sample Answer: I do the research and attempt to find a solution on my own before bringing the problem to their manager.

Question 17: If you are given the freedom to design your dream job, what would it look like?

Rationale: Along with creating a connection with the prospective employee, the question allows a candidate to be creative, this question also reveals bits and pieces about an individual’s long-term goals.

Sample Answer: If I am given the freedom, I will design my profile which is just not limited to office working hours. I like the concept of workcation. Also, my dream job would allow at least 15 hours of research and interaction with the clients who are the ultimate customers of our products.

Question 18: What is your process of getting work done when you get a new job?

Rationale: Every person has a very specific methodology behind the way they work. The question tells their strategy.

Sample Answer: I try to gel up with the culture of the team, and align my strategies with the hiring manager. I try to understand the purpose, plan, and process that are existing in the team and then set up my own goals and processes.

Question 19: Can you describe a coworker’s working style?

Rationale: The question tells what they respect most about the colleagues, and what they learned from them. Does this candidate think about others in the team? Can they distinguish between the strengths different coworkers possess?

Sample Answer: I was really impressed with my working manager in the previous organization. She had the talent to explain complex coding concepts in a way that was easily understood by each one of us on the team.

Question 20: Tell me something about the more interesting problems you’ve been working on the past few years.

Rationale: When the candidate explains what they’ve been working on, the interviewer is able to ask for more details about specific things as they are answering. 

Sample Answer: In the past few years, I have been working in the front-end and have been on the client face. It is really difficult to satisfy clients. In the past few years, I have really learned how to explain complex things to clients in a simple manner. 

The above section is also a summary of IT technical interview questions, which could also be considered for technical phone interview questions or towards technology interview questions.

Now that you have an idea of how to prepare for technical interview that you would ask a candidate, it’s time you learn about the questions to ask in a technical interview that you would ask freshers. So let’s begin!

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Technical interview questions for freshers

Below are the top 10 technical interview questions for freshers. These common technical interview questions will help you understand the candidate who isn’t experienced. 

Question 1: At what age did you first learn to program and what was the first thing you had built during that time?

Rationale: The interviewer can get a sense of how excited this candidate gets while talking about something that was presumably a big moment in their life and also showcases their basic communication skills.

Sample Answer: Well, I started programming at the age of 15 during my summer vacations. I started by learning Java. The first program I had built was real fun at that age. It was a program which asks you questions like “Ask me about anyone’.

Question 2: Can you tell me about a side project you’ve worked on (apart from college) in the past year or so?

Rationale: Having a side project is an indicator that the candidate likes to code and is passionate about writing software.

Sample Answer: I have worked on many important projects throughout college. Last year, I built a web scraper. It is a tool that takes a URL as an input and returns the content of the URL as HTML.

Question 3: Can you create an expense tracker? What features will you give it?

Rationale: The answer shall show the technical capabilities of the candidate.

Sample Answer: Yes I can create an interface that clients can use to add and categorize their expenses. I will add features like generating monthly reports based on the inputs and write custom alerts for things, like, “spending too much money on cosmetics… like always.”

Question 4: Have you ever worked on an artificial intelligence-related project?

Rationale: The answer shall show the technical capabilities of the candidate in the upcoming technologies.

Sample Answer: Yes, I had worked on a Chatbot. I created a chatbot that produces real-sounding responses based on cricket sports teams.

Question 5: would you like to work on fun and light-hearted projects? Suggest some?

Rationale: The question shall enquire about the creative side of the candidate.

Sample Answer: Yes, I would love to work on a movie showtime finder or a spoiler blocker.

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Question 6: Can you tell me how the Internet works in a very simple language?

Rationale: The answer will tell the capabilities of a child to simplify complex questions.

Sample Answer: Well, it is like a post office, where you send out a letter and eventually you will get a response back.

Question 7: If I were to ask your last set of teammates (in college projects) to describe to you, what do you think they would say?

Rationale: It forces the candidate to think through the lens of those he has worked with. This can provide interesting insights into the candidate’s working style.

Sample Answer: I think they would call me dependable, sincere, and punctual.

Question 8: What’s the one thing we haven’t asked you about that you want to make sure we should know?

Rationale: This question gives the candidate an opportunity to tell us exactly what they exactly want from the job.

Sample Answer: I am very good at managing people. I really want to be a senior software engineer in this company.

Question 9: Where did you first learn to program?

Rationale: The question helps in getting the background of the candidate.

Sample Answer: As a beginner, I started learning programming from a local institute in my city (Jaipur). But, after that, I started learning from online tutorials. Luckily, some of them were free as I didn’t have a lot of money during my school years.

Question 10: What have you learned from your failures?

Rationale: This question tells the interviewer about how a person overcomes his failures.

Sample Answer: Failures motivates me, as a technical professional. It pushes me beyond my current technical scope to want to learn and achieve more.

If you are hiring an accountant and struggling with the critical accounting interview questions to ask the candidate – read on!

Are you looking for building up a strong team comprising of talented accounting professionals for your firm? Are you wondering what are the crucial and top accounting interview questions you must ask during recruitment?

In this article, we will provide you a complete guide on the accounting interview questions and answers. These questions will assist you in judging the accounting domain and knowledge of the candidates. They will help you to assess their familiarity with the financial statements, reports, and statutory rules and regulations.

First and foremost, the hiring manager of your company or firm must focus on the basic accounting interview questions. Then he or she must further move on to more advanced accounts questions to deduce the mastery and proficiency of the candidate on the subject matter.

Understanding the roles and responsibilities of the candidates in their prior engagements is also a vital factor in the list of interview questions for accountant.

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Best accounting interview questions

Let us now concentrate and focus our attention on the top 10 best accounting interview questions and the answers you must expect from the candidates.

1. Which are the three important financial statements of a company?

Rationale: It is one of the vital accounting interview questions that a hiring manager must ask. All companies have to generate financial statements mandatorily for sharing the yearly and quarterly results to the internal and external stakeholders.

If a company is listed on the country’s stock exchange, then it’s vital to disclose the financial statements at the stipulated time. An accountant plays a vital role in ensuring the assets, liabilities, income, expense, stakeholder’s equity, etc are properly depicted in the statements without any ambiguities and errors.

The Expected Answer: The candidate must provide you the names of the three financial statements as balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement. You must also seek to understand in brief the definition and content of each of these statements. For example, the balance sheet depicts the assets, liabilities, and the shareholder’s equity.

2. Define the term “working capital”?

Rationale: Working capital is a vital concept in the accounting and finance world. Hence ensure to include it in your list of interview questions on accounting. The management of a company must be aware of the money available on hand to meet the short term and current obligations.

Working capital is the one that provides the amount to pay up your current liabilities. The accountant must be aware of the formula and definition as they will be responsible for the calculations and presenting the report to the company’s management.

The Expected Answer: The candidate must provide you the definition in clear simple terms as the difference between current assets and current liabilities. You may further drill down to understand the types of current assets or current liabilities. It will help you to understand if the candidate is aware of the elements that need to be considered in the calculation.

3. What is the difference between deferred revenue and accounts receivable?

Rationale: It is one of the basic accounting questions for interview. This question basically helps a hiring manager to understand whether the candidate can distinguish between the revenue recognition principles and their implications.

Besides accountants must be aware of the accounting entry for deferred revenue and the accounts receivable/ revenue earned by a company. Both deferred revenue and accounts receivable are vital entries into the balance sheet, hence understanding the concept and their treatment is important.

The Expected Answer: Check to see whether the candidate mentions the deferred revenue as the unearned revenue. It is recorded as a liability in the company’s books till it is converted into revenue. Accounts receivable is the amount due to be earned by the company from a customer.

4. What are the different types of budgeting methods and the key differences among them?

Rationale: Budgets and forecasts assist companies in planning their expenses and revenue for the next financial year. The operational transactions can be controlled within the budget defined to prevent deficit and bankruptcy. It helps in preventing losses and over the limit expenditures.

One of the critical duties of accountants is to calculate the company’s budgets utilizing the key budgeting methods. So if you are hiring a candidate to whom you want to entrust the responsibility of foreseeing planning, forecasting and budgeting ensure it is included in your accounting job interview questions.

The Expected Answer: If the candidate mentions the four key budgeting methods – incremental, activity-based, value proposition, and zero-based, then you can consider it as a tick mark. Furthermore, ensure that the person is able to clearly articulate the difference between the methods. You can ask for some examples from the prior engagements.

5. Mention the names of some accounting software and whether you have used any of them?

Rationale: Leveraging accounting software or tools to fast track the financial calculations, reconciliations, and analysis is one of the responsibilities of an accountant. Nowadays companies are purchasing modern technologies with embedded features for drill-down, real-time reports, and dashboards. Therefore you must ensure that the candidate has adequate know-how of the accounting software, to minimize the training efforts.

The Expected Answer: The candidate must be proficient in using any of the key accounting software for example NetSuite ERP, Oracle ERP, SAP ERP, Sage Cloud, Zoho Books, MS Dynamics, Fresh Books, Tally, and Free Agent. You can ask for a small end to end transactional flow that the candidate has executed in any of the software.

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6. Specify the difference between the Trial Balance and the Balance Sheet?

Rationale: It is one of the vital finance and accounts interview questions. If the candidate is unable to answer the question, you must not consider recruiting the person. Trial Balance and Balance sheet are the two most vital reports to ensure accuracy in the financial data and the proper yearly closure of the books. Reconciliation exercise and reporting of assets and liabilities must be at the fingertips of an accountant.

The Expected Answer: If the candidate demonstrates clearly that the trial balance shows the debit and credit amounts at each balancing segment level, pointing out reconciliation errors if any, then you can consider it as correct. Regarding the balance sheet, check the candidate specifically mentions the assets, liabilities, and shareholder’s equity that are reported to determine the company’s financial position.

7. Mention the ten accounting principles of US GAAP?

Rationale: If you are hiring an experienced accountant, then consider this in your list of financial accounting interview questions. Senior accountants or financial analysts of a US-based company need to be proficient in the accounting standards and principles. They must ensure that the financial data and reports are in conjunction with the principles and policies as defined in the accounting standards like the US GAAP, IFRS, etc.

The Expected Answer: The ten accounting principles of US GAAP are Principle of Regularity, Principle of Consistency, Principle of Sincerity, Principle of Permanence of Methods, Principle of Non-Compensation, Principle of Prudence, Principle of Continuity, Principle of Periodicity, Principle of Materiality or Full Disclosure and Principle of Utmost good faith. If you receive this answer from the candidate, you are good.

8. Are you aware of the Bank Reconciliation Statements?

Rationale: It is one of the most common accounting questions for interview. Statements from the bank need to be reconciled with the accountable transactions recorded in the financial system of records. Unreconciled balances must be immediately analyzed and rectified.

This is a job of an accountant and hence you must surely check the candidate understands the concept, its implication and the method to rectify any errors.

The Expected Answer: If the candidate mentions the answer as the reconciliation between the bank records and the actual transaction balance, then you can consider it as correct. You may ask to provide an example of how the person was able to resolve unreconciled errors accurately.

9. Mention the names of the branches of accounting

Rationale: One of the important accountancy questions, hiring managers can consider evaluating a candidate. Accountants must be aware of the different branches of accounting, their significance and usage and their elements.

They are responsible to generate the reports and statements based on the types of accounting and present them to the stakeholders. Hence the question is a compulsory inclusion in the list of accounting interview questions.

The Expected Answer: You must look for the three key branches or types of accounting in the answer – Financial Accounting, Cost Accounting and Managerial Accounting. The first one focuses on the financial statements, the second one focuses on fixed and variable costs and the third one focuses on budgeting, forecasting, and analysis of data.

10. What are the basic principles of debit and credit for the different account types?

Rationale: In your list of key finance interview questions, you must consider this as it judges the fluency of the accounting concepts and terms. Accountants must be aware of the different types of accounts, their purpose and usage and their debit and credit treatments. Else they will fail to reconcile the books, rectify errors and adjust balances.

The Expected Answer: The basic principles of debit and credit for the different account types

• An asset account is debited to increase and credited to decrease
• Liability account is credited to increase and debited to decrease
• Revenue account is credited to increase and debited to decrease
• The expense account is debited to increase and credited to decrease

If the candidate is able to explain the above concept clearly, then you can consider the answer as correct.

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Situational accounting interview questions

Situational accounting interview questions will help you to judge the analytical skills of the candidate. The questions will also assist in understanding the candidate’s innovative mindset and knowledge level in handling critical situations in finance and accounting.

The top 5 situational account related questions for interview are highlighted below, along with the expected answers from the job applicants,

1. Describe an accounting process that you have developed or improved

Rationale: It is one of the critical situational accounting questions in interview, enabling a hiring manager to assess the capabilities of the candidate. A company defines an accounting process but that needs constant audit and improvement through automation and adherence to the latest accounting standards and regulations.

An accountant must possess sound knowledge of the prevailing and upcoming innovations in digital finance.

The Expected Answer: As a hiring manager, ensure the candidate provides a clear example on how he or she has analyzed the accounting process of the company and introduced modifications to bring in quantifiable benefits in the financial functions.

2. As an accountant, give an example how you have assisted your company in cost reduction

Rationale: Companies seek cost reduction wherever there are opportunities in their business functions. An accountant must be proficient in analysing the end to end finance business functions, segregate the sub functions that are the greatest contributors to high expenses.

Hiring managers must ask this question to understand the experience of the candidate in dealing with activities that aids a company to reduce expenses and hence attain greater profitability.

The Expected Answer: Check if the candidate can demonstrate in ideating elimination of manual activities with automation, identify non value added activities replacing with functions that add value. You must also check if they are capable of calculating the ROI and the financial elements that contribute to ROI.

3. Elaborate a situation where you have identified a reconciliation error and resolved it within the period close timeline

Rationale: Any period close in a company, be in month end, quarter end or year end, is an important accounting activity. Accountants play a crucial role during this time, especially checking the reconciliation errors and rectifying them within the period closure timeline.

Missing the deadline and erroneous data will result in wrong representation of the company’s financial reports. Hence it is one of the crucial accountant interview questions.

The Expected Answer: Hiring managers must assess whether the candidate can explain a reconciliation error encountered and how the person drilled down to the error transaction using appropriate accounting software and reports.

4. Have you designed the accounting structure of a company

Rationale: The accounting structure defines the financial foundation of a company. The books or ledger balance, reconciliation, debit and credit match depend on the accounting structure. The balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement are also created on its basis.

You must check whether the applicant has the experience of creating or modifying a company’s accounting structure, considering the reporting requirements.

The Expected Answer: Check if the candidate can elaborately explain the accounting structure and its segments. He or she must be able to justify the reason behind arriving at the structure.

5. How would you reach if a client requests you to create an expense record without providing the necessary documents?

Rationale: It is one of the accounts interview questions that helps to judge how the candidate can handle a potentially tough situation. You can judge the quick thinking ability of the applicant as well as his or her awareness of the legal formalities that need to be remembered in accountancy.

The Expected Answer: If the candidate says no to the creation of an expense record without the legal documents that directly link to adherence of taxation policies and statutory norms, then you know the person is experienced.

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Role specific accounting interview questions

Let us now discuss the interview questions and answers for accountant that are specific to the roles and responsibilities. They will assist you in gauging the duties undertaken by the candidates in their prior engagements.

You can easily relate to the experience and expertise of the applicants and finalize your decision for recruitment. The top 5 role specific accounting interview questions are:

1. What was your role in your prior engagements as an accountant?

Rationale: It is one of the basic accounts executive interview questions that hiring managers must ask to understand the prior experience of the candidate. If the experience matches with the roles and duties of company expectations, then the person can be easily onboarded.

The Expected Answer: The candidate must be able to clearly articulate the activities and tasks performed in the past engagements as well as the roles played. If the details majorly matches with your needs then you can consider for hiring.

2. What is your role expectation from our company?

Rationale: This is one of the mandatory accounting interview questions. You can understand the ambitions and expectations of the candidate. It also helps you to visualize whether the candidate is eager to join the company and build up a strong career. A person with a clear future vision strives for growth and works hard.

The Expected Answer: If the candidate speaks on the expectations with zeal, mentioning the roles expected either a budget analyst or a financial advisor or an auditor, then you can be sure that the person can be recruited for your company.

3. Do you know what are the top skills an accountant must mandatorily possess?

Rationale: When you are hiring an accountant, you must verify whether the person is aware of the skills required to be a financial person. The skills can be accounting proficiency, interpersonal skills or analytical skills.

It is one of the general accounting questions and answers for interview that you can add on to your list during the hiring process.

The Expected Answer: You must check whether the candidate is confident on the skills required and whether he or she can relate them to prior professional experience.

4. What do you think is the biggest challenge for an accounting professional?

Rationale: If you are listing down the key accounts interview questions and answers for experienced personnel, then this is a must ask. You can understand whether the candidate is aware of the industrial challenges related to finance and accounting. Besides, it demonstrates the commitment of the person towards the profession.

The Expected Answer: If the candidate is smart to point out the trending challenges in the field of accountancy and is able to share viewpoints or thoughts on mitigating those challenges, then you can act positively in hiring the candidate.

5. Where do you find yourself 5 years down the line?

Rationale: Hiring managers must ascertain the candidate’s hunger for career growth and aspirations. A person with a clear vision of the future and crave to attain the heights, is bound to be hardworking.

Hence is must be considered in your list of your accounts and finance interview questions and answers.

The Expected Answer: You can consider the candidate as promising if he or she specifies the aspiring role and the steps to be adopted to achieve the same.

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Behavioral accounting interview questions

Along with the basic accounting questions and the advanced finance queries, hiring managers must also ask behavioural related questions. It is important to understand why a person is shifting the job? Is it because of salary dissatisfaction, any conflicts with the previous employers or eagerness to work in your company? The top 5 behavioural accounting interview questions are,

1. Why do you want to work in our company?

Rationale: A candidate may submit resume and appear for an interview to check market value and may not be serious in switching over. You must judge the intention of the candidate and the seriousness in shifting the job.

The Expected Answer: If the candidate mentions about the company reputation and its values and expresses keenness in joining if recruited, then you can consider hiring the person.

2. What are your strengths and weaknesses?

Rationale: The ability to judge own strength and weakness and improving on them, is an example of honesty, truthfulness, and intellect. You can judge how smart the candidate is in analysing self-character traits.

The Expected Answer: You must check that the candidate is focusing on professional strengths and weaknesses not personal characteristics. Also the candidate must be able to illustrate on how the person is endeavouring in overcoming the weaknesses.

3. Why do you think we must hire you?

Rationale: You must potentially seek to understand the qualities and skills of the applicant that is relevant for the accountant role in your company. Any specific differentiator in the experience and expertise of the person will be an additional boon for your to hire the candidate. Therefore ensure it is included in your list of accountant interview questions and answers.

The Expected Answer: Check the candidate is focusing on accounting and finance experience, appreciations received on prior engagements, certifications and learning courses attended to enhance the competency level.

4. Why do you want to leave your current job?

Rationale: Understanding the exact reason of leaving the current job, is essential. You can judge whether the candidate had any bad reputation in the past, being forced to resign from the company or there are professional growth expectations. A company never wants to recruit a person who may in future cause unnecessary disruptions.

The Expected Answer: If a candidate hesitates to answer, then you must definitely perform a background check before deciding to recruit. But if the candidate confidently speaks about future growth, salary enhancement or eagerness to work in your company due to reputational brand, then you can consider for hiring.

5. What are your salary expectation?

Rationale: This question falls under the purview of HR department. It is important to understand the salary expectations to check the compatibility of the company pay structure. Else even if a person is technically sound, you will fail to provide the requisite role and salary leading to dissatisfaction.

The Expected Answer: You must check the per annum CTC of the candidate along with medical benefits and other employee benefit programs. Try to find similarity with the company’s compensation chart.

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Accounting interview questions for freshers

The basic accounting questions asked in interview for freshers must be comprised of queries related to accounting concepts, regulations and policies. The freshers must be judged on their proficiency on accounting terms for interview.

The questions must also comprise of concepts related to recording or posting of journal entries for interview. The top 5 accounting interview questions for freshers are,

What is the difference between debit and credit in an accounting transaction?

Rationale: Debit and credit are the basic concepts that need to be at the fingertips of any accountant. Hence you must include it in your list of basic accounting questions and answers to judge that the foundation knowledge is clear for a fresher applicant.

The Expected Answer: If the applicant clearly articulates the answer as debit being an accounting entry to increase assets and decrease liabilities and credit being the opposite, then you can be rest assured that the candidate is aware of the basic accounting concepts.

2. Define real and nominal accounts with examples

Rationale: Real and nominal accounts are common accounting terms which each fresher must be aware of. Hence you must include it in your list of accounting interview questions for freshers.

The Expected Answer: If the candidate is able to relate real accounts with assets and liabilities and nominal account with income and expenses, you can put a tick mark in your evaluation sheet.

3. What do you understand by double-entry bookkeeping?

Rationale: Double-entry bookkeeping is followed by the majority of companies while recording the accounting entries of financial transactions. Unless an accountant is aware of this basic concept, he or she is not fit for the job. Hiring managers must mandatorily ask this question.

The Expected Answer: If the candidate’s answer focuses on matching debit entries to credit entries and mentions about reconciliation, then you can consider the answer as correct.

4. What is the difference between Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable?

Rationale: Liabilities and assets are the two most important financial parameters when it comes to matching debit and credit accounting entries. Accounts Payable records liabilities and Accounts receivable records assets. Freshers must be proficient with these basic concepts.

Therefore as hiring managers, you must check whether the candidate is aware of the terms and their significance.

The Expected Answer: Check that the candidate provides the answer for Accounts Payable as liable to pay money for purchasing goods and services from vendors and Accounts Receivables as owing to customers for selling goods and services.

Tips: Be courteous and professional while asking questions. Building up a strong relationship from the beginning leads to greater employee satisfaction.

Are you hiring a business analyst? If so, here’s a list of top 50 business analyst interview questions to ask, before you make a final decision – read on!

 

If you are thinking about hiring a business analyst for your organization, it is important to have a list of business analyst interview questions prepared beforehand. This way, you will be able to choose the right candidate for the role.

The major role of a business analyst is to understand the needs of a business and integrate them with the technology. Thus a business analyst will act as a bridge between different stakeholders in a business. We have compiled a list of business analyst interview questions that will help you in choosing the best candidate for the job.

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Best business analyst interview questions

If you are looking for the best business analyst interview questions, this section will help you. Go through this list of BA interview questions and answers to get an in-depth understanding as a recruiter.

1. What is the role of a business analyst in an organization?

Rationale: The major goal of this question is to understand if the candidate understands his job and role in an organization?

Answer: A business analyst acts as a link between different stakeholders in an organization. Thus, the major role of a Business Analyst is to fulfill the basic business objectives and balance the needs of different stakeholders.

2. Do you see yourself fit for the role in our organization?

Rationale: This question will help you to know whether the candidate is genuinely interested in joining your organization or not.

Answer: I have the capability, aptitude, and skills needed to take this organization forward. I have completed my degree in Business Analysis, and I will be more than happy to contribute to the growth of your organization.

3. What, according to you, are the key competencies of a business analyst?

Rationale: The major goal of asking this question is if the candidate has information about the major skills needed to become a Business Analyst.

Answer: A business analyst needs to have good communication skill and negotiation skills. In addition to this, critical thinking, problem-solving, and proper decision-making skills can help a business analyst to move up the ladder of success.

4. List some of the skills and tools used by a Business Analyst

Rationale: This interview question for the business analyst is aimed to know about the major skills possessed by the candidate.

Answer: Every business analyst needs to have technical skills as well as non-technical skills. Some of the major technical skills include MS office suite, database knowledge, ERP System, and SQL. On the other hand, major non-technical skills include documentation, business management, and proper communication skills.

5.Do you have enough technical skills? Are you skilled enough to work as a business analyst?

Rationale: This question for business analysts is aimed to get detailed information about a candidate’s technical skills needed for the job.

Answer: I have completed all major certifications needed to gain knowledge and technical skills. Some of the major technical skills I have includes relational database knowledge, adequate knowledge of SQL, and an understanding of MS Office Suite.

6. Do you know the meaning of INVEST in the domain of business analysis?

Rationale: This business analyst interview question is aimed to ask whether he/she has detailed knowledge about the business analysis domain or not.

Answer: INVEST is an abbreviation for Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Sized appropriately, and Testable. This term is mainly used by Business Analysts to deliver quality products and services.

7. Are you aware of techniques like MosCow and SWOT?

Rationale: These business analytics interview questions are asked to understand if candidates understand these industry-specific terms, and they will be able to incorporate them in their working procedure.

Answer: SWOT basically means Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat. This technique is used by an organization to understand its strengths and weaknesses. MosCow, on the other hand, stands for Must or should, Can or Could. This technique is used to compare demands with other needs so that a Business Analyst can prioritize the framework requirement.

8. What do you mean by project deliverables?

Rationale: These interview questions for BA is intended to understand the in-depth knowledge and understanding of the skills and knowledge of a candidate.

Answer: project deliverables are the set of measurable services and products delivered to an end customer after the project is completed.

9. How do you keep yourself updated about the latest industry trends?

Rationale: The answer to this business analyst interview question will help you to understand if the candidate remains updated about the latest change in technology related to his working domain.

Answer: Yes, I try to keep updated about the latest happenings and technological changes in the industry. I visit different conferences and events to get the latest updates. In my free time, I also attend different webinars to be updated with the latest changes in the analysis domain.

10. What are the various stages of a business project?

Rationale: These types of business analyst questions are intended to know if the candidate will be able to handle business at all stages?

Answer: The main stages of a business project includes initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, and closure.

11. Explain UML and its use cases

Rationale: These interview questions for the analyst are aimed to test a candidate’s technical knowledge.

Answer: UML Stands for Unified Modeling Language. This is a general-purpose and developmental modeling language that provides a standard path to envision the business system and processes.

12. Can you explain SRS?

Rationale: The main objective of these types of business analyst interview questions is to test the technical skills related to business analysis.

Answer: SRS stands for Software Requirement Specification. This is a set of documents that describes the main features of a software application and system.

13. What do you mean by BRD in a business analysis domain?

Rationale: These types of analyst interview questions are intended to know if a candidate has enough knowledge and information about every in and out of the business analysis.

Answer: BRD is an abbreviation for Business Requirement Document. This is basically a formal contract between the organization and the client for the development of a specific product.

14. What do you understand by the term “Requirement” in the domain of business?

Rationale: The main rationale behind these types of BA interview questions is to understand if the analyst will be able to understand the needs and requirements of the client.

Answer: A requirement is basically a targeted solution and representation to achieve the specific goals of a business.

15. What is the basic purpose of the requirement traceability matrix?

Rationale: The basic goal of asking these BA questions is to understand if the candidate will be able to perform the needed task appropriately?

Answer: The major function of the requirement traceability matrix is to record all the requirements by the client and to ensure that all necessities are adequately met.

16. Do you know the meaning of Business Modelling?

Rationale: This managerial type of technical analyst interview questions are intended to verify if the candidate will be able to handle managerial level tasks if needed.

Answer: Business modeling is a step-by-step approach for identifying the value proposition for the operating business.

17. Explain your work tactic for the project?

Rationale: This interview questions a business analyst is asked to assess the work strategy of the candidate.

Answer: I follow basic steps to strategize my work. In addition to this, I try to use different tools and worksheets so that I can deliver projects on the expected deadline.

18. What are the different documentation needed by a Business analyst?

Rationale: These types of business analyst job interview questions will help you to understand if the candidate is well-equipped with the documentation process associated with business analysis.

Answer: A project cycle makes use of different documents. Some of the major documents include the initiation document, business requirement document, Functional requirement document, change request document, and Gap analysis document.

19. Do you know the meaning and significance of elicitation?

Rationale: This interview questions business analyst will help you to understand if the candidate will be able to gather proper information from the client and the stakeholders involved.

Answer: Requirement elicitation is a technique used to gather information from different stakeholders and clients.

20. During the analysis Process, will you be able to manage frequent changes needed from the clients’ end?

Rationale: These types of business analyst fresher interview questions will help you to analyze if the candidate will be able to handle the work stress effectively.

Answer: In the domain of Business Analysis, whatever I do is intended to provide maximum client satisfaction at the end of the day. Thus, I will do my best to manage the changes demanded by the client. I will make sure that the client is happy and satisfied at the end of the day.

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Situational business analyst interview questions

There are different situational IT business analyst interview questions that you need to ask candidates who are in for the post of a business analyst. This list of business analyst questions and answers will help you in choosing the right candidate for the job.

1. How can you manage a difficult client?

Rationale: The main purpose of this junior business analyst interview questions is to know if the candidate will be able to handle the difficulties and stress posed by the client.

Answer: Dealing with difficult stakeholders is a major task for all Business Analysts. My calm and cool persona will help me in managing difficult clients, even in a difficult situation.

2. What is your basic approach and tactic while working with a difficult stakeholder?

Rationale: The major reason for these types of business analyst interview questions is to get an understanding of the candidate will be able to work under different types of pressures from different stakeholders.

Answer: In my entire career, I have found that nearly all issues can be managed with empathy, communication, and action. Thus, I will use all these tools to manage any type of difficult client or stakeholder.

3. Describe a time when you had to advise a client towards a different course of action.

Rationale: The major intent behind these types of interview questions for business analyst fresher is to understand how good the candidate is in the field of managerial tasks.

Answer: Once, I had a client who was looking to expand their product in the store. But, they were already struggling to sell many products that they already had in their store. Thus, I used a detailed sales analysis to show them why they should focus on selling the already existing product instead of expanding their product line.

4. Tell me if you have faced any challenges in your past work? How did you tackle those challenges?

Rationale: The main purpose of these business analyst fresher interview questions is to know if the candidate can work effectively as a teammate.

Answer: I haven’t faced too many issues at my last place of work. But, once, one of my colleagues was not too enthusiastic with the ideas I put forward. To help him convince me about my ideas, I tried to communicate with him and tried to understand his concern. At the end of the day, we reached a stage where I made a few changes in my plan, and he also understood some of my points.

5. Can you tell me a mistake that you made? How did you handle it?

Rationale: The main idea behind this business analyst behavioral interview questions is to know if the candidate is honest or not.

Answer: Yes, I made a mistake on a project I was working on almost six months back. The client was quite angry. But, I apologized and tried to understand his concern. My boss helped me with client management. Luckily we did not lose the client. 

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Role specific business analyst interview questions

Role-specific business analyst interview questions can help you to select the right candidate for the right task. Following are some of the major role-specific questions that you can ask candidates for the post of Business Analyst.

1. Can you explain the key roles and responsibilities of a business analyst?

Rationale: The main purpose of these interview questions for business analyst fresher is to get an idea if the candidate is ready to take up the role of an analyst.

Answer: The key role of a Business Analyst is to create detailed analysis, defining specific business requirements to clients, properly communicate with stakeholders, and plan and monitoring of projects.

2. What tools do you typically use as a business analyst?

Rationale: The main idea behind these business analyst technical interview questions is to know if the tools that the candidate has used will help your organization.

Answer: As a business Analyst, I use tools like rational tools, Microsoft Office, and ERP systems.

3. What measures do you take to increase your team’s productivity?

Rationale: This interview question will help you to know if the candidate possesses the managerial skill to tackle the business properly.

Answer: I try to be a proficient leader. Whatever tasks I do, I try to keep the team mindset in mind. Thus, I will use my managerial skills to help my team members to achieve organizational goals.

4. Why do you want to be a business analyst?

Rationale: The main rationale behind these types of questions is to know the major goal of the candidate.

Answer: I always wanted to become a Business Analyst as I understood the nitty-gritty of the business. Completion of my degree in Business Management helped me to boost my motivation further.

5. What are the technical certifications that can help you to work as a business analyst?

Rationale: The major idea behind these technical questions is to know if the candidate is skilled enough to perform major roles as a business analyst.

Answer: I have these major certifications needed to become a business analyst. These certifications include SQL skills, UML skills, and data visualization skills.

Also Read: Remote WordPress jobs | A how-to guide for beginners

Behavioral business analyst interview questions

The behavioral business analyst interview questions will help you to gauge the candidate as per his/her past behavior at work.

1. What makes you unique from others?

Rationale: These entry level business analyst interview questions will help you to know about the honesty of the candidate.

Answer: I am technically sound, and my biggest strength is client management, which is one of the most important skills that every BA needs.

2. Have you ever faced any stress at work? How did you handle it?

Rationale: The main rationale behind these types of interview questions should be known about the temperament and nature of the candidate.

Answer: Yes, like all other workplaces, I have faced different types of difficult circumstances at work. I try to stay calm whenever I face any challenges. I try to take suggestions from my colleagues and friends to tackle these situations.

3. Have you ever had to pitch an idea to your seniors? How did you handle it?

Rationale: The rationale behind this business analyst interview preparation is to try to know about the communication skill as well as the decision-making skills of the candidate.

Answer: Yes, once I got an opportunity to pitch an idea to my senior. Initially, I was a bit scared. But, I thought I was working for the betterment of the organization, and thus, I should not hesitate to make any decision that could harm the organization. My senior was quite humble, and he took my suggestion in that particular project.

4. Have you faced any conflict with your peers at your workplace?

Rationale: This question will help you to understand the temperament as well as the behavioral aspect of the candidate.

Answer: Because of miscommunication, I had a little conflict with one of my colleagues. But, I had a conversation with him at the cafeteria, and we were able to forgive and forget whatever happened. I think communication is the key when it comes to handling a team or teammates at the workplace.

5. How do you handle work pressure?

Rationale: The rationale behind this question is to know if the candidate will be able to work in a high-pressure environment or not.

Answer: I try to meditate and stay calm, in case I face any stress I work. I also talk to my seniors to get experience from them.

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Business analyst interview questions for freshers

Interviewing a fresher is quite different as compared to the interview process of a working professional. Thus, be prepared with these business analyst questions for freshers.

1. What are the basic skills that every business analyst should possess?

Rationale: These interview questions for business analyst fresher will help you to know if the candidate is ready for the job or not.

Answer: Every business analyst needs to have three major skills that include Fundamental skills like problem-solving, technical skills like domain knowledge, and business analysis skills like requirement elicitation.

2. What are the core competencies of a business analyst?

Rationale: This business analyst interview questions for freshers will help you to know if the candidate is competent enough to handle the job of an analyst.

Answer: It is very important for all business analysts to have exceptional and negotiation skills.

3. What are the different types of diagrams that you use as a business analyst?

Rationale: These types of interview quotations will help you to know if the candidate has enough technical knowledge to perform the job.

Answer: I use flowcharts, activity diagrams, and use case diagrams as a business analyst.

4. Can you name the major tools that are helpful for business analysis?

Rationale: This question will help you to know about the educational qualifications and certifications completed by the candidate.

Answer: Some of the major tools that are helpful for an analyst include the Rational tool, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and ERP system.

5. Where do you see yourself in the coming five years.

Rationale: This question will help you to know about the major career goals of the candidate.

Answer: I see myself in a senior-level managerial position in this organization.

Are you hiring an animator? If so, read on to find the top animation interview questions to ask the candidates!

A fascinating way to express a story or a character is done by the process of animation. Animators are the creative people who convert the still picture into a movement. Cartoons, animated movies are the best example of how animation can be an excellent career opportunity.

Working in a professional environment or as a freelancer, Animators must hold a degree in Graphics or fine arts. To upgrade their talent, they should apply for a job in the animation or creative industry where they could gain as much experience.

Also Read: Remote animation jobs | A complete guide

Frequently asked animation interview questions

A candidate should be well confident and prepared for the interview no matter what the question might be. The frequently asked questions for the animation Interview are listed below.

1. What are your career goals as an Animator?
2. Why should we hire you?
3. Which animated movies do you see the most?
4. Why do you want to become an Animator?
5. How can you be better than others?

Best animation interview questions

To reach a successful destination, one should definitely travel on a path having appropriate milestones. Here we are discussing what questions can be asked in an Animation interview and that how a candidate should answer in order to clear the interview with ease.

1. What is animation and how it is used in our daily lives?

Rationale: This is an essential question for a candidate to answer as it is the basic knowledge of the topic and it is important to know the detailed part on how well should he answer puts relevance to that question.

Sample Answer: The process of designing, creating layouts, and preparing photographic sequences which are compiled in the form of gaming and Multimedia is known as Animation. Animation has been tremendously used in our daily lives as it is part of the regular life to upgrade the basic things. Advertisements, education, cartoons are the famously used animations.

2. How long have you been working in the field of Animation?

Rationale: Here, they are asking about the experience of the interviewee as it is the integral question to get a suitable position in the job. An experienced candidate can contribute abundant skills to the company as compared to that of a fresher. Nevertheless, honesty is the best policy for answering this question.

3. Were your ideas ever implemented by your boss in the previous job?

Rationale: To stick with just your pocket diary takes your profession to go in vain. To achieve a position in your career you must come up with some exceptional ideas. Answering this question requires a smart and sensible way to convince your point to the recruiter.

Sample Answer: After several disagreements among us, I eventually made them understand the concept of my idea and convinced them to implement it on the ongoing project. They later appreciated the practicality and depth of the idea to be used on the project.

4. What is your weakness?

Rationale: A company mostly lookout for those employees who are flexible and can adjust to any type of atmosphere. By asking the weakness they wish to know where a candidate is lacking. Revert to such question must be crispy one and of course the honest as having no weakness falls into a lying statement.

Sample Answer: Expecting the same habits from my colleagues is my biggest weakness as the way I am focused on my work I wish they also should be the same or might be more than me to motivate the atmosphere to work even harder for the company’s reputation.

5. What software are you proficient in?

Rationale: Being expertise in software for animation is a basic requirement as without knowing the software it would be impossible to create animations. Having a suitable degree in Animation emphasizes the course as it provides all the intricacies required.

Sample Answer: I carry a bag full of animation software including Maya, Adobe Animate, Powtoon, 3ds Max Design, Vyond, Blender, etc. I am proficient in this software and I am always keen to learn more animation software to create my workability even better.

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Fresher animation interview questions

Freshers are welcome for the interview for the animation profile. The following are the frequently asked animation interview questions for freshers. The key focus should be on aptitude and willingness to learn than on expertise and knowledge of the domain.

1. Is there a difference between Cartoon and Animation?

Rationale: It is important to ask because there is a major difference between cartoons and animation. A candidate must know the basic variation of the two.

Sample Answer: Cartoon is generally a 2D animation and unrealistic designs moreover stylized to capture the viewers’ attention whereas Animation is a process of designing, creating layouts and preparing photographic sequences which are compiled in the form of gaming and Multimedia.

2. What do you mean by Rigging in Animation?

Rationale: There is no use of Animation unless there is no movement shown. This question is asked to reveal the key features of Animation.

Sample Answer: To give a movement to the character, this process called rigging is used. In animation, a framed structure is been given life to show a 3D effect by Rigging.

3. What attracts you to work with us?

Rationale: A question asked almost everywhere in the job no matter what the profile is all about. The company looks at the mindset of the candidate that the way he is prepared for the profile, is he also went through the about us section of the company. It is necessary to read about the company details as here it shows how seriously you want to work with the particular label.

4. What is your expectation towards salary?

Rationale: In order to shortlist a candidate and to encapsulate the interview, this is a question where a hit towards a sensible answer requires. This question should never be answered directly but in such a way that the interviewer has no other option than to lock the job on a suitable salary.

Sample Answer: It would be better if you describe the job profile following which I can consider the amount to be paid is appropriate or not. Can I please know your salary package for this position?

5. Do you have any questions regarding this job?

Rationale: Asking about the increments or promotions is highly inappropriate. You might ask how early you can join the company and what developments you can make to match the company requirements.

Sample Answer: Sir, may I ask when can I be a part of this company? I would like to know your opinion about the qualities an employee of your company should have to take this company to greater heights.

Also Read: Remote video game jobs | A complete guide

Situational animation interview questions

Below is a summary of the top 5 situational animation interview questions to ask the candidates,

1. Have you ever went above and beyond for work?

Sample Answer: Managing both household chores and work, I try to complete both sides leaving no one disappointed. Reaching the deadline on the project is the most challenging part, nevertheless, I try to meet the deadline every time I get the work. Remote jobs are a little hasty when you have to manage other things as well, as both are the priorities.

2. Are you a night owl or morning bird for your profession?

Sample Answer: As far as the flexibility is concerned, remote jobs are adjustable after knowing the timings of the team. I mostly prefer working as a morning bird so that the productivity remains constant. Animation requires mostly active participation as a fresh mind is more creative than the dull one.

3. A sudden shift on the deadline by a client on the project you are working on, how will you manage?

Sample Answer: As soon as I will get the notification, I will prioritize my schedule and take this work to the top of my list. No matter what, I will try to make the client satisfaction with the completion of the work.

4. If a customer keeps on rejecting your ideas, what will you do?

Sample Answer: I will try my level best to understand his requirements and if possible I will have a good conversation with him to know his opinion regarding this project.

5. In the remote job, how will you create animation ideas? Will it be dull or even more creative?

Sample Answer: In regular life, routine generally gets monotonous whereas sitting at home and working makes me more relaxing and creative. As you know, a relieved mind gets more happening ideas than a tired one.

Also Read: Video editor resume | Know before you start

Role specific animation interview questions

Below is a summary of role specific animation interview questions to ask candidates,

1. How do you update yourself with animation trends?

Sample Answer: I keep watching animated movies and follow each detail I see. I keep on updating myself by searching for different styles and creative ideas. Few of the books I follow and generally see the tutorials to groom my practical senses.

2. Working on animations, what mostly inspire you?

Sample Answer: While I work on the animations, the things that inspire me the most are the tools and the software. Gearing up with the project makes me work harder and I try to explore even the minor details with which my work could get better.

3. What software do you mostly work on?

Sample Answer: Few of the software are my favorites which I work mostly on. Maya, 3ds Max Design, Adobe Animate are the major software I work on.

4. How skilled are you at rigging?

Sample Answer: Getting the apparatus used properly, I convert a skeleton into a moving character in no time. Animation requires a movement of the characters which are framed well. Creating the layouts more effectively, I work on rigging to remove the barrier and bring the outcome effortlessly.

5. What all games do you play?

Sample Answer: Apex legends, doom, Tacoma are the games I play and get inspired from. Not only I play but learn a lot from those animated characters. My mind gets more creative after this short break of playing.

Also Read: Part time Remote jobs | A how-to guide for beginners

Behavioral animation interview questions

Below is a summary of behavioral animation interview questions to ask,

1. Have you ever had a conflict with your boss in the previous job?

Sample Answer: We had misunderstandings regarding the discussion we were doing as they were less convinced with the idea I gave. Sooner or later I managed to calm them down and convinced them of the idea. They even implemented my idea to the work and got appreciation from the client.

2. Which project was done by you was a hit one and what could be the better things to improve?

Sample Answer: Working on an advertisement which was about healthy food, I made the characters look sharp and healthy by using the tools of animation.

3. Tell me a moment where you had to work with a different personality co-worker?

Sample Answer: While working on a project with my colleague, I had to bear some consequences because of his personality. He was a little rude to me but as soon as I tried to know him, we made it happen. He was disturbed because of his personal issues and I made him meditate before we start working.

4. How would you schedule your routine to reach the deadline?

Sample Answer: Making things fall at the right time, I used to prioritize them. To manage my work sometimes I used to become a night owl to complete the work.

5. How did you manage the conflict within your teammates?

Sample Answer: I always wanted to make my team understand the importance of teamwork. I somehow managed to make them understand by explaining to them the benefits of working together. We as a team did many projects and got appreciated.

Companies around the world are thriving to make their work environment more diverse. Take Pinterest, for example. Last year, the company made a commitment to diversify their workplace and recruitment strategy. Among the goals that they set for 2019, they planned to increase:

• hiring rates for full-time women engineers to 25%
• hiring rates for underrepresented minority engineers to 8%
• hiring rates for underrepresented minority employees in business and product development departments to 12%

The results of their diversity strategy exceeded their expectations. Pinterest was able to increase all the above-mentioned indexes to 27%, 9%, and 14% respectively. 

Unfortunately, Pinterest’s example is among those few, who readily invest in diversifying their diversity recruitment strategies. In reality, many companies still remain unresponsive to this tendency. 

According to the Harvard Business Review, 78% of employees report the lack of diversity in leadership. And, without diverse leadership, the source reports that women are 20% less likely than men to win endorsement for their ideas. 

Benefits of Diversity in the Recruitment Strategy

As you can see, many companies still fail to recognize the potential of diversifying their recruitment process. And there are a lot of benefits they can get from it:

• a higher representation of women in C-suite results in 34% greater returns to shareholders
• organizations with above-average gender diversity outperform their competitors by 46% to 58% 
• companies with higher-than-average diversity have 19% bigger innovation revenues

Apart from these convincing numbers, diversifying your recruitment strategy today is a must-do investment for your company if you don’t want to lose authority in your industry. 

So, what can you do to make your recruitment strategy more diverse? Let’s take a look. 

1. Revisit Your Recruitment Policies

How inclusive is your recruitment strategy?

If you want your employees to adapt your workplace to another culture, you need everybody to follow the same rules of recruitment that recognize inclusivity and diversity.

You don’t have to build a new recruitment strategy from scratch, it’s enough to include a few elements that will help make it more diverse. 

Here’s what you can do:

• Introduce blind resumes and blind interviews – Blind resumes presuppose that a candidate removes all contact information, and blind interviews mean that recruiters evaluate candidates anonymously. Both are great strategies to remove intentional or unconscious bias from the recruiting process. 
• Involve diverse people in the recruitment process – In order to practice diversity in your recruitment strategy, this process should be run by people who represent this diversity. Introducing different individuals to this process will allow you to get different perspectives and approaches to hiring diverse candidates. 
• Change scheduling policies – Candidates, who seek diversity from future employees, might ask you about your tolerance towards different approaches to the work schedule. Make sure that your company recognizes the necessity of flexible hours as well as religious holidays, etc. 

A big part of changing your recruitment strategy towards inclusivity is educating your staff. The new recruitment policy won’t work without the updated professional conduct policy, which should have no tolerance towards discrimination and bias. 

2. Include Targeted Internships 

Launching targeted internships for people from underrepresented groups is a great strategy to make your recruitment strategy more diverse. 

These internships create a new source of candidates from underrepresented groups who can potentially join your staff and make your workplace more diverse. 

Besides, this is also a good way to educate your staff and encourage them to be more tolerant. If your workplace has interns from underrepresented groups regularly joining your staff, it helps reduce employee turnover by up to 30%. 

Many U.S. companies already practice this approach, hiring interns from underrepresented groups to fill different positions:

Big corporations can also offer scholarships for students from underrepresented groups to support their future career development. This will help you create the image as a company that supports cultural values and diversity in society. 

How to promote your targeted internships and scholarships?

If you have a good social media strategy, you can regularly make posts about upcoming internships for underrepresented groups. You can also run relevant recruitment ads on these platforms. 

You can also contact local minority organizations and ask them to share the information about your internships and scholarships. 

3. Diversify Your Recruitment Ads

Take a close look at your ads. Do they show your potential candidates that your workplace is diverse? How do they show it? 

To make sure that your recruitment ads promote workplace diversity, study your target audience first. 

Who do you want to see this ad and respond to it? 

Which minority groups are the primary receivers of this ad?

Answering these questions will help you shape your ad and find the right platform, where you will place it. Many companies still think that an ‘inclusive’ picture in the recruitment ad is enough to create a sense of diversity in the workplace. However, a recruitment ad that promotes diversity is not only about the picture, but also about the message that it sends. 

Take a look at how Atlassian shaped their recruitment ad to show that their goal is to create a diverse workplace:

As you can see, Atlassian’s ad promotes diversity with a message that has an emphasis on unique contributions from diverse staff members and why it is meaningful to the company. 

In your ad, your task is to recognize the potential of hiring candidates from minorities and underrepresented groups and why it is important for your business and for modern society. 

You can also adjust your social media strategy to recruit candidates from underrepresented groups. There, you can find more potential candidates by simply targeting them with your content. 

Take a look at how Hubspot is doing it on their Instagram page @hubspotlife.

Besides uploading diversity reports, they also give a chance to every employee from underrepresented groups to take over this Instagram page for one day. This helps show potential candidates that Hubspot has a diverse work environment. 

You can do the same with your social media strategy. Potential candidates browse through your social media channels to evaluate your approach to diversity in recruitment, and social media gives you a great opportunity to show that. 

Over to You

Making your recruitment strategy more diverse is no longer a choice, it’s a must-do thing for every company around the world. 

Whether you’re ready to change your recruitment strategy towards diversity or not, keep in mind that it will give you more benefits in the industry and help you stand out from the competition. 

If you don’t know where to start, try to review your recruitment policy first. To expand your diversity recruitment strategy further, you can create targeted internship opportunities and scholarships. 

And, since many candidates get introduced to your company through recruitment ads, make sure that they recognize and promote diversity, and encourage the candidates from underrepresented groups to apply for a job with your company.