You’ll encounter plenty of hidden and not-so-hidden clues and cues as you interact with your potential candidate during the selection process. If you read between the lines, these subtle signs will give you a sense of your candidate’s relevant experience, work ethic, communication skill, and understanding of the financial marketplace. But what about cultural fitness? If you simple ask your candidate “are you a cultural match for this firm?”, then the answer you receive won’t be very valuable. Of course the candidate doesn’t know anything about the rhythm of this workplace, and a leading question will elicit the answer you clearly want to hear. So how can you get to the heart of the matter and use your interview platform to get the cultural information you need? Try these ten questions.

1. If you had to choose between meeting a deadline and producing perfect, error-free work, which would you be likely to choose?

2. Do you prefer working with a team or by yourself? In your estimation, which situation pushes you to work harder? Which produces better results?

3. If you had to choose, would you rather call yourself a competitive person or a collaborative person?

4. Do you enjoy the responsibility and control that come with positions of leadership?

5. If you had to choose, would you prefer to receive clear, detailed instructions, or would you rather be left on your own to make decisions about how a task should be completed?

6. Do you like to work in quiet environments with minimal distractions? Or are you motivated by noise and social interaction?

7. If you start working here, would you like to consider joining our company softball team? We also have a happy hour session every Friday at a local restaurant that sometimes goes pretty far into the night. Does that kind of thing interest you?

8. This job involves a high degree of cold calling and bold social interaction. Do you enjoy approaching and striking up conversations with strangers?

9. This job may also involve occasional conflicting interests among coworkers who need to share the same resources. Can you describe how you might approach a situation like this? Has this approach worked for you in the past?

10. Problem solving skill will also contribute to your success here. Can you describe the most challenging problem or obstacle you’ve faced in the past? What were the circumstances and how did you overcome them?

As your candidate answers these questions, compare her self-descriptions with everything you know about your existing workplace. And if you’re looking for a financial staffing agency in Washington D.C. that can help you streamline your hiring process, contact the experts at Cordia.