How to Identify the Right Candidate Beyond the Interview
Hiring the right person is rarely as simple as choosing the most confident candidate in the room.
Some applicants are highly skilled at presenting themselves. They know how to deliver polished answers, repeat the right phrases and make a strong first impression. Yet the person who performs best in an interview may not always be the person who performs best in the role.
At the same time, a quieter or less conventional candidate may have the values, judgement and potential needed to thrive.
This is why effective recruitment requires more than reviewing a CV and conducting one formal interview. Employers need a process that helps them look beyond confidence, presentation and carefully rehearsed answers.
Why Interview Performance Can Be Misleading
Interviews often reward people who are comfortable speaking about themselves.
A candidate may appear confident, persuasive and highly capable, but confidence does not always reflect competence. Some people can promise impressive results without having the habits, values or leadership skills required to deliver them.
Conversely, strong candidates may be more reserved. They may take time to think before answering, avoid exaggerating their achievements or feel uncomfortable promoting themselves.
This creates a common recruitment risk. Employers may mistake confidence for capability and modesty for a lack of leadership.
The most experienced recruiter can still be misled, particularly when a candidate is highly skilled at managing impressions.
Build Multiple Checkpoints Into Recruitment
No single conversation should determine an important hiring decision.
A stronger recruitment process includes several opportunities to assess the candidate from different perspectives. These checkpoints may include:
Reference checks
Conversations with different team members
Scenario-based questions
Values-based questions
Practical tasks or work samples
Informal discussions
Third-party feedback
Each stage provides another piece of information.
A candidate who gives an impressive interview answer should also be able to demonstrate how they have applied that skill in a real situation. Their examples should remain consistent when explored in greater detail.
Multiple perspectives can also reduce the risk of one interviewer making a decision based mainly on personal chemistry or first impressions.
Watch the complete Podcast
Use Scenario-Based Questions
A CV tells you where someone has worked, but it does not always show how they think.
Scenario-based questions can help employers understand how a person may respond to pressure, conflict, uncertainty or competing priorities.
Instead of asking a candidate whether they are a good leader, ask them to explain how they would manage a difficult team situation. Instead of asking whether they value accountability, ask them to describe a time when they made a mistake and how they handled it.
Useful questions may include:
How would you respond if a team member repeatedly missed deadlines?
Tell us about a decision you made with limited information.
Describe a time when you received difficult feedback.
How have you handled disagreement with a manager or colleague?
What would you do if you noticed unsafe or unethical behaviour?
The goal is not to find perfect answers. It is to understand the candidate’s judgement, self-awareness and approach to responsibility.
Look for Values, Attitude and Habits
Experience matters, particularly in technical, regulated or high-risk roles. However, years of experience should not be the only measure of suitability.
A person may have 20 years of industry experience and still create a toxic working environment. Another candidate may have less direct experience but demonstrate strong judgement, curiosity, reliability and the ability to learn.
Employers should consider:
How the candidate speaks about previous colleagues
Whether they take responsibility for mistakes
How they respond to feedback
Whether their examples show respect for others
How they approach learning and change
Whether their values align with the organisation
How they behave when discussing difficult situations
Technical skills can often be developed through training. Values, habits and destructive patterns of behaviour can be much harder to change.
Create a More Natural Conversation
Highly structured interviews can sometimes encourage highly rehearsed answers.
A more conversational approach may help candidates relax and communicate more naturally. This does not mean abandoning fairness or consistency. It means creating enough space for a genuine discussion.
When candidates feel at ease, employers may gain a clearer understanding of how they communicate, think and build relationships.
Follow-up questions are particularly useful. Ask the candidate to explain what happened next, what they personally contributed and what they would do differently now.
These details can help distinguish genuine experience from an answer that has simply been prepared in advance.
Remember That Recruitment Works Both Ways
Employers are not only assessing candidates. Candidates are also assessing employers.
Organisations need to explain why the role, team and workplace are worth joining. This is especially important when skilled candidates have several opportunities available to them.
A respectful hiring process should give candidates a realistic understanding of:
The organisation’s values
The expectations of the role
The workplace culture
The leadership style
The opportunities for development
The challenges they may face
Overselling a role can lead to disappointment and early turnover. Honest communication helps both sides decide whether the relationship is likely to work.
Be Careful With Gut Feeling
Instinct can be useful, but it should not replace evidence.
A sense that something feels wrong may encourage an interviewer to ask additional questions or seek another opinion. However, gut feeling can also be influenced by unconscious bias, familiarity and personal preference.
Recruiters should ask themselves why they feel strongly about a candidate.
Is the concern supported by inconsistent answers, poor examples or troubling behaviour? Or does the candidate simply have a different communication style, background or personality?
Gut feeling works best when combined with structured evidence, reference checks and input from other people.
Focus on Potential, Not Only Past Experience
Hiring only people who have already done the exact role can limit the organisation’s talent pool.
Candidates may have transferable experience from another industry, profession or setting. Someone without direct sector experience may still bring valuable skills in leadership, problem-solving, stakeholder engagement, risk management or service delivery.
The key question is not simply, “Have they done this before?”
It is also, “Do they have the ability, values and attitude to succeed here?”
A balanced recruitment process recognises the importance of experience while remaining open to potential.
Recruitment Should Set People Up for Success
The purpose of recruitment is not to catch candidates out.
A good process gives people a fair opportunity to demonstrate who they are, what they can contribute and how they approach their work.
This means providing clear information, asking relevant questions and avoiding unnecessary pressure. Candidates should be assessed on the requirements of the role, not on their ability to perform a theatrical version of confidence.
The strongest hiring decisions are usually based on a combination of evidence, values, potential, references and thoughtful human judgement.
Join the National Care Sectors Conference
Recruitment, leadership and workforce capability are critical issues across the care sector.
Join us at the National Care Sectors Conference: NDIS, Aged Care & Childcare on 28 August 2026 for a moving and inspiring day of practical insight, lived experience and meaningful discussion.
The conference will bring together sector leaders, providers, advocates, professionals and community voices to explore workforce challenges, leadership, service quality and the future of care across Australia.
Attend the conference and be part of the conversation about building stronger teams, safer services and better outcomes for the people who rely on the NDIS, aged care and childcare sectors.