Recruiting top talent straight out of university is critical for many graduate employers. After all, fresh graduates who demonstrate leadership traits, critical thinking, and a thirst to learn can become the managers and leaders of tomorrow with the right development. So how do you spot high-potential graduates during interviews?
In this blog, we’ll provide some top tips on questions to ask, key traits to be on the lookout for, and useful exercises to help you learn more about a graduate’s potential.
What Makes A High-Potential Graduate?
First things first, we must clarify what “a high-potential graduate” is. What qualities should employers look for?
Well, a variety of common factors generally indicate a graduate with high potential:
- Education: a candidate who has strong academic performance indicates intelligence and an ambition to learn.
- Leadership: look for any leadership experience they may have, such as society presidents or team captains.
- Initiative: candidates who show initiative by participating in major class projects or founding student groups show high potential.
- Questions: seek candidates who ask thoughtful. intellectual questions during interviews.
- Communication: a vital skill in management roles is communication so look for candidates who can structure persuasive arguments.
In essence, high-potential graduates stand out for their achievements, proactive nature, communication abilities, and constant desire to develop themselves.
Crafting The Right Interview Questions
Many graduates will have little to no work experience. So, in order to identify top talent, you must ask the right questions.
Begin the interview with competency-based questions covering strengths, achievements, and motivations. It’s always better to ask open-ended behavioural questions, like “Describe a challenging situation you faced at university. How did you overcome it?”. A high-potential candidate will be capable of using their problem-solving abilities to provide a strong answer.
From there, move on to hypothetical scenario questions to assess their critical thinking skills.
Here are some examples you could use:
Example 1
“Imagine you will be managing a small team of graduates for a new project. How would you go about building an effective team?”
This scenario examines people management skills. Strong candidates would cover establishing common goals, assigning roles based on strengths, building mutual trust, and keeping team members accountable.
Example 2
“If we were considering expanding the business into a new geographical market in the next 2 years, what factors and risks would you consider as you develop a proposed strategy?”
This tests their commercial awareness, risk analysis abilities, and innovative thinking. A high-potential response might cover investigating competition, local talent availability, legal and operational risks, and requirements to penetrate the market successfully.
Example 3
“If you noticed a fellow graduate persistently making errors in an important process, what would you do?”
This simple scenario assesses coaching skills and professional integrity. An impressive response would involve privately offering guidance and support to correct errors whilst avoiding public criticism.
These are just a few examples of hypothetical questions to test the candidate’s critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills, among others. You can even include mini case studies relevant to your sector for candidates to evaluate.
Presenting graduates with real challenges your business faces creates helpful insights into their thought processes and creativity.
Positive Signals To Watch For
Beyond asking engaging questions, what clues or signals indicate high-potential graduates?
- Preparation: arriving ultra-prepared with intelligent questions on your company’s direction demonstrates the candidate’s ambition.
- Research: well-researched applicants who reference your organisation’s values when framing answers suggest they’ll be a strong cultural fit.
- Clarity: if your graduate candidate asks you to clarify something so they can provide a thoughtful answer, they likely aim to impress.
- Interpersonal skills: keep an eye out for candidates who speak clearly and make comfortable eye contact, these are strong communicators.
- Logical questioning: if you’re presenting the candidate with a scenario-based question, they should ask logical questions before they begin working through solutions.
- Pressure: if graduates get flustered or nervous, observe how well they can recover their composure.
- Knowledge gaps: you can’t expect your candidate to know everything so, their ability to confidently admit knowledge gaps shows honesty around areas they need to develop.
Testing Critical Thinking
Another great way of spotting high-potential graduates in interviews is to test their critical thinking skills. This allows you to deep dive into graduates’ cognitive abilities and potential. For instance, you can build a presentation topic into the interview process for candidates to tackle. You’ll gain insight into their analytical skills by getting them to evaluate complex themes within strict timeframes.
You could even incorporate group role-play scenarios relevant to your sector. For client-facing positions, put graduates into teams and present a hypothetical dissatisfied customer case for them to resolve. This examines persuasion abilities, leadership skills, and how they influence others.
Going Beyond the Interview
As well as using techniques to assess high-potential candidates directly, don’t forget to scrutinise their backgrounds. As an employer, it’s your responsibility to perform thorough checks on educational qualifications and references.
Did the candidate say they lead a university group project? Find the proof by looking up actual track records.
Were they “top of their class in their final exams”? Consult with university references to validate these claims.
In Conclusion: Spotting High-Potential Graduates in Interviews
There are many advantages to hiring graduates straight out of university. It gives employers the chance to mould and develop fresh talent into your organisation’s ideal employee. However, it’s not always easy to spot high-potential graduates from the get-go. With these tips and expert advice, you’ll be able to find your next star employees who’ll take your business to the next level.
Are you looking for graduate employees? Our experts here at Developing a Student can support you in building a strong, high-potential graduate workforce.
Here are just some of the services we offer:
- Advice and support – Our website is packed with guides for employers, including advice on engaging graduates and building a diverse work environment.
- Attract graduate talent – Get in touch to advertise your roles on our dedicated graduate jobs board.
- Find graduate talent – Our job advert inclusivity screening tests your ad against our “Inclusive Language Checklist” to remove potentially discriminatory language.
- Advertise your business – Our talented team of writers work with you to create a company profile that documents your efforts as a top graduate employer
Call 03458724501 or email info@developingastudent.com today to attract top graduate talent to your business.
