From the hiring desk
The Interview Questions That Predict Whether Someone Lasts a Year
A resume tells you where someone sat.
An interview usually tells you how they talk.
Neither one tells you the only thing that matters: will this person still be here, and good, in a year?
After enough hires you learn the questions that actually predict it. Here are the ones I never skip.
"Why did you leave your last three jobs?"
Not the last one. The last three.
Anyone has one good story. Three in a row is a pattern, and patterns don't lie.
If every exit was the boss's fault, the schedule's fault, the coworker's fault - you already know what the exit interview at your company will sound like.
Good answers have ownership in them. "I outgrew it." "The company shrank." "I wanted this kind of work." Listen for that.
"Tell me about a job you stayed at the longest. Why there?"
This one flips it around. You're asking what keeps them.
The answer tells you exactly what they'd need from you. If they lit up about a boss who trusted them, and your shop runs on daily check-ins, that's a mismatch no salary fixes.
The paid trial day
The best interview isn't an interview.
Bring the finalist in for a paid half-day or day. Real work, real team, real pace.
You'll learn more in four hours than in four interviews. How they take feedback. Whether they ask questions or fake it. How your crew reacts to them when you're not in the room.
And it works both ways - they find out if they actually like the job before anyone signs anything. A trial day that ends in "no thanks" just saved you a bad hire.
References you actually call
Most owners skip these or email them. Call.
You don't need an interrogation. Two questions do the work: "Would you hire them again?" and "What should I watch out for in the first 90 days?"
The pause before the first answer tells you more than the answer.
What this buys you
None of this is complicated. It's just slower than hiring off a vibe - two extra days of work to avoid two extra years of regret.
I run this exact screen on every hire I place. It's a big part of why my placements stick.
If you'd rather hand the screening to someone who does it all day, that's what Ally Hiring does. Every placement backed by a replacement guarantee - let's talk.