A résumé tells you where someone worked. For hourly roles that is rarely the thing that decides whether they can do the job, so these ask about the things that do — hours, transport, certification and what the work was actually like.
Which days and hours can you work, starting this week?
The single most useful question, and the one most often left until the end. Ask it first: availability disqualifies more candidates than experience does, and finding out in minute one saves everyone the rest.
How would you get to work here?
Not “do you have a car”. Someone with a lift from a partner who works the same shift is more reliable than someone with a car and no parking. You are asking whether the journey survives a bad week.
Have you done this kind of work before? Where, and for how long?
Open enough that a career changer can answer it honestly, specific enough that “a bit” is visible as a non-answer.
What shifts have you worked before — days, nights, weekends, rotating?
Someone who has never worked a 5am start may still be excellent, but they should know that is what they are agreeing to, and so should you.
Do you hold a current [licence or certificate the role needs]?
Name the exact one. “Food handler”, “forklift”, “CDL class A”. A yes to a vague question costs you a shift when it turns out to be the wrong card.
Is there anything that would stop you starting on [date]?
Catches notice periods, holidays booked, childcare that starts in September. Cheaper to hear now than on day one.
What part of your last job did you find hardest?
The only question here that is about character, and the most revealing. A candid answer tells you more than any strength question.
How much notice do you need before a shift?
Decides whether someone fits a rota that changes, which most hourly work does. Not a disqualifier either way — a scheduling fact.
Anything you want us to know that we have not asked?
Keep it last and keep it open. It is where you find out about a second job, a court date, a bus route that stops at nine.
Use these without us
Copy any of the questions above into whatever you already use — they work on paper, over the phone, or in a text message. They are here because they are the ones that decide an hourly hire, not because they are ours.
If you would rather not collect the answers by hand, make a screening link: paste the job, keep these questions or write your own, and applicants answer on their phone. The answers come to your inbox and your reply goes straight to them. Free, no account, no card.
