Interviewing job candidates is a lot easier when you’re armed with the right questions. These clever queries will save you time and energy—and help you find the best person for the job.

If there’s an aspect of running a business that hews most closely to dating, it’s hiring. You meet someone a few times, each of you presenting the best version of yourselves, and if you like each other, you decide to make things official. And just like a romantic partner, a candidate can ace the interview process—presenting as qualified and charming—only for you to discover a few months later that they’re not at all the right fit for you or your firm. Stories about the new hire who dazzled during the hiring process only to fizzle on the job are common. And while some of those experiences boil down to bad luck, it could also be a matter of not asking the right questions upfront.

“If you’re asking cliche questions that could apply to any industry, you’re not going to get the information you need,” says Duke Butler, the founder of the Los Angeles–based interiors recruiting firm Duke Talent. “You need to craft questions that give [applicants] an opportunity to speak their mind and not just say a rehearsed answer. You want them to be able to think dynamically and have conviction.”