Before we get to the questions, for a successful interview keep in mind the following:
What you probably already know, and are good reminders:
- #1 – Hire for culture fit (if you like your culture!); hire for values and character alignment. Remember, you can teach skills way easier than you can shift someone’s behavior or attitude
- Hire slowly, take reference checks seriously
- If there are red flags or your intuition says no, don't hire them, regardless of their qualifications
- Past behavior and action often predicts future behavior and actions
- Listen to their tone and their body language – much of communication is non-verbal; also consider what your body is telling you about how you feel when talking to this person
What you may not have considered, and should:
- Be aware of your confirmation bias - likeability and relatability do not equal a good fit for the role
- Consider the team they will be working with – are they a good fit for the team? Should the team interview them too?
- Leave open ended questions open – meaning allow for silence (in fact it may mean they're being thoughtful in their response), don’t fill up the space with the answer you would like to hear
- Ask questions the first half of the interview, then spend time telling them about your organization and what you’re committed to, then ask them what questions they have. The questions they choose to ask will tell you A LOT, listen closely – often this is where their concerns are; this is what is important to them. If they ask thoughtful questions about your organization, the culture or the position, this bodes well!
- If you are hiring for a leadership or management role, ask for and follow up with references of those they have managed or led in the past
The Top 10 Interview Questions below are meant to find out if your prospective team member:
- Is candid and honest
- Is collaborative
- Is an energy-giver
- Is a curious, innovative problem-solver
- Is a learner
- Is ethical and has integrity
- Has common sense and good judgment
- Has the ability to adapt
- Has a sense of humor
Top 10 Interview Questions*
- Tell me what you think this job is all about.
- Tell me about your life. Start wherever you want to, from the beginning or the end, but talk to me about you, what you’ve done, and then walk me through what you’ve done with your career and where you want to go.
- Why are you choosing us? What can you do for the company and why do you think it would be a place where you could be successful?
- What are your priorities? What makes you tick?
- What’s something you’ve done that you’re really proud of? OR Give me an instance where you really believed in something and you were able to make a difference.
- What would you say was one of your most significant mistakes and what did you do to correct it? What did you learn from it? How would you do it differently?
- If you had to name something, what would you say is the biggest misperception people have of you?
- What makes you really angry?
- What do you do in your free time? If we were going to hang out, what would we do together? What would you show me?
- Tell me about a time when you felt the company you worked for needed to do something differently or go in a different direction: How did you handle that? How did you approach it and how did you resolve it? If you had a do-over, what would it be? Tell me about your results.
*Many of these are adopted, adapted and were culled from the weekly New York Sunday Times Corner Office interviews of successful CEOs and the question - What questions do you ask when you're hiring?
Here's to finding that next great fit team member!
