1. Why us? Be direct with your interviewee – why are they interested in working for you, and not one of your competitors? Ideal candidates will bring up at least one unique aspect of your company or product they find appealing.
2. What’s your favourite aisle in a grocery store? Alright, this is a weird one – the point is to throw them off of scripted responses and just hear how they think. Odd questions like these are a better alternative to silly brain teasers like the age-old golf-balls in a school bus.
3. Why would we fire you? This question is designed to get the candidate introspective – not only about their flaws, but also about potential culture fit issues between them and you.
3. Why would we fire you? This question is designed to get the candidate introspective – not only about their flaws, but also about potential culture fit issues between them and you.
4. What’s a book you really want to read? An alternative to the “what’s a good book you’ve recently read” (to which 2/3 of people probably respond “1984”) question. There’s no wrong answer to this question, but it’s a great way to get a sense of a person’s interests self-perception.
5. Explain our company to a 5 year old. An astounding number of people apply to a company with a narrow understanding of who they are and what they do – this is a great question to not only filter the people with a real interest, but to also get a sense of how well they understand your industry.
