Interviewing is a very imperfect process. It's so inherently superficial and subjective, I won't even pretend that my favorite interview questions (which I'm about to share) are anything but just that: my favorite interview questions. With that disclaimer out of the way, here are four questions that I have found to be very effective in interviews.
What is the last business-related book you read, and what impression did it make on you?
This mainly determines whether the interviewee is someone who pursues professional development outside of work by reading. Since I'll accept any answer, as long as it's well argued (Winnie The Pooh = Peter Drucker? Tell me more!) I sometimes get to hear interesting answers -- good or bad. Their answers show whether or not they get excited about ideas, a quality that is particularly important in some positions.
What are some things you get really fired up about? Things you believe in, get excited about, strongly support, spend time on, etc.?
What I'm really looking here is whether the interviewee has fire in their belly, about anything. If they do, and we can get them into the right position and manage them well, that passion will manifest itself. People who don't have this spunk, however, just don't have it -- and they won't be able to give you a good answer to this question.
If I told you that a bomb was just discovered in this building, and I needed you to get the place evacuated within 60 seconds, how would you do it?
Of course I don't expect a feasible answer to this. (Although I got one once!) Rather, I want to see how a candidate's mind works. I want to see how they think through an impossible challenge, especially one with an element of urgency. I also like it when an answer recognizes that there is no way an individual could accomplish this alone, and that the first step has to be marshaling a team of helpers.
What did you like about your current or last job/employer?
Credit goes to my boss for this one. In screening candidates, we both strongly value a positive attitude. Which is one of the qualities that's hard to get at directly through questions ("tell me, are you a positive person?"). And asking a candidate what they didn't like about their last job would be entrapment, right?
Here's the interesting thing about this question. Negative people will hear it the way they want to hear it. Even if they start out focusing on the positive, they quickly turn down the other path: "It was a very casual environment. Too casual. It seemed like I was the only one with any professionalism..."
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Post a track or comment ... what are your best interview questions?