I am fascinated with interview questions, everything about them.
What type of questions do you use to break the ice? Establish rapport? Understand what the candidate did in their prior work? Help establish capabilities? Figure out boundaries? Understand how the candidate will fit with your team? Your customers? Which questions don't work? Which ones make you look like a jackass?
Backing up a bit...
Top 25 odd (and tough) job interview questions of the year
There are a few in here that are worthy, #22 for example. But how does someone describing how to move Mount Fuji help you know to hire them (unless you are in the excavation business)?
Really, truly, that's your answer?
If you use this type of question, I want to know why they help you assess a candidate in a meaningful way for a job. You know, in a 60 minutes or less kind of way. Aren't there better?
Something like, "Here's a project we are thinking about, write up how you'd approach a solution, and identify the risks in your solution, as well as the costs and expected outcomes."
To help fuel the debate here are a few posts to challenge your interview question assumptions (the firs four are from Seth, and the last one is a debate that Punk Rock HR brought back at the end of last year:
- The end of the job interview
- Two ways to hire (and a wrong way)
- I'd be a lousy pilot
- What are you hiring for?
- Keep your salary history private. Maybe.
Here's the important bit in all this: What evidence do you have to tell you that your interview questions help you make the best decision about any given candidate?
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