How Would You Do the Project Differently if You Had a Go at It Again?
Here at Kickoff Circular, we're always searching for communication that gets disregarded or goes unshared, hoping to find the stones that company builders don't even know to turn over.
Whether it's through in-person events, online discussions on First Round Network (our internal Quora-mode platform), or the articles and interviews we share hither on the Review, nosotros're driven past an ambition to create the infinite founders and startup leaders need to commutation that "trapped" noesis.
And in those spaces, nosotros've seen time and time once again how the conversation inevitably drifts back to a single topic. Whether it'southward a Fast Rail mentorship pairing, an intimate Co-Founder Forum dinner or a CTO unconference, hiring ever seems to be pinnacle of heed.
At that place'south no shortage of challenges that could benefit from a dose of outside perspective, from finding hiring practices that scale to bringing on a new exec to nabbing a great in-firm recruiter. And then there'due south the interview.
When you're scaling quickly, moving at warp speed, and sitting on several hiring panels, interviewing tin can seem similar a task y'all just need to go through. Simply it'southward worth pausing to think that the determination to rent someone is an expensive and far-reaching ane. And since you lot're forced to make it later spending (at most) a few hours together, maximizing what you tin can learn nigh candidates in those precious few minutes becomes all the more crucial.
Of form, nosotros've shared a fair amount of interview best practices in the by here on the Review. (Two particular must-reads come to mind: the 7 characteristics that assist you rent a top performer and this roundup of interview questions previously scattered beyond the Review archive).
Just given the high-stakes nature of every hire, interviewing chops are always in need of sharpening. And that means our hunt for a crazy-practiced interview question is never over. Nosotros're endlessly fascinated past the go-to research in anybody's back pocket, the kind that makes you desire to steal it for your own hiring toolkit.
To that end, we've spent the past few months reaching out to some of the smartest and most thoughtful operators in our network to pose a uncomplicated question: What's your favorite interview question and why?
The responses we got back were first class. What follows is an exclusive list of 40 interview questions, sent to united states of america by the sharpest folks we've met or just outright admire. Some of the questions are (deceptively) short and sweet, some are probing and unexpected, others swivel on targeted follow-ups. Broken down by topic, they tackle everything from how candidates understand the part and procedure feedback to their first summertime job, worst boss, and the terminal time they changed their mind. Most importantly, these incredible founders and visitor builders break down why they lean on these questions — and what to wait for in the answers y'all hear.
We promise this collection serves every bit a rich jumping off betoken that you can leverage every bit you lot design your own process, whether y'all're building it from scratch or looking to requite it a refresh as you double-down on hiring. Let's get started.
Got a favorite interview question of your own? Tell us on Twitter or share it here . We'll compile the best submissions and share them with First Round Review newsletter subscribers .
QUESTIONS TO HELP UNPACK PIVOTAL TRANSITIONS:
1. What do you want to practise differently in your adjacent role?
When he asks this question, Instacart co-founder Max Mullen unremarkably sees ii kinds of responses — and there's one camp that the best candidates usually fall into.
"I discover that the best answers highlight what they're running toward, rather than what they're running from in their current job. If they launch into what they don't like well-nigh their boss or current company, that tells you a lot. It tests whether they're a positive person and how they handle adversity," says Mullen.
"I besides can oftentimes pick upwardly on what interests them most our company specifically, and get a sense for how much research they've done. Finally, it gets into motivations — if they bring up how they're looking for a more challenging opportunity, y'all can probe how they want to make an bear upon or the types of issues they'd love working on," he says.
ii. Imagine yourself in three years. What exercise y'all promise will be different about you then compared to at present?
Julie Zhuo is a favorite of ours for a reason. The VP of Product Design at Facebook quite literally wrote the volume on how first-time managers can approach building out their teams. She'due south graced the pages of the Review earlier as well, sharing her well-honed perspective on hiring designers, and the essential (and unique) questions every manager should enquire.
"At a growing organization, hiring well is the single about of import matter you lot tin do," she writes in her book. "The most important thing to retrieve about hiring is this: hiring is not a problem to exist solved merely an opportunity to build the future of your organization."
When we followed-up with Zhuo recently to find out what floats to the top equally her favorite question after hiring hundreds of candidates over the years, her response had a like focus on the hereafter. "Asking a candidate to describe her vision for her own growth in the side by side three years helps me understand the candidate's ambitions besides as how goal-oriented and self-cogitating she is," says Zhuo.
3. For the terminal few companies y'all've been at, take me through: (i) When yous left, why did you leave? (ii) When you joined the next one, why did you lot cull it?
Kevin Weil likes to walk through a candidate's recent career history with a unique lens. "I love this question because it helps me empathise how they think through large decisions," says the co-creator of the Libra crytpocurrency and VP of Product for Calibra at Facebook.
Weil finds he learns a lot near underlying motivations by unpacking why people leave and join companies. "What were they optimizing for that the career move maximized? Are they looking for safety, or are they eager to take risks?" he says. "Are they trying to develop new skills, or perfect existing ones? Has their goal been to calibration their management experience, or swoop back into execution to get their hands dirty?"
Weil recommends paying special attention to how candidates cobble an answer together. "It's interesting to run into whether they weave the answer into a narrative arc or outline a series of distinct decisions," he says. "Exercise they retrieve big picture? Are they a peachy storyteller?"
Transitions are also Branch CEO Alex Austin's favorite place to mine. "I find that it'south in the space betwixt jobs when people have to brand decisions entirely independently," he says. "At that place'southward no squad fellow member they can steal credit from or that can do work for them. Information technology's the simply time in their career when you tin become incredibly deep insight into how they think and what motivates them. And so you can evaluate their answers confronting the characteristics you believe are required to succeed against the office."
Get candidates to tell you nigh the transitions between jobs, rather than almost each one. That'due south a better window into what they value and how they brand decisions.
QUESTIONS FOR SUSSING OUT MOTIVATIONS:
4. Amongst the people you've worked with, who do y'all adore and why?
On its face, this question might non seem to be designed to uncover motivations. Just that's exactly what Jules Walter is digging for when he asks it in interviews.
Every bit an angel investor, production lead for Slack's growth and monetization team and co-founder of CodePath.org, Walter stays decorated pursuing the causes he cares about — and he'south interested in learning more than about the values that drive folks who want to join his team.
"I want to uncover a candidate'due south values, only I've institute that asking nearly that straight isn't as constructive," he says. "This question pulls out those drivers in a more subtle, nonetheless honest way. What they admire in others tells you a lot about what they observe important."
You'll learn a lot more about a candidate's values by asking her who she admires. It'southward a telling glimpse into the qualities she'southward striving to cultivate herself.
5. Tell me most a time yous took unexpected initiative. Follow-upward: Can you tell me nearly another?
Brian Rothenberg is something of a growth guru. As the old VP of Growth at Eventbrite (and current investor at defy.vc) he's shared the answers to the toughest growth questions and tried-and-true tactics for tailoring strategies from zero all the way to IPO.
So it comes as no surprise that his go-to interview question helps him uncover those candidates who push the bounds of their ain personal growth. "I've found that the all-time people on your team consistently accept initiative, even when it'southward not expected of them," says Rothenberg. "But subsequently they give one example of initiative in action, information technology'southward disquisitional to follow up by asking for another. I want to see a blueprint, whether it's at work, school, or any other place."
6. What'south something corking about your current or previous chore? Why?
bethanye McKinney Blount is a fount of company building wisdom. Across the course of her career, the co-founder and CEO of Compaas (and former applied science leader at Reddit and Facebook) has shared insights on everything from troubleshooting troublemakers in startup civilisation to introducing comp transparency.
"Asking this question in interviews tells me two dissimilar things," says Blount. "Beginning, I acquire what someone loves and values — what's of import to them. Second, they nearly always follow upwardly with a qualifier," she says. "They'll often say something similar 'But that doesn't make upwardly for…' and so they're also telling me something they don't beloved. I find that second slice to exist very instructive. It helps me understand where they experience uncomfortable, unsupported, or generally unhappy."
seven. What motivates you to work?
This one comes from Varun Srinivasan, former Senior Director of Engineer at Coinbase (where he had front-row seats to the company's wild ascent and came through the other side with a valuable collection of lessons on scaling).
"On its face, information technology's a simple question for the interviewer to ask. Just information technology requires a tremendous amount of idea and introspection from interviewees," says Srinivasan. "I've found the disproportionate nature of it unlocks valuable give-and-take. Great candidates will be able to articulate their intrinsic motivators and reflect on why they've worked at startups earlier — or upack why they want to break in. Less-than-stellar candidates won't wade into that self-inquiry. They'll provide surface level answers such as 'I like hard applied science challenges.'"
Jopwell co-founder and CEO Porter Braswell opts for a similarly open up-ended question: What does success mean to you? "I notice that request questions like these makes the candidate pause and think," says Braswell. "That helps drive a more organic and gratuitous-flowing conversation where I go to know the interviewee and what drives her on a deeper level compared to going through her resume."
8. Looking dorsum on the last 5 years of your career, what's the highlight?
According to Michael Vaughan, this question is more powerful than it seems. "Information technology tells me what type of person they are, what matters to them and how they call back," says the quondam COO of Venmo and current EIR at Oak HC/FT.
"For example, if they tell me about a personal accomplishment, then I know personal career evolution is a huge surface area of focus. If they tell me about the achievement of a direct report or the squad, then I know they care about developing people," says Vaughan. "If they tell me near a company feat, then I know that they tie their own success to the company's success — which is a peachy mentality for weathering the early stages of a startup."
QUESTIONS ON THEIR FIT FOR THE Office:
9. What are you lot really proficient at, but never want to do anymore?
Bryan Mason, Principal Business Officer at VSCO, is a fan of this question because information technology gets candidates to do three things:
Reflect on what they've learned about themselves.
Test their power to speak with humility about being "practiced" at something
Talk well-nigh stuff you may find valuable on their resume, that they in fact no longer want to exercise.
"It's astonishing how often people answer proverb they never want to practice exactly what I'm hiring for in this role," he says.
There are incredible candidates who excel at exactly what yous're hiring for. The problem is that they don't want to practise it anymore.
10. What'southward the difference between someone who's bang-up in your role versus someone who'south outstanding?
When interviewing candidates for LendingHome, co-founder and CEO Matt Humphrey is on the spotter for a keen understanding of the difference between A+ operation and what he calls "A+++".
"I always follow-up with: 'Can you requite me some specific examples of this in your career and the results you saw?' I look for how they reply the question just equally much as the content of the answer itself," he says. "The best candidates can answer well-nigh immediately, maybe even with a wry grin because they know exactly what I'm getting at and they're proud of doing something that was truly above and beyond."
eleven. How did you fix for this interview?
When he asks this question, Jonah Greenberger is testing for 3 things: proactiveness, resourcefulness and passion.
"Those qualities are critical for almost whatever position," says the CEO of Bright (a First Round-backed visitor). "I likewise like that this multi-purpose question is so open-ended. It gives room for candidates to evidence how concise, creative, and clear they are."
12. What practice you believe yous can achieve with us personally or professionally that y'all can't anywhere else in the world?
Shiva Rajaraman (CTO at WeWork and former VP of Product at Spotify) typically asks this question at the tail-end of an interview cycle.
"I similar it considering candidates reveal their individual motivations, creativity, and commitment to our mission all in one response," says Rajaraman. "Often, they haven't really thought about our company or capabilities deeply. The answers hither tin can be revealing as to whether nosotros are truly the best fit. It also helps cement that we are a special place for the person to thrive. Most importantly, if a candidate is able to clear her ambitions and how we can aid her accomplish them, we are 1 step closer to closing her."
Questions near why someone wants to work here and take on this item role may seem routine, simply they're incredibly important. Often, candidates are fleeing something else and oasis't thought deeply about what they want side by side.
Every bit the Corporate Communications Manager at Looker, a company that'southward put tremendous thought and care into bringing new people on board, Tamara Ford John similarly recommends digging into what makes candidates passionate about the specific opportunity in front of them. "I always inquire candidates, 'Why do you want to work here ? Why do you feel you will be good at this position?'" she says.
"I've found that the specifics of why someone is fatigued to your visitor and believes they'll succeed in a given part are often overlooked. It'southward incredible how many times I've seen people fall down when it comes to answering these questions in interviews."
13. What are the three nearly important characteristics of this function? How would you stack rank yourself from strongest to to the lowest degree developed among these traits?
When Jack Krawczyk is hiring for WeWork's Product team, he's hunting for candidates that have both a deep understanding of the function they're in and an appreciation for the spots in which they still need to abound.
"I utilise this question when hiring production managers, but information technology can work for other functions," he says. "I've found that it forces the candidate to be introspective and provide examples of how they're a student of their craft."
xiv. Tell me about your ideal next function. What characteristics does it accept from a responsibility, team, and company culture perspective? What characteristics does it not have?
As the head of Square's seller and developer business units, Alyssa Henry has her hands full, so the ability to speedily uncover alignment — or misalignment — in the hiring process is disquisitional. Rather than asking straight about a candidate's interest in a particular role, she's establish information technology helpful to abstruse out to their ideal next part, a scenario that captures what they're really afterward.
"This two-part question helps determine if in that location'southward a lucifer in expectations for the office. Particularly when yous hear the answers to what they're non looking for, sometimes you realize that the candidate is actually a improve match for a different role," she says. "Merely my favorite office is that it gives you the selling points you need to hit on when it comes time to close the candidate. You already know what they value, which makes it easier to tailor your pitch."
xv. It'southward September 5, 2020. What impact on the business take you made in the year since you've joined?
When hiring for PatientPing, co-founder and CEO, Jay Desai wants to get candidates talking most the future, what the world will await like once they become the job, settle in and start making an impact.
Here'southward what he's able to acquire from this question:
Timing: "I've found that it provides visibility into how long the candidate thinks things should accept," says Desai. "Folks coming from larger companies assume things take longer than they should, while someone from a smaller, scrappier startup might want to go faster than they should."
Where their focus lies: "You tin larn a lot from how they describe their hypothetical touch. Are they results-oriented, using numbers to describe their bear on?" says Desai. "Mayhap they're more process-oriented, describing their impact in terms of the systems they've successfully prepare. Candidates who are more people-oriented will talk about how the org will take grown and how the team will have developed."
Agreement of the office: If a candidate is fashion off-base of operations from your expectations when describing what they'd hope to achieve, that'due south telling in a different way. "It tests the extent to which they have internalized this function and what the visitor is asking them to solve for," says Desai.
The piece of work to overcome other misunderstandings most the function and the hiring manager's expectations doesn't stop once a candidate officially joins the team. To go along strengthening relationships and getting to know each other, Desai relies on an incredibly tactical framework that provides a bedrock for productive employee/manager relationships — read more well-nigh it here .
QUESTIONS ON WORKING WITH OTHERS:
xvi. Tell me near a fourth dimension you strongly disagreed with your manager. What did you do to convince him or her that yous were right? What ultimately happened?
When nosotros surveyed our network of thoughtful founders and operators, several mentioned this equally their favorite interview question. Since they each had different points of accent and takeaways, nosotros've combined a few perspectives here to highlight why this question packs such a punch.
Allow'due south showtime with Cristina Cordova. She joined Stripe every bit the 28th employee and first business organization development hire. In addition to joining Starting time Round's Affections Runway program, she's since led multiple teams beyond Business Development, Financial Partnerships, Partner Engineering and Diversity & Inclusion functions — which means she's done her fair share of hiring.
And this question has become her become-to in interviews for a few reasons. "It shows me how far someone will become in order to do what they believe is right," says Cordova. "The way candidates choose to unpack the anecdote also shows me how they convince others in the confront of obstacles. Exercise they use information? Do they get together back up from others?" Asking about what ultimately happened is also specially illustrative. "How they speak near not getting their way tells you a lot nearly whether they're willing to disagree and commit to execution," she says.
Electric current Head of People and Development at Opendoor (and sometime SVP of Sales at Yelp) Erica Galos Alioto leans on this question as well. "I'm looking to encounter how candidates deal with disharmonize in a work environment," she says. "Do they openly address it and encounter their difference in opinion equally a force? Or are they unable to run across the other person's perspective? Do they endeavor to resolve information technology or silently let it bother them? This tells me a lot about their ability to communicate effectively and how they will handle disagreements with others at work."
Former Airbnb VP of Engineering Michael Curtis is likewise a fan of diving into how candidates handle disagreements in interviews. "I like this question for a few reasons," says Curtis. "Starting time, it's hard to requite a fluff answer to. I also observe it gives me neat signal on the candidate's personality in a number of dimensions, and it serves up useful data points that can exist used in reference checks afterwards."
Curtis probes deeper into the topic with targeted follow-ups that really get into the weeds of how the disagreement with their boss went down:
What was your manager's reasoning?
What arguments did y'all find compelling in favor of the determination?
What was your reasoning and virtually compelling arguments against?
Were you lot ultimately correct?
In add-on to sharing more of his go-to questions ("Think of a fourth dimension you lot had to cut corners on a project in a mode yous weren't proud of to brand a deadline. How did you handle it?"), Curtis lays out tips for focusing interviews on culture and character, as well as advice for busting bureaucracy earlier it starts in this Review article.
17. Tell me about the best and worst bosses you've ever had, specifically, in your career. What was the difference?
Every bit the CEO of Foursquare, Jeffrey Glueck finds that candidates aren't commonly prepared for this question. "They frequently reveal what makes them tick through their answers," he says. "While the best one is interesting for picking up insight on how to get the most growth out of them, I often find that the worst boss answer is more interesting. Y'all might learn that they react strongly to micromanagement, are fiercely independent, or are very individual comp focused."
The central is pushing candidates to get specific. "Don't let them off with vague answers," says Glueck. "They don't have to name names, of grade, but y'all demand to insist they talk about two specific bosses at specific companies, non generalizations."
eighteen. What'southward one part of your previous company's civilisation that you promise to bring to your next one? What one role do you promise to non notice?
Ben Kamens, the founder and CEO of Spring Discovery (and alum of Khan Academy and Fog Creek Software) finds this question to be an constructive way to probe candidates' thoughtfulness when it comes to working with others, uncovering their understanding of how squad dynamics and culture intersect.
"Do they immaturely rant nearly the failings of past teammates? Do they thoughtfully consider why certain problems existed, maturely discussing the tradeoffs their previous company had to make?" he says. "Can they reason through why one company or industry'south problems or culture might not apply to another'southward?"
QUESTIONS ON LEARNING FROM MISTAKES:
19. When was the last time you inverse your mind virtually something of import?
For Sarah Fetter, Managing Director of E Rock Uppercase, this interview question is all about evolution.
"It allows you lot to see how — and if — the candidate'south belief arrangement or set of core values has inverse. How did a powerful experience or impactful person shift the candidate's worldview?" she says. "Follow up with more questions to notice out what they felt before, during and subsequently the experience of existence challenged — that volition tell you a great deal."
20. What'south the near important thing you've learned from a peer and how take you used that lesson in your twenty-four hours-to-day life?
This one comes from Dan Slate, Manager of Product Management at Wealthfront. "I'm looking for a candidate's power to identify superpowers in those around them that they desire to improve upon themselves," he says.
"I like this question because information technology allows me to assess their self-reflection and growth mindset. Depending on the reply they provide, it can also be a practiced window into how humble they are."
21. Tell me about a fourth dimension you actually screwed something up. How did y'all handle it and how did you lot address the mistake?
"In one fell swoop, this question tests for humility, self-reflection, problem-solving and communication skills," says Chad Dickerson, onetime Etsy CEO turned coach-to-other-CEOs at Reboot.
He notes that information technology also provides greater insight into scope of responsibleness in prior roles. "The bigger one'southward telescopic, the bigger the mistakes and the more than complex the remediation of those mistakes," says Dickerson.
22. Tell me near a time you fabricated a fault or failed at something. What did you larn from this experience? Can you give me two other examples?
Every bit an alum of Glossier, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and Product Hunt, Corley Hughes has serious team-building chops. When hiring, she likes to focus on how a candidate has learned from failure — merely she's establish that asking about it just in one case isn't plenty.
"Request for 3 examples gives me a meliorate sense of someone's actions and natural way of working. Everyone who'south adequately prepared for an interview has one rehearsed answer on learning from failure in their pocket," she says.
"The folks who can signal to three different times they've messed up testify that they take a well-honed addiction of looking objectively at a situation and talking openly about what they'd do differently. I've institute that these people tend to naturally self-grade-right, are constantly learning, and are willing to share bad news speedily, which are must-haves on my team."
When listening to the answers, she's specifically looking to see whether the candidate can:
Speak comfortably and openly well-nigh mistakes.
Reflect and employ what they learned.
Demonstrate that they don't take themselves too seriously.
Every candidate has one canned answer on learning from failure in their pocket. The people who can point to three different examples are the true abiding-learners — and the folks you demand on your team.
23. When have y'all felt the lowest in your career? Did you realize how you felt in the moment? How did you answer?
Codeacademy co-founder and CEO Zach Sims (who's previously shared his fundraising wisdom on the Review) is scouting for tenacity with this question.
"Nosotros're looking for people that know that careers have lots of ups and downs," he says. "Can you handle those with ataraxy, working through the downs with your team and the upswing that hopefully follows? Candidates that accept feel with this rollercoaster can frequently ride out startups better than others.
QUESTIONS THAT SURFACE Cocky-Awareness:
24. What's i misconception your coworkers have near you?
Umbrella co-founder Sam Gerstenzang once wrote that it's not the presence of weakness, but rather a failure to recognize information technology that usually holds people dorsum — and accordingly, his go-to interview question centers around self-sensation.
"I've establish this question tends to open up up a candidate," he tells u.s.. "By asking for a misconception rather than something coworkers but don't know about you, the interviewer often receives a more important and revealing truth while besides understanding how the candidate relates to their co-workers."
In Gerstenzang'south experience, the misconception is oft something a candidate wishes they had more or less of, which helps sympathize their underlying motivations. "A less-than-great answer often reveals an underdeveloped sense of self or poor communication with co-workers," he says.
Asking near misconceptions is a powerful tool. It speaks to both your conception of yourself, and your understanding of how others perceive you — both of which are critical.
25. What are you better at than most anyone else? What's your superpower and how will yous leverage that to make an touch at this company?
Roli Saxena has some incredibly insightful interview questions upwardly her sleeve. The current Main Customer Officer at Brex (and former VP of Revenue at Clever) has previously spoken to the Review about how she hunts for resilience and prioritization to notice candidates who are well-equipped to combat burnout and overwhelm.
Some other 1 of her favorite questions similarly straddles 2 qualities. "By request virtually their superpower and how that volition specifically aid them in this function, you tin acquire a lot near candidates' self-awareness and how prepared they are," she says. "If they tin can tailor their response to what our team is focused on and how they can add value, I know they've washed the homework — both on our company, and on themselves."
Lenny Rachitsky is also a fan of asking candidates to share their superpowers. "As a managing director, it'south important to help people flex what they're really good at, instead of just trying to ameliorate on the areas they're struggling with," he noted in his recent advice for handling performance reviews.
Here'due south what the one-time Airbnb product lead is specifically looking for in answers to this interview question:
Getting thoughtful and physical. "The best candidates take the fourth dimension to suspension and really think about it," says Rachitsky. "Information technology's a red flag for me if they leap to stock-sounding generic answers. I want them to place something focused, not vague."
Showing humility and authenticity. "Tin they honestly point out both skilful and bad? Practise I feel like they are existence real? I'm looking for authentic insight into this person'south strengths and weaknesses," he says. "Which is why I ofttimes tack on this follow-up: 'If I were to inquire your colleagues at your last job to tell me about you, what would I hear?' I find that it consistently gets to existent honest stuff."
Rachitsky shared his thoughts on the role of superpowers in performance reviews, emphasizing a manager's responsibility to describe their reports' strengths — and how they tin can flex them further. Get his tactical communication (and incredibly helpful template) in this Review article how operation reviews can assist managers uplevel from good to kickass.
26. If I were to go and speak to people who don't think very highly of you, what would they say?
This question is clearly designed to probe the depths of a candidate's self-awareness. Simply Gabriel Otte is also hunting for another quality: empathy.
Cocky-awareness isn't just about agreement your own shortcomings. Develop empathy for the people who dislike you — otherwise you lot'll get caught up in justifications and evasions that make it tough to truly internalize the criticism.
"When I pose this question to candidates, I'g always looking to see how much empathy they take for the people who don't like them," says Otte, the co-founder and CEO of Freenome (and a partner in Starting time Round'southward Healthcare Co-op). "Do they evade or try to justify why people might not like them? Or are they in denial and recall no 1 dislikes them?"
QUESTIONS TO Notice OUT HOW THEY Answer TO FEEDBACK:
27. What'southward 1 critical slice of feedback you've received that was actually hard to hear? Why was it difficult and what did you lot practise with that information? What did yous learn about yourself?
As Medium's Head of People, Pema Lin-Moore typically asks this question in the career history portion of the interview. "It gives me a glimpse into how a person responds to feedback that's out of line with how they see themselves or how they wish to exist seen," she says. "You go a sense of how self-reflective a person tin can exist, how resilient they are, and the type of environment they've been operating in."
Nolan Church building likewise similarly recommends probing into how a candidate deals with difficult feedback. "I learn more than about someone from this question than anything else I inquire," says the Master People Officer at Carta . "Information technology gives me insight into an surface area for development, how they respond to feedback, and their level of introspection, vulnerability and humility."
In addition to providing question #11, LendingHome co-founder and CEO Matt Humphrey submitted another splendid question that also fits in here, adding a slight twist: "I e'er say 'Nosotros'll ask about this in references, but I'd love to hear it from you as well: Very specifically, what's the most contempo slice of disquisitional feedback that you've gotten?" he says.
For him, the preface to the question is particularly cardinal. "I've found that throwing in the 'references' comment is of import considering it tends to bring out more than honest responses," says Humphrey. "I'm literally looking for them to go into the nitty-gritty of the when and the how, not fluffy or abstract responses. And so it's helpful to take candidates know that if they lob in a softball, I may hear something different when I'm doing reference checks."
28. Find a fashion to requite the candidate feedback in the interview.
This one is less question, more targeted tactic, but it's such valuable interview advice for hiring managers that we had to include it here. Information technology was suggested past Nicky Goulimis, co-founder and COO of Nova Credit.
"In every interview, I attempt to find a manner to requite a candidate constructive feedback and see how they react," she says. "How we navigate tough conversations is disquisitional for how we'll be able to piece of work together in the time to come, then information technology'due south important to examination."
It'south always unique to the candidate, so information technology's difficult to give one-size-fits all communication, but here are two tactics she relies on to create an opening for a constructive feedback opportunity:
Feedback on the exercise: "Our business interview process typically involves a take-dwelling house that nosotros have candidates present," says Goulimis. "Nosotros always applaud the candidate at the end to share our appreciation, but and then everyone on the interview panel goes around sharing feedback, both positive and constructive. It'due south incredibly instructive to see a candidate internalize that feedback and respond to information technology in the moment."
Feedback on their potential fit: "I as well share constructive feedback when debriefing with candidates. I talk openly about what's really exciting to me and where I even so have question marks," she says. "In addition to demonstrating my delivery to transparency, it likewise offers them an opportunity to react to or address those areas while they're still being considered."
QUESTIONS THAT PUT PASSION FRONT AND CENTER:
29. What was the concluding thing yous nerded out on?
Shawne Ashton, VP of Growth at mindbodygreen (and sometime Managing director of Business organisation Operations at Zola) levels this one at candidates equally a terminal question. "It helps me become a sense of whether this person is a life-long learner, self-starter, naturally curious, and able to teach themselves new things they're interested in," she says. "By emphasizing that it doesn't need to exist work related, I find that I besides get to know the person a bit more than beyond their direct job feel, and information technology ends the interview on a fun notation."
Upstart's Caput of Strategy and Partner Operations Cindy Smith asks a like question, with a slight twist: Tell me nigh a topic that you lot've taken it upon yourself to learn about. "I want to hear them talk about something they've received no formal preparation on," says Smith. "It shows curiosity, tenacity around learning and it helps me gauge how a person tackle hard topics and new challenges."
30. What are some things exterior of work that you're irrationally passionate about?
While this question may seem like a standard getting-to-know-you lot inquiry, Laura Behrens Wu uses it every bit an opportunity to delve deeper into a candidate'due south motivations.
"I'm looking for people who are intrinsically motivated, and hobbies are ofttimes an outlet for that," says the co-founder and CEO of Shippo. "Over the years, I've found that intrinsically driven individuals typically take other passions outside of work that they pursue in an obsessive-like fashion. For example, if a candidate tells me they run 10 miles a day as a hobby, that's a bespeak of a strong internal drive."
31. What's the start chore y'all had, that's not on your resume, and what did you learn from that experience?
This question is one of Maryann Kongovi'south favorites. "It relaxes the candidates and leads to fun conversations about summer jobs," says the VP of Operations at Algolia. Simply there's intention behind information technology too. "I always come away with better insight into their values and perspectives on work itself."
QUESTIONS THAT THROW A CURVEBALL:
32. Why shouldn't we hire you?
Romy Macasieb finds this question is a useful (and unexpected) tool for excavating where a candidate even so has room to grow. "It goes much deeper than your standard 'What are your 3 areas of improvement?' type questions," says the founding PM and current VP of Production at Walker & Visitor.
"I similar that it allows interviewees to play both sides of the table. They could highlight the skills they're missing or why they might not exist what nosotros're looking for by maxim something like 'Yous shouldn't hire me if yous want someone that is quant-just,'" Macasieb says. "Only they can besides plow the focus to why you might not be a fit for them. I've heard responses like 'You shouldn't hire me if you have an open office floor plan.'"
33. What should our squad be doing differently that could yield 10x improvement?
Meka Asonye leads the Startup & SMB sales org at Stripe, a grouping that advises venture-backed companies on their commerce, monetization and expansion strategies. "I'm looking for folks who have a bias for action and can retrieve like an owner," he says. "Tin they retrieve at the CEO level, beyond merely the job they're applying for?"
Sometimes, this question surfaces some real gems. "Nosotros're actually considering piloting one of the ideas a recent candidate mentioned. I've also had interviews where people have mentioned things that we have seriously considered but scrapped for various reasons," says Asonye.
Merely when the answers are less than stellar, here's where candidates tend to go wrong:
Ambitions aren't lofty plenty. "Oftentimes I hear ideas that are a 10% improvement, not 10X. The temptation can be to offer not-controversial, small tweaks to process," says Asonye.
Can't remember of any suggestions. "This one is a large red flag for me, as I tend to come across candidates in a second or third round interview, after the candidate has met with 5 to 10 people," says Asonye. "They should be pretty well-versed in our company and production past so, so it'south frequently a sign that they haven't done their homework."
To troubleshoot conversations that have stalled out, Asonye offers helpful footholds with these guiding questions:
Why might nosotros exist unable to enhance our side by side round of financing?
Why would someone choose to piece of work with our biggest competitor?
What product or service might nosotros introduce that would exist valuable to our core customer?
34. Teach me something.
This open-ended and surprising prompt was office of Nathalie McGrath's interview toolkit while she was the VP of People at Coinbase. "Information technology can tell you lot a keen bargain nearly a candidate's idea process," McGrath says. "How practice they communicate and reason through an issue? Practice they start from first principles? As an added benefit, I ofttimes get a glance into something they're passionate nigh — plus the adventure to personally learn something new."
Kevin Morrill is likewise a fan of this approach in interviews — one that he'south built on and thoroughly idea through later on asking it hundreds of times over the years. Morrill'south an engineering science managing director at Quizlet, onetime CTO of Mattermark, and the creator of Buried Reads, a fascinating newsletter that'south a must-read in our inbox.(He co-authors information technology along with his wife, Danielle Morrill former CEO and co-founder at Mattermark, and electric current GM at GitLab).
And when we asked why he favored this approach in interviews, Morrill was at the prepare with this thorough Google Doc explanation on what he calls "the 5-infinitesimal advice question."
Here's how it works: Morrill asks candidates to interruption downwards a topic for him. Information technology can be annihilation — a hobby, book, or project — but they'll only have five minutes to take him from a beginner to someone who understands what's almost important most the topic. Here's a preview of what he'south come to expect for in their explanations:
Empathy. As an interviewer posing this question, the key is to keep your confront vacant and minimize interjections. "A star candidate will choice up on this and enquire if I understand and then far," writes Morrill. "These are the aforementioned kind of people that empathize with customers and recollect near it in all the piece of work they practice one time we hire them."
Giving an analogy. Using a shortcut for explaining concepts is a telling indicator of a candidate's skill. "One example I heard while someone was pedagogy me the basics of poker was to take advantage of the fact I had played backgammon, even though I hadn't played poker. He talked most how in backgammon all the pieces on the board are exposed information that both players tin see, merely in poker you have subconscious information," writes Morril. "These types of explanations go a long way towards apace communicating an thought with all kinds of implications very succinctly."
Taking the time to break. "Once the fierce type candidates get going, they don't accept any kind of bulleted list or outline in their head of what they hope to get across," writes Morril. "What'due south nigh incredible near this is how accurately it predicts disorganized and non-goal directed behavior on the job."
It is amazing how many candidates won't premeditate earlier diving into interview questions. Those who accept the time to terminate, call up it through and take a few crystal clear points are amongst the best people I've always worked with.
QUESTIONS THAT DIG INTO HOW THEY Remember:
35. If you were to take over as CEO of your current company tomorrow, and had to increase your company's current rate of growth, what three areas you lot would invest in?
Jeanne DeWitt heads up Acquirement & Growth for North America at Stripe, then naturally her favorite question has a growth bent to information technology. But by asking candidates to play CEO, she's uncovered a sharp way to assess them on a few dissimilar variables.
"I've found it gives candidates an opportunity to highlight their strengths and strategic thinking," she says. "But it also provides a chance for them to exercise empathy. If they get into how their hypothetical actions as CEO will affect the squad, that signals a certain thoughtfulness about how their own working style impacts their peers or reports."
36. How would you build a product for people who are looking for an flat?
Bangaly Kaba (VP of Product at Instacart and former caput of growth at Instagram) gives candidates 45 minutes to work through this one on a whiteboard. It'due south part of the production sense portion of the PM interview process — and he finds that this seemingly mundane hypothetical can bear witness to exist very difficult.
Here's why it's i of his favorite questions to enquire in an interview:
There's no i right answer. "As the interviewer I'thousand agnostic when information technology comes to the exact product solution," says Kaba. "What I intendance most is the rigor of the candidate'due south approach, the depth of thinking and coherence of the product outcome, and the frameworks used to get there."
It's relevant to everyone. "Many product sense questions are niche and pertain to the visitor you're interviewing for, which carries bias considering there's asymmetric information betwixt interviewer and interviewee," he says. "But finding housing is a universal need."
It's hard to game. "Even if you know the question in accelerate I can offer new constraints or twists that are similar to on-the-fly changes that PMs face day-to-day," says Kaba. "It checks whether the interviewee can recall the thorough the product idea holistically."
37. What are 10 means to speed upwardly Domino's pizza delivery?
When hiring early-career PMs at Coinbase, Max Branzburg likes to throw this unexpected, pizza-chain related inquiry out there.
"There'southward no one right reply, but what I like most this question is that virtually everyone has the same context beforehand," he says. "Good responses demonstrate an power to ask clarifying questions, structure thoughts, be both artistic and analytical, and consider technological and operational solutions. Plus, it'south undeniably fun."
QUESTIONS THAT FLIP THE SCRIPT:
38. What tin can I tell you well-nigh working here?
A few years back at our CTO Summit, Kellan Elliott-McCrea gave an incredible talk on how Etsy grew their number of female engineers by 500% in one year (see the Review article information technology inspired right hither.) And then we weren't surprised that his accept on interviewing was similarly deep and insightful.
The one-time SVP of Eng at Glimmer Health and Etsy CTO finds that the fundamental model we utilize to interview within the tech industry is incorrect. "It assumes we're panning a stream of high performing technical specialists for a few gems. This may have been true one time upon a fourth dimension, but it isn't the world nosotros live in anymore," says Elliott-McCrea. "Software is a straightforward technical project, but a hard social, cultural and operational one."
Here's his have on what interviewers should focus on instead:
Treating the interview every bit a collaboration to make sure that the office is a expert fit is the first priority. Making sure the candidate has a positive feel is the second priority. Everything else is a dainty-to-take.
39. If yous were in my shoes, what attributes would yous look for in hiring for this part?
NerdWallet co-founder and CEO Tim Chen recently shared his takeaways from navigating the shift from beginning-time founder to seasoned exec on the Review, which surfaced some particularly interesting insights on hiring, including how he's revamped his approach to interviewing execs and the surprisingly honest reason why he interviewed every single person up until the NerdWallet team reached 200 people.
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And when nosotros followed up with him to become his favorite interview question, he surfaced still another intriguing tactic: asking what the candidate would wait for if they were on the other side of the table.
"Some of the attributes they list off are surprising," says Chen. "It helps you think well-nigh the role in a different style. I've also constitute that candidates tend to highlight their own strengths, so information technology gives you a window into who they are. You can also get a sense of whether they're good at breaking nebulous problems, similar hiring, into the key drivers."
40. What have I not asked you that I should have?
"This question surprises almost everyone," says Liza Hausman, VP of Industry Marketing at Houzz. (And it'south the perfect one to cease on.)
"I like information technology because information technology tells me what they remember is important about their skills or experience. It also lets me know if they have an interview strategy of their own, which can exist useful if they're going to exist edifice out a team."
Got a favorite interview question of your own? Tell us on Twitter or share information technology here . We'll compile the best submissions and share them with Get-go Circular Review newsletter subscribers .
Source: https://review.firstround.com/40-favorite-interview-questions-from-some-of-the-sharpest-folks-we-know
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