Interview Questions You Should Be Asking

Many start-ups begin looking for employees to fill the ranks of the company as it starts to grow. This process, just like all aspects of the business, needs to reflect the company’s brand and culture. The success of the recruitment process has immediate and lasting positive effects on the company. Similarly, failure to recruit the correct candidate might have disastrous effects on morale and productivity almost immediately. The difference may lie in the interview questions asked to candidates.

When carrying out an interview your immediate priority is to make every candidate as relaxed as possible. In this way, you can compare candidates on an equal footing. Just like in examinations, sometimes candidates who are extremely nervous can forget important details and appear less confident than they really are. By asking the right interview questions you can get candidates to relax and also to show you if they would be a gain or a loss to your business.

Just like in other aspects of your business, simply filling the interview up with irrelevant or basic questions, such as “what do you know about my company?” or “where would you like to be in 5 years’ time?” will not get you anywhere. Don’t be busy, be productive. Instead, consider using at least one or two of the following interview questions, adapting them to your business, to find the right candidate.

Sample questions you could start using

1. What would you want to do if you didn’t have to work? – Google

2. Jeff Bezos walks into your cabin and says you have a million dollars to launch your best entrepreneurial idea. What is it? – Amazon

3. If you could be remembered for one sentence, what would it be? – Google

4. If you were going to redesign an ATM machine, how would you do it? – Facebook

5. Name a time you did a wow moment for a teammate, friend, or family member. – Virgin Atlantic

6. Tell me something about you which isn’t on your resume. – Google

7. My wife and I are going on a vacation, where would you recommend? – PWC

8. How do you deal with communicating less than favorable information? – Facebook

9. How would you set up an interview in this room? – Facebook

10. What did you do to prepare for the interview? – Virgin Atlantic

These and thousands of other unique interview questions can be found on Glassdoor.

Look beyond the questions

The goal of asking these questions to possible candidates is not really what their answer is. By asking these unexpected questions you can understand the train of thoughts of each candidate. You can also notice which candidates can quickly think on their feet and which just have a puzzled and lost look on their faces. Such questions will show you which candidates have the right mix of knowledge, experience, and wit to fit into your business and company culture.