Eight Essential Interview Questions CEOs Swear By

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Personal Development, Leading & Managing Section | 2

Eight Essential Interview Questions CEOs Swear By

By Adam Bryant | MIT Sloan Management Review | May 16, 2024

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“If time, money, and talent were no object, what would you do?”  That was the question that Saundra Pelletier, CEO of Evofem Biosciences, shared with the author when he asked her how she interviews job candidates.   Pelletier’s question is just one of many surprising hiring approaches the author has learned about over the course of more than 1,000 interviews with leaders, published in the Times and now on LinkedIn, over the past 15 years.

To categorize all of the interview questions the author has heard over the years, he sorted them into what he called essential questions — the core questions that the interviewer is trying to answer about the candidate as part of their key checklist.   The bank-shot questions below require meaningful and authentic answers that candidates can’t take from a cookie-cutter script, even if they’ve been asked them before.

1. Do You Really Want to Work Here?  You want to know that the candidate has done their research and has authentic and meaningful reasons for wanting to work at your company rather than just wanting to land a job.
2. What Makes You Tick?  Given the level of disruption in the world, and the fact that every company is in some phase of transforming itself, any job that someone is hired for is likely to change. So employers want to understand a candidate’s strengths, their work ethic, and the source of their drive.
3. Do You Have a High Level of Personal Accountability and Determination?  It is a crucial moment in any relationship between an employer and employee: You have a difficult assignment with no obvious solution, many gray areas, and plenty of challenges. Do they push back, coming up with reasons why it can’t be done? Or does the employee ask for more clarity and say, in so many words, “I’ve got this and I’ll figure it out”? Whatever you call it — grit, perseverance, resilience, or comfort with ambiguity — all employers want this resourceful quality in their new hires.
4. Are You Hungry to Learn and Build New Skills?  Companies are looking for employees with an innate hunger to learn more and raise their game rather than rest on past successes.
5. Are You a Team Player?  Employers want to steer clear of those job candidates who sees everything as zero-sum game, regardless of how talented they are, and instead find people who are wired to help their colleagues and understand the power of teams.
6. Are You Self-Aware?  There are always gaps between how we think we are showing up in the world and how people perceive us. But there is no such thing as misperception in terms of how you are viewed by colleagues. If they think you are a bad listener or disengaged or quick to point fingers and blame others, that is all that matters. To be an effective team player and leader, you must be self-aware so that you not only understand your strengths and weaknesses but also how others see you.
7. Will You Thrive in Our Culture?  Many companies look for “cultural fit” in their new hires. Given that a focus on fit can undermine efforts to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion, that thinking has shifted to hiring people who will be cultural enhancers. Employers want people who know how to read the room and understand the nuances of the existing culture before trying to help strengthen it.
8. Are You an Effective Leader?  Does the person understand the complexities and balancing acts that make leadership roles so challenging? Do they have both hard skills for driving results and soft skills for coaching people on their team and building followership? Can they develop other leaders?

3 key takeaways from the article

1. “If time, money, and talent were no object, what would you do?”  That was the question that Saundra Pelletier, CEO of Evofem Biosciences, shared with the author when he asked her how she interviews job candidates.  Pelletier’s question is just one of many surprising hiring approaches.
2. In an ideal world, it would be more efficient to simply pose some questions and get an honest yes-or-no answer. But many people are quite savvy about offering up answers that they think the interviewer wants to hear.
3. The following 8 questions require meaningful and authentic answers that candidates can’t take from a cookie-cutter script, even if they’ve been asked them before:  Do You Really Want to Work Here?  What Makes You Tick?  Are You Hungry to Learn and Build New Skills?  Are You a Team Player?  Are You Self-Aware?  Will You Thrive in Our Culture?  Are You an Effective Leader?

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Topics:  Hiring, CEO, Human Resource, Job Interview