What is This?

After leaving my third job interview of the week, I found myself wondering; Why do interviews suck for both people? Its beyond frustrating for both parties to sit through countless monotonous screening questions. Below I cover Asking The Right Questions, 15 non-traditional questions, and Is Prior Experience Necessary; all things that have helped me build an award winning Company Culture time and time again.

Asking The Right Questions

Getting the most out of a short 15- 30 minute interview is all about asking the right questions. Of course you still need to ask the generic stuff such as availability, ability to perform tasks, or reliable transportation. But when you follow up the with some non-traditional questions we make the interview memorable for our candidate(s) and leave a lasting impression.

The goal of non-traditional questions isn't to stump or puzzle the candidates; its to test their ability to think on their feet, overcome a challenge, and get to know the real person behind the potential employee. If they fumble or don't have an answer, it's 100% okay. Again, we're just trying to gauge their problem solving process on the spot.

15 non-traditional interview questions:

Asking non-traditional questions can still be informative while spicing up your interviews. Below are 15 non-traditional questions you can ask and a key take away for each. I've broken them into three main categories About the Job, About the Candidate, About You (The Interviewer), and finally My Favorite Question to ask in every interview.

All the questions below point in the same direction. To find a candidate who is coachable and eager to learn. Even if they're a perfect for the position, if they aren't coachable or eager to learn, they will eventually become dead weight on the team when it is time for the organization to adapt to change.

About the Job

These questions are focused on finding out if the candidate will be a good for you company's culture, vibe well with team,

1. What’s your favorite part of the workday or duties of this position?

   • Do the candidate's, current team member's, and the companies' passions align?

2. What are the first three things you do when you get to work?

   • How organized they are and what their work ethic will be.

3. Are you currently studying or working towards something?

   • What is or how great is their internal self-motivation.

4. What kind of impact to the company/team will you make within (30 days, 90 days, 6 months)?

   • This shows us how high of standards they hold themselves to, likely holding others around them to this standards.

5. What does the word team mean to you?

   • How they will interact and bond with our current team members.

6. What will be the biggest challenges for you during your time in the position?

   • Do they have a sense of fearlessness or are they humble enough to admit a fault?

About the Candidate

8. If you could have any superpower what would it be?

   • Some friendly insight about the candidates personality, if they don’t even a silly question seriously this could be a red flag.

9. Do you prefer Apple or Android/Windows and why?

   • This shows us how they will market something they are passionate about to a critic or non-believer.

10. What is your biggest pet peeve?

    • This shows how compatible they will be with others and can show us how they may interact with our high need clients.

11. What are you famous for?

    • This allows us to see how they represent their personal brand and possibly ours.

12. What slogan would you write on your own t-shirt?

    • You can easily find out someone’s personal mantra or even their sense of humor.

13. Who is your celebrity or personal role model and why?

    • This

About You (The Interviewer)

13. How do I rate as an interviewer?

    • This not only gives us the chance to see how the candidate will critic others on the job, but allows us insight about our own techniques and how we can improve.

14. Ask them to interview you for the same position they are applying for.

    • Will they be a good fit for a leadership position further down the line?

My Favorite Question

My personal favorite question during interviews comes from a line by Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie Wolf on Wall Street.

15. Sell me this pen.
    - This forces the candidate to think quickly, problem solve, and market a product they have little to no experience with.

Skills & Experience To Look Out For

So what are key skills you should look out for? The answer is simple, all of them.

People often overlook skillsets that are transferable, such as communication or working with customers/clients. While it's great to hire a subject matter expert, sometimes it doesn't work out because they don't have any skills outside of a specific field. Meaning when life throws them a curve all they might not be ready to rise to the challnge like someone who had to with previous employers.

Is Prior Experience Necessary?

The simple answer to this question is Yes and No, it really depends on what kind of role your loking to fill.

Yes

If you are trying to hire a high level manager or C-suite member, then yes, you'll want to ensure they have the necessary experience. This can include experience that comes from a different industry, non-traditional background, or transferable skillset. Unless your goal is to build a team from the ground up, you'll want to ensure the candidate has good ethics, job performance, industry knowledge, and successful habits.

No

It's possible to hire someone with no experience or skills and coach them into the desired habits and role. However, this is a hefty investment of resources, money, and time; But it can absolutely pay off ten-fold. This ultimately depends on a magnitude of factors. To keep it simple, investing in employees means they will invest back into your company.

Conclusion

To summarize everything, interviews suck because as hiring managers let them suck. It's important to spice up the process and throw some curve balls. If we want candidates to make an impression on us, we need give them opportunities and leave a lasting impression on them too. People who are eager to learn, hungry for the job, and want to be more than just a cog in a machine will often excel when given a moment to show their worth. It's our job as interviewers to take a chance on candidates. So get out there and get to hiring!

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