Tips for Interviewing Part 2

If you get this position, what would you do in the first sixty days?

I am looking for how candidates think. How do they learn from the people already here? I want to see if they are strategic. I want to understand how they will go about coming to an understanding of our strengths and weaknesses. Are they “management by walking around” kinds of people or serious readers of all they can get their hands on? Do they think about our customers? How much travel (or not) are they willing to put in their plan? Answers to this question offer great insight: are they doers, and will they fit in culturally?

Market our company for me. Assume I don’t know anything. What will you tell me?

This is a super question. It allows you to see how much the candidate knows about your company. Do they know what your products or services are? Do they talk about the size of your organization, such as whether you are global or local? Do they talk about your culture, people, or diversity? Most importantly, do they know anything about what you value? Have they read your website? Do they relate any recent success? If you are publicly held, do they know your financials? If you are hiring someone in management, I sure hope they walked in the door knowing a whole lot about you. If not, you might just question why they are there.