Tips for Interviewing Part 1

Be aware. In some companies, the interview starts the second you walk in the door. How will you treat that assistant who picked you up from the lobby? He or she is often the first one on the interview list. Culture is a powerful thing in many organizations, and a key will be to see if you fit the company’s culture. Here are good questions to ask when interviewing candidates (or good answers if asked):

So why are you here, and what is your story?

This is so open-ended that it will fluster some candidates, which is always interesting. But beyond that, it will allow candidates to tell you what they know about the company (make sure if you are the one being interviewed that you do your homework: read everything about the company and its management that you can find before the interview). It will also show you if candidates can market themselves by giving them a chance to portray themselves in a positive way and hopefully cover a whole lot of background that saves you time.

Is there anything at which you have failed, or that you wished you had done differently?

The people I want on my team have failed a lot and they have learned a great deal from their mistakes. If you have not made mistakes, you likely haven’t grown as much as others. We need people who are willing to take risks and grow from the results, whether they turn out positively or negatively. If you have done things you regret but won’t share them, perhaps you don’t have the openness or honesty we like to see in our candidates. Some of our very best hires have had WHOPPERS to tell me. They were confident, and their experiences spoke loudly.