Whether you’re on the hiring or job-hunting end, how would you like to learn what some of the best business minds in America ask during interviews?
Corner Office, a feature by Adam Bryant in the Sunday Business section of The New York Times, offers highlights from conversations about leadership and management. Here is a list of the top five interviewing questions as asked by some big shots of a wide range of industries:
– One question I always find helpful is to ask who they’ve done things with; and if they can very quickly give you lots of examples of what other people did, then you’ve got some hint about how collaborative they are… Tim Brown, IDEO
– My general goal is, how do I get them talking, to see what they talk about? It’s much more about seeing where they want to go, seeing what they find interesting… Lawrence W. Kellner, Continental Airlines
– What are you passionate about? What do you really care about and what do you do with that? And I don’t care if it’s coaching a basketball team or something else. I want to understand how they think about their passion… Brian Dunn, Best Buy
– Well, my first question is always, “Tell me what you think this job is all about.” And I think just allowing them to speak about what they want to do, and what they think the job is about, is actually very useful, because it sheds light on what they think they want to do in the company… Shantanu Narayen, Adobe Systems
– I ask them to share how they have dealt in the past with major issues, like a reduction in force, and major changes in the business environment… Eduardo Castro-Wright, Wal-Mart Stores
The important takeaway is not to memorize a stock answer to please the interviewer; rather, these questions really help you think about thinking. Sure there are interview best practices and good stock answers, but as you see from above, great questions spark a dialogue that reveals the candidate’s passion. And note that none of them refer to a resume.
The link is a compilation of everything fitting the ‘hiring’ category from the interviews; for other leadership lessons, you can simply select another topic and find a wealth of knowledge from other interviews.
Read the article here.
