I’ve been teaching employers how to recruit and hire the best people for more than 25 years. In all that time, I have never been a fan of the sit-down interview. There is too much opportunity for posturing and deception. The applicants know what you’re going to ask. If you’ve conducted enough of them, you know what they’re going to say.
Over the past few years, tech firms have pioneered the use of trick questions. These include: “Why are manhole covers round?” and “How do they print the ‘m’ on M&Ms?” This may work for engineers and coders, but not so much for other positions.
If you must conduct sit-down interviews, here are a couple of questions that will compel applicants to reveal more of their confidence, beliefs, and self-insight. The first, “Why shouldn’t I hire you?” will force applicants out of the normal interview rhythm and into uncharted territory. That’s they type of territory where you want them. There is nothing better than candor in an interview.
The second, “What’s your great weakness? provides you with the chance to see what happens when they take off their “confidence hat” and think though the stuff that can bedevil all of us. There is more detail in this Fast Company article. While these questions are not new, they are a good way to re-think the standard interview that can get stale over time.