The One-Question Interview
Bob Baxley
Executive Creative Director driving world-class product outcomes • Apple, Pinterest, Yahoo!, ThoughtSpot • Writer, Speaker, Advisor, Coach • Co-host Reconsidering
And so there you are. Ten minutes late for a thirty minute interview. With a glance at your calendar you confirm once more that you have a hard stop on the half hour.
A handshake, a smile, you’re seated and you’re ready. Having already met the candidate on multiple occasions, witnessed the morning’s portfolio review, and heard the afternoon’s commentary by the other interviewers, you know that the person before you is someone the team wants and given the demand for talent, indeed someone the company needs.
But it’s your job to be sure, for you know from experience that a bad hire is far more costly than no hire at all.
With only a few minutes to evaluate, to process, to decide; you find yourself with time for only one meaningful question. And that question is this:
“Let’s imagine for a moment that you get this job and choose to join us.
The one thing I am absolutely certain you will do is the one thing that everyone in every job eventually does. You will quit.
So now imagine that you and I are back in this very room some three years, five years, or maybe even ten years from now -- only instead of an interview, you’ll be telling me that you’re leaving. We’ll be sad and we’ll be bummed but we’ll both know it was time and that everything will be okay.
At some point after that, you will sit down to update your LinkedIn profile with three to five bullet points encapsulating your experiences and accomplishments here.
What are those bullet points going to say?”
What would yours say?
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Executive Coach. I coach CEOs, founders and technical leaders in high growth organizations. Radical Candor Guru.
9yIf you've got that far and you need to ask one last question to be totally sure, it's the wrong candidate :-)
Cloud Migration / Disaster Recovery Program/Project Manager at 729 PROJECT MANAGEMENT LLC
9yNicely stated, Bob - thanks for the article / post. Having spent considerable time ensuring my LinkedIn profile and resume succinctly represented my latest accomplishments, your point is well appreciated.
Managing Director of a SFO, Angel Investor, Chief Bottle Washer
9yhahaha..I'd be asking what would YOU like to do if you had MY job, and by the way dude, sorry for being late. All interviews are 2 way sales. I'd like to know, when the answer is free (free of office politics and internal firm gamesmanship), what that candidate could do for my team: After all, there's a reason why I'm being asked to get involved in the interview process for this candidate. If there's disinterest, lack of knowledge or insight about my group's output - that's also valuable feedback on the hire as a whole. Sorry LinkedIn, but doubt many candidates are too thoughtful yet about their LinkedIn epitaph for it to drive their career aspirations.
Injection and Tooling Development Senior Engineer
9yNaaah.... What made you to get up every morning when you prvided very professional support and what happend to it?