Curated Questions

Leadership

1. What is an example of how you invested in the culture of your last company?

2. How would you fire someone?

3. What is one thing you would improve about this company?

4. What are your leadership strengths and weaknesses?

5. How have you compensated for your boss’s weaknesses?

6. What are your critical tenets of leadership?

7. What mentor recommendation have you adopted, and what have you rejected?

8. Who are your heroes of leadership?

9. How has one of your mentees succeeded based on your council?

10. What elements are key to running a critical meeting?

11. How do you respond when an employee delivers an inferior product?

12. What information is required for you to make a decision?

13. What did you do when you had to make a decision with incomplete information?

14. How do you give feedback? What are some examples of when people have disappointed you, and how did you handle it? (Tim Ferriss)

Emotional Intelligence/Self-Awareness

1. How did curiosity play a role in your last/current job?

2. What about this opportunity, gets you excited and why?

3. What would someone who doesn't like you say about you? (General Stanley McChrystal)

4. When did your convictions require you to push for a different direction than the team wanted?

5. What impact are you seeking to make with your life, and how does this opportunity align with that purpose?

6. What is your typical response to criticism?

7. What do you expect will become mundane about the position?

8. How do you compensate for your shortcomings?

9. What would you do if you had a workday without meetings or interruptions? (Claire Lew)

10. What is easier for you than others?

Personality/Skills

1. What important truth do very few people agree with you on? (Peter Thiel)

2. Is there anything about you that no one would expect? (Mark Chalfant)

3. What are the elements of a perfect day at your last job?

4. How is the very first way you made money? (Cindy Whitehead)

5. What books have had a significant influence on you?

6. What do you do in your spare time? (César Melgoza)

7. What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning? (Brad Jefferson)

8. What is a career highlight?

9. What books do you recommend and why?

Problem-Solving

1. What is an example of a time when you solved an analytically difficult problem? (Laszlo Block)

2. What problem do you think you can solve here?

3. The team is struggling to agree on the projects next steps. What would you do to make sure you choose the right direction and get your co-workers onboard? (workable.com)

Behavioral

1. What do you like the most and least about working in this industry? (Glassdoor.com)

2. When did you go "above and beyond" the requirement, and what was the result?

3. What are two things your former manager would like you to improve?

4. What excites you the most about the position?

5. What question are you dreading?

Communication

1. How did you deal with a difficult work situation?

2. What techniques do you use to simplify the complex?

3. How did you respond when you disagreed with your boss?

4. How do you handle disagreements with peers at work?

5. How did you overcome a cultural barrier with a team member? (biginterview.com)

Cultural

1. How do you resist cultural norms?

2. How do you surprise and delight your customers and co-workers?

3. How have you challenged the status quo at your last/current job?

4. What cultural rules do you routinely break, and why? (Tim Ferriss)

5. How did you handle a situation with a demanding customer or co-worker?

Analytical/Critical Thinking

1. If we're sitting here a year from now celebrating what a great 12 months it has been for you in this role, what did we achieve together? (Randy Garutti)

2. How do you view risk?

3. Why is the vision of the company important to you? (Brad Jefferson)

4. What was a mistake you made and how did you recover?

5. How have you demonstrated innovation in the last year?

6. What are your default metrics?

Wrapping Up

1. What didn't you get a chance to include on your resume? (Richard Branson)

2. Is there anything you didn’t get a chance to tell us today that you think we should know?