Bad Interview Questions (And Some Suggestions)

Interview questions play a crucial role in the hiring process, but some common ones don't quite hit the mark. In this post, I'll explain why certain popular interview questions fall short and share some underrated alternatives that can help you find the right candidate more effectively.

Let's start with the most common question of all: "Why do you want to work here?" While it’s reasonable to ask and shows that a candidate has some awareness of your company, it suffers from the problem of adverse selection.

Specifically: this question often leads to selecting candidates who are well-prepared for interviews but might not be the best performers in their current roles. It also tends to be one of the first screening questions, which can adversely select against high-performing passive candidates who are not fully bought into the idea of changing jobs yet. Consequently, you might end up favoring job seekers who are eager but potentially mediocre, rather than identifying those with a strong future fit for your company.

Another commonly asked question is, "So, tell me about yourself." This is a lazy interviewing tactic. People who perform well in this scenario often know what you’re looking for and are good at speaking extemporaneously. However, being able to deliver a tight, concise sales pitch isn't usually the dominant skill needed for most roles.

Another style of question often used is, "Give me your best example of taking a team, installing metrics and accountability, and really holding those team members accountable." While it seems like a decent question, it a bit overrated. By asking this, you’re essentially broadcasting your Target to savvy candidates, who may spin, exaggerate, or even lie to shape their past stories to match what you want to hear. This leads to high performance in the answer but a lower amount of truthful data, which is the opposite of what we want in an interview.

So, what do I prefer instead? Surprisingly simple questions: proudest accomplishments, biggest mistakes, feedback from a boss, areas of improvement, and what most impressed a client about a project. These questions are open-ended and focus on the candidate’s past verifiable experience. The magic often lies in the depth of the follow-up questions. Keeping questions simple, open-ended, and largely focused on past experiences allows you to verify the information with follow-up questions and references.

Moreover, it's important to feel comfortable asking about both positive and negative aspects, such as strengths and weaknesses, accomplishments and mistakes. If you keep the questions simple and ask great follow-up questions in a high rapport, non-judgmental manner, candidates are likely to stop performing for you and share more honest information. This approach helps you see the real person behind the interview facade.

Gather all this data, ideally with a team that has divided and conquered different aspects of the candidate and role. Combine this great data, contrast it with the role definition you started with, and make more data-driven, accurate hiring decisions. This approach significantly reduces hiring mistakes that stem from gut-level decisions, such as liking a candidate too much and ignoring the data in their past.

At Talgo, we are here to help you become skilled interviewers who draw out honest data from candidates in a way they will appreciate. Good luck!