3

THERE ARE ONLY

TRUE

JOB INTERVIEW
QUESTIONS

There Are Only Three True Job

Interview Questions
The only three true job interview questions are:
1. Can you do the job?
2. Will you love the job?
3. Can we tolerate working with you?
Thats it. Those three. Think back, every question youve ever posed to others
or had asked of you in a job interview is a subset of a deeper in-depth followup to one of these three key questions. Each question may be asked using
different words, but every question, however it is phrased, is just a variation on
one of these topics: Strengths, Motivation, and Fit.

Can You Do the Job? Strengths

Interviewing for Strengths

Interviewing for strengths is not a game. Its
about figuring out if there is a match between the
strengths required for success in the role and the
candidates strengths. If you accept that, then the
advice for interviewers and interviewees are mirror
images of each other.
Advice for Interviewers
Figure out what strengths youre looking for. Tell the
interviewee what they are. Ask the interviewee for
examples of behavior that evidences those strengths.
(Using the Working Girl question to probe.)
Advice for Interviewees
Figure out what strengths the interviewer is looking
for. Give him or her examples of behavior that
evidences those strengths.
STAR Behavioral Interviews
When I interview someone, I generally follow the
same script, telling people:
Im going to do a behavioral interview. Im looking for
evidence of strengths in what youve done in the past.
Ill tell you the strength Im looking for and ask you for
an example. Its helpful if you use a STAR framework
in your answer.
ST: Situation (Briefly just enough to help me understand the context for your actions.)
A: Action (Elaborate here. What you did. Use the word I.)
R: Result (Briefly just enough to show me the value
or impact of what you did.)
The questions arent important. The answers are. So, if
I ask a question that doesnt trigger a good example,
lets skip that one and find another way to get examples of your strengths.
Strengths Definition
Gallups Marcus Buckingham and Don Clifton provide
an excellent definition of strengths in Now Discover
Your Strengths (New York: Free Press, 2001).

Executive Search firm Heidrick & Struggles CEO, Kevin Kelly explained to me
that its not just about the technical skills, but also about leadership and
interpersonal strengths. Technical skills help you climb the ladder. As you get
there, managing up, down, and across become more important.
You cant tell by looking at a piece of paper what some of the strengths
and weaknesses really areWe ask for specific examples of not only whats
been successful but what theyve done that hasnt gone well or a task
theyve, quite frankly, failed at and how they learned from that experience
and what theyd do different in a new scenario.
Not only is it important to look at the technical skill set they havebut also
the strengths on what I call the EQ side of the equation in terms of getting
along and dealing or interacting with people.
Copyright Forbes 2012

Talent: Innate areas of potential strength (probably

present at birth)
Knowledge: Things people are aware of, facts and lessons learned (through courses, mentors, reading, etc.)
Skills: How to-s, or steps of an activity (generally
acquired through deliberate practice)
With that in mind, as an interviewer, make sure you
understand the driving talent behind an individuals
strength, how they acquired their knowledge of the
subject and what theyve done to practice the skill.
Then you can be sure youve identified a real strength.

There Are Only Three True Job Interview Questions | 01

Will You Love the Job? -Motivation

Interviewing for Motivation

Interviewing for motivation is much less straightforward than interviewing for strengths. Part of the
problem is that its hard to put your finger on what
really motivates someone. The other part of the
problem is that interviewees will have a bias to come
across as motivated even if they arent sure. While
they may not be sure they want to do the job, they are
generally motivated to get you to offer them the job.

Cornerstone International Group CEO, Bill Guy emphasizes the changing nature
of motivation,
younger employees do not wish to get paid merely for working hard
just the reverse: they will work hard because they enjoy their environment
and the challenges associated with their work. Executives who embrace
this new management style are attracting and retaining better employees.

Can We Tolerate Working With You? Fit

Continuing on with our conversation, Heidricks Kelly went on to explain the

importance of cultural fit:
A lot of it is cultural fit and whether they are going to fit well into the
organization The perception is that when (senior leaders) come into the
firm, a totally new environment, they know everything. And they could
do little things such as send emails in a voicemail culture that tend to
negatively snowball over time. Feedback or onboarding is critical. If you
dont get that feedback, you will get turnover later on.
He made the same point earlier in an interview with Smart Business,
referencing Heidricks internal study of 20,000 searches.
40 percent of senior executives leave organizations or are fired or pushed
out within 18 months. Its not because theyre dumb; its because a lot of
times culturally they may not fit in with the organization or its not clearly
articulated to them as they joined.
Copyright Forbes 2012

On one level, motivation is born of

How activities fit with a persons likes/dislikes/ideal
job critera and
How the job will help them progress towards their
long-term goal.
On another level, people strive for happiness. My
working theory of happiness, born out by deep analysis of a very sophisticated Harvard survey, is that
happiness is good. Actually, its three goods: Good
for others, good for me, good at it.
Good for others: This is about finding meaning
in the work (impact on others, match with values).
People that care about this want a share in shaping
the destiny of the firm (influence, being informed)
Good at it: This is about the match of activities
with strengths, and resources (support and time).
Over time, some people care about employability
(learning, development, resume builder)
Good for me: This is about near term pleasure
(enjoyable work/activities, fit with life interest).
Compensation is also a factor (monetary, non-monetary rewards, recognition, respect)
Advice for Interviewers
Heidrick & Struggles Kevin Kelly had some helpful
perspective on this. He told me that he likes to ask
two questions to get at motivation:
1) What gets you out of bed in the morning (other
than your alarm clock)?. This helps him get at
whats important to people now.
2) Talk about some of the most significant memories
you have had throughout your career and what it is
that got you through those times either good or bad.
This helps him get at patterns and trends.
Advice for Interviewees
Be ready to deal with concerns that you may be
over-qualified for the job. This requires an interview
judo response:
Im concerned that you may be over-qualified for this job.
I am if you want the organization to stay the way it
is. Youd be hiring me to take it to the next level. Im
not interested in the job the way it is. Im interested in
the job the way its going to be.

There Are Only Three True Job Interview Questions | 02

Preparing for Interviews

Interviewing for Fit

If youre the one doing the interviewing, get clear on what strengths,
motivational and fit insights youre looking for before you go into your
interviews.

To be clear, this is an attempt to make an inherently

complex and ambiguous subject simpler and more
straightforward. Its worth it because poor cultural
fit is the #1 stated reason for a new leaders failure.
(Of course, stated and actual dont always match. See
The top three excuses for onboarding failures.)
The fundamental questions and interviewer is
getting at around fit are:
1) Will the organization be better off with you in it
over time?
2) Will you change us for the better? (Will you be
good for us?)

If youre the one being interviewed, prepare by thinking through examples

that illustrate your strengths, what motivates you about the organization and
role youre interviewing for, and the fit between your own preferences and the
organizations Behaviors, Relationships, Attitudes, Values, and Environment
(BRAVE). But remember that interviews are exercises in solution selling. They
are not about you.
Think of the interview process as a chance for you to show your ability to solve
the organization and interviewers problem. Thats why you need to highlight
strengths in the areas most important to the interviewers, talk about how you
would be motivated by the roles challenges, and discuss why you would be a
BRAVE fit with the organizations culture.

Executive Onboarding
Once youve got the job, be sure to pay attention to executive onboarding, the
key to accelerating success and reducing risk in a new job.
This is a big part of step 1 of The New Leaders Playbook: Position Yourself for
Success
There are several components of this including positioning yourself for a
leadership role, selling before you buy, mapping and avoiding the most
common land mines, uncovering hidden risks in the organization, role, and
fit, and choosing the right approach for your transition type.

Copyright Forbes 2012

Brave Fit
The BRAVE framework may have applicability:
Behave:
The way people act, make decisions, control the
business, etc.
Relate:
The way people communicate with each other
(including mode, manner and frequency), engage in
intellectual debate, manage conflict, etc.
Attitude:
How people feel about the organizations purpose,
mission, vision, identify with the subgroup, group,
organization as a whole, etc.
Values:
Peoples underlying beliefs, approach to learning,
risk, time horizons, etc.
Environment:
The way people approach the work environment
in terms formality/informality of preferred office
layout, etc.
The suggested approach for an interviewer is to
assess the interviewees BRAVE preferences and then
line them up with the culture.
The suggested approach for the interviewee is to do
the same thing in reverse.
This is one area where no one should play any games.
Theres no upside for either the organization or the
interviewee to try to be something different than
what they are. They will get caught sooner or later.
And the later they get caught, the more painful it
will be since culture is the only truly sustainable
competitive advantage.

There Are Only Three True Job Interview Questions | 03