I was reading an article about the best job interview question of all time. It was written by Lou Adler, who wrote ‘Hire with your Head’. I said to myself that there can’t be a single question. Then, I learnt that this question was only a setup question that led to further probing by the interviewer. I have to say that it is brilliant. It can either lead the interviewee to show themselves off as being the best or else into a trap.
To use his own words. He went ‘on a quest for the single best interview question that would allow me to overcome any incorrect assessment with actual evidence.’
It took about 10 years of trial and error. Then he finally hit upon one question that did it all.
Here it is:
"What single project or task would you consider the most significant accomplishment in your career so far?"
To see why this simple question is so powerful, imagine you’re the candidate and I’ve just asked you this question. You have to think for a moment. If you haven’t already thought of your accomplishments, you suddenly have to. And if you have, then you have to choose one that shows you off as being the best. What accomplishment would you select? Then imagine over the course of the next 15-20 minutes I dug deeper and asked you about the following. How would you react? Would you squirm in your seat or would you elaborate with confidence?
- Can you give me a detailed overview of the accomplishment?
- Tell me about the company, your title, your position, your role, and the team involved.
- What were the actual results achieved?
- When did it take place and how long did the project take.
- Why you were chosen?
- What were the 3-4 biggest challenges you faced and how did you deal with them?
- Where did you go the extra mile or take the initiative?
- Walk me through the plan, how you managed it, and if it was successful.
- Describe the environment and resources.
- Describe your manager’s style and whether you liked it or not.
- Describe the technical skills needed to accomplish the objective and how they were used.
- Some of the biggest mistakes you made.
- Aspects of the project you truly enjoyed.
- Aspects you didn’t especially care about and how you handled them.
- How you managed and influenced others, with lots of examples.
- How you were managed, coached, and influenced by others, with lots of examples.
- How you changed and grew as a person.
- What you would do differently if you could do it again.
- What type of formal recognition did your receive?
If the accomplishment was comparable to a job requirement in the job (s)he is being interview for, and if the answer was detailed enough to take 15-20 minutes to develop, consider how much an interviewer would know about their ability to handle the job. The insight gained from this type of question would be remarkable.
But the real issue is not the question, as I said earlier this is just a setup. The details underlying the accomplishment are what are most important. This is what real interviewing is about – getting into the details and comparing what the candidate has accomplished in comparison to what needs to be accomplished.
Don’t waste time asking a lot of clever questions during the interview, or box checking their skills and experiences: spend time learning to get the answer to just this one question.
As you’ll discover you’ll then have all of the information to prove to other interviewers that their assessments were biased, superficial, emotional, too technical, intuitive or based on whether they liked the candidate or not. Getting the answer to this one question is important. If you like the answers to this question, then you can check their ‘fit’ with your organisation, their skills, academic achievements, etc.