You’re sitting across from a candidate who looks great on paper:

• She went to a top school.
• Worked at a few impressive companies before interviewing with yours.
• She seems to say all the right things.

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But is she the right candidate for your company?

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There’s only one way to find out: you need to ask the right questions.

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Interviewing is more than asking where someone worked, or what they do for fun​
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Too many startups delegate the interviewing process to team members with little (or no) training on how to ask questions the right way.

And believe me, there is a right way and a wrong way to ask.

If you want my favorite interviewing guide, try out the Competency-Based Interviewing (CBI) framework. CBI is a way of structuring questions to determine if the candidate can actually do the job.

That means asking questions to identify:

• Outcomes
• Impact
• Relevant skills

Instead of asking a random assortment of questions that may or may not provide relevant answers, CBI guides you to ask for specific examples of when a candidate has used their skills or what they might do in a certain situation.
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What does that look like practically?
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Ask open-ended questions like “Tell me about a time when…”, “Give me an example of…”, or “Can you describe a situation where…” to encourage candidates to share detailed responses.

This enables you to see how candidates think and handle real-life situations — and not just what they say they can do.
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CBI is easier to implement than you’d think. Click below for the free guide!

I gave you a lot of theory, so let’s see what this all looks like in practice.

I just published a guide to implementing CBI specifically in startup interviews. Click the button below to read it and apply it to your interviews going forward.

Podcast Summaries Not enough time to listen? No problem! Find focused summaries of each episode’s key learning points on my podcast page. Take me there Startup HR Survival Guide Navigate the complexities of HR in the startup world. I’ve distilled over 15 years of experience to help you get HR right the first time. Get the guide ​

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