• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Cornerstone International Group

Executive Search Firm

About Cornerstone

About Cornerstone

The Cornerstone Edge

AESC

Leadership Team

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Become a Partner

Play Video

Get to know Cornerstone

Retained Executive Search

Discover

Retained Executive Search

Assessments

Specializations

Consumer / FMCG

Industrial

Non-Profit

Finance & Private Equity

Life Science & Health

More...

Find an Office

North America

Latin America

Europe / Middle East

Asia

 Find an Office

 Find a Search Consultant

Coaching / Leadership Dev

Discover

Executive Coaching Services

Leadership Development

Board & CEO Advisory Services

Assessments

Find a Coach

News / Blog

News & Blog Posts

National Outlooks

Videos

Surveys

Press Releases

Popular Blog Topics

COVID-19

diversity

leadership development

Healthcare

executive search

executive coaching

women in business

Life Science

neuroscience

vitality quotient

Latest Blog Post

Asia’s Fast-Growing EV Market Will Disrupt Automotive Industry Recruitment

June 2, 2022
Contact
Blog Why This Executive Recruiter Asks Oddball Questions
Jan 22

Why This Executive Recruiter Asks Oddball Questions

Cornerstone International Group

Canmdidate interviews can start top look all the same
When all the candidates sound the same, try some oddball questions to see how they respond

 

Odd questions can open up candidate interviews in interesting ways.

As an executive recruiter,”What is the most obvious thing about me?”  is just one of the questions I might ask a candidate in an interview. I often ask others equally “off the wall”.

You may well wonder why. What could the candidate’s reply possibly have to do with the job he is interviewing for?

In fact, quite a lot. The interviewer is probing for functional fit, but he or she also wants to understand the mind of the candidate Not only can the single answer be illuminating, but the same answer asked to several candidates gives you a reference point for comparison among those seeking the job.

But what is it that I am really looking for?

Clearly, I am not very interested in the answer as such. I am much more interested in a) the time it takes for the candidate to actually answer the question and b) how he or she reacts emotionally to the question.

Let’s look a little deeper into a).

Length of time between posing the question and the actual answer is an indicator of how quickly the candidate thinks. It also shows how much he or she is actually “there”, or “in the moment”.

One of my favorite questions in this regard is “What do you procrastinate over?” Some (very few) candidates will quickly answer with a specific action or things they put off. Many will hum and haw about an answer.

An unexpected question will separate a candidate from his or her  prepared responses and give you something to evaluate
An unexpected question will separate a candidate from his or her prepared responses and give you something to evaluate

I can just see their mental machinery at work: what does he want to know? Is he trying to find my weaknesses? What could I say that does not incriminate me too much? Is there a hidden meaning to the question? Note that this question is quite different from the standard “name three weaknesses that you have” (to which most candidates have pat answers).

So back to the answers that candidates give. One candidate tells me, after a long thought process, that he will sometimes procrastinate on administrative things. Well, all right. He spoke. But has he answered the question? No. He has just given me a sweeping generality which tells me absolutely nothing. I had asked him specifically what he procrastinates with.

So I ask again. The clock is ticking. At last he comes out with something (this candidate is a salesman): he procrastinates with his expense reports. Well, good. That is not unusual among salespeople (who tend to hate administrative tasks that – they feel – keep them from selling). But how long did it take between asking the question and getting the actual answer? This tells us a little something about his mental machinery.

How about the candidate who continuously evades the answer? He tells me that there is nothing that he procrastinates with. In his position he has learned that if he procrastinates with things, they just get worse. Therefore he does everything immediately or as close to immediate as possible

Sound plausible? Maybe. Perhaps the candidate is in the logistics field. Leaving things open can cause catastrophe. So do I accept his answer? No. Note, that I asked him a very open question. The question was “What do you procrastinate with?” There is no limitation on where he might procrastinate with what. And there isn’t a human in the world that can convince me that he does not procrastinate with something at some point!

Sometimes you get quite surprising answers. I had one salesman tell me that he procrastinates in cold calling. He hates doing this and I certainly understand the sentiment. But this was a critical response. I was looking for a salesperson to bring a new product into the market; I needed a person who was prepared to knock on some doors!

I have had one candidate reply that he procrastinates with taking out the garbage. Others procrastinate with their income tax returns. These are all perfectly valid answers. They are specific. And if these answers come within a relatively short space of time then you have someone who can think on their feet, who is quick on the uptake.

This is a candidate you might want to consider more closely, regardless of whether he has the experience that you are looking for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

6
SHARES
LinkedinFacebookTweetShareEmailPrint

Filed Under: Blog

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

  • News
    • Blog
    • National Outlooks
    • Press Releases
    • Newsletters
    • Surveys
    • Articles of Interest
    • Whitepapers
    • Videos

Get Latest Posts and Stay Informed

Our thought leaders share their industry knowledge and expertise.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Recent News

  • PRESS RELEASE: Cornerstone International Group Recognized as a Global Leader in Executive Talent Search June 21, 2022
  • The Cornerstone Eagle – June 2022 – Impactful Leadership June 17, 2022
  • Asia’s Fast-Growing EV Market Will Disrupt Automotive Industry Recruitment June 2, 2022

News / Blog Archives

Footer

Areas of Specialization

  • by Industry
    • Life Science & Health
    • Financial Services PE & Family Office
    • Industrial
    • Consumer
    • Technology
    • Private Equity
    • Infrastructure & EPC
  • by Function
    • Board Directors & CEO
    • Human Resources
    • Finance and Legal
    • Agile Talent
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Operations & Supply Chain

Quick Browse

  • Find an Office
  • Find a Consultant
  • Find a Coach

Services

  • Retained Executive Search
  • Board & CEO Advisory
  • Executive Coaching

About Us

  • About Cornerstone
  • The Cornerstone Edge
  • Join Cornerstone

Switch Language

Connect with Cornerstone

Copyright © 2022 · Cornerstone International Group · Sitemap

Website Development by LimeCuda

Member-Only Portal