Bar Raising: Rapid Behavioral Job Interviews

Bar RaisingRapid Behavioral Interview

By Pablo Rodriguez Bertorello

Objective: Only Hire Agile Technical Geniuses

Only Hire People More Competent than the Average Employee

Trained executive conducts behavioral interviews

Before the team is interrupted for technical interviews in person

Rapid Truth Seeking

Interviewer: ask 1 question answer 1 question

“Un-answerable” question: Tell me of a time when you

caused your team to get through a failure

What is your biggest strength/weakness

10s of others…“Anyone who solved a hard problem does not forget how they did it”

–- Elon Musk

The Essential Virtue to Look for:“In Communication”

Did the candidate show up on/before the scheduled meeting time?

Did the candidate understand / re-create the question asked?

Did the candidate actually answer the question asked?

Did the candidate know about the job position, company, interviewer?

Vivid story: Situation, Task, Action, & Result

Some Failure Modes

All about himself, team/teamwork not in the picture

Rant, not in communication with the listener

Not clear how the result was a product of his actions

Lacks knowledge about company, product, interviewer

Outcome: Binary Decision

Three bullets of “post-rationalization”: Thoughtful specifics Guide future sourcing