// Kick up the fire, and let the flames break loose.
8 Essential Interview Questions CEOs Swear By
1. Why Do You Really Want to Work Here Specifically?
1.1. What have you learned about our company beyond what you’ve read on the website?
1.2. What do you think you might be able to do that’s different from what we’re already doing?
1.3. Why is our company and this job the right next step in your professional and personal journey?
2. What Makes You Tick?
2.1. What shapes you as a leader and colleague?
2.2. What do you enjoy the most and the least in your current job?
2.3. How do you define professional fulfilment?
3. How Is Your Accountability and Determination?
3.1. What’s a hard problem you’ve faced, and how did you handle it?
3.2. What leadership muscles did you build or strengthen during the intense period of disruption caused by the pandemic?
3.3. How have you led change in previous roles?
4. How Hungry Are You to Learn and Build New Skills?
4.1. What idea, challenge, or question has captured your interest and is driving you to learn more about it now?
4.2. If your core expertise is your “major,” what is your professional “minor”? What interests you and why?
4.3. How do you want to be better at your job over the next two years? What will you do to achieve that?
5. Are You a Team Player?
5.1. What is your playbook for influencing people who don’t report to you?
5.2. What was the best and worst team you’ve worked on? What were the dynamics of each of them?
5.3 How do you deal with difficult interpersonal issues at work?
6. Are You Self-Aware?
6.1. What’s the most surprising negative feedback you’ve received, and what did you do about it?
6.2. What are your triggers, and how do you manage them?
6.3. How do you challenge your own assumptions?
7. Will You Thrive in Our Organization?
7.1. What did you like the most and least about previous organizational cultures where you worked?
7.2. How did you “merge into traffic” with a new organizational culture when you changed jobs in the past?
7.3. What are the lasting fingerprints you’ve left in previous companies where you’ve worked?
8. How Are Your Leadership Capabilities?
8.1. When you start with a new team, what do you tell the people are the three most important values to you as a leader, and why those values are important to you?
8.2. When you mentor and coach people, what are the most common themes that come up in those conversations?
8.3. How do you ensure that your teams operate like true teams?
