Sample Interview Question Bank

As a rule of thumb, assume that every question should be followed up with “how?” and “why?”.
There are seldom right or wrong answers in an interview. The candidate’s tone, reasoning, and depth of their answers is where you’ll get the most signal.
Interviewing is not a perfect science. If you don’t feel like you’re getting a strong read from candidates based on a line of questioning, adjust the questioning.
If you don’t specifically know what you’re looking for in a role, you probably shouldn’t be interviewing candidates.
Biases are far more present in our thinking than we are aware. Be aware of your own.
Use interviews as a way to qualify candidates, not disqualify. Remind yourself of this before any interview.
Work Sessions are a great way to assess candidates, as well. Those are not covered in this document, but should be considered when building an interview process.
Interviews favor the confident. The most confident candidates do not necessarily make the best hires. Focus on what matters in the role, and listen for cues of humility, depth, knowledge, and resilience rather than seek a super-engaging, high-energy conversation.

[Softer Skillset/Values Fit Questions]

Tips:

Before integrating this into your interview, ensure you know what “Startup DNA” means for you and your team. Put it into words so there are no assumptions being made.
Measure how they’ve reacted to changing environments in the past. Their tone, resilience, and ability to understand reasoning they might not agree with will tell you a lot about how they’ll react to being in a changing startup environment.

Questions:

What are you looking to be doing in your next role? What are you hoping to not be doing? [And does this align with what we need at XXX?]
Given the size and stage of our team, this is an all-hands-on-deck environment when the needs arise. What does all-hands-on-deck look like to you? Is that something you’re open to? Excited about?
What would you hope to accomplish in the first 30/60/90 days of your time here? How would you expect to be spending your time to accomplish everything?