Three Awesome Job Interview Questions

What if there were three simple questions that you could ask over and over to get to the core of someone's work ethic, motivation and values? Would you ask them when you were interviewing someone?

By crikey, I bet you would. I know I would. However, usually when you read promises like that, they don't deliver. It is like following the 'one weird tip' to lose 500kgs in two minutes: all talk and no trousers.

So when I followed a LinkedIn post link promising just that, I wasn't hopeful. However, I was wrong. John Younger, founder of US cloud recruiting firm Accolo, has indeed created a formula of three questions that work to give you real insight into an applicant's reasons for their actions. The questions are:

1. How did you find out about the job?
2. What did you like about the job before you started?
3. Why did you leave?

In one fell swoop you find out how good the candidate is at networking, how accurate their foresight is and what makes them disconnect. You find out whether they use referrals, if they listen to their instincts, how they tackle problems and how well they know themselves.

Pretty powerful stuff.

• Reference: Haden, Jeff (18 July 2012). 3 Interview Questions That Reveal Everything. Retrieved 22 September 2013 from http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/3-interview-questions-that-reveal-everything.html?goback=%2Egde_136850_member_274814631#%21

Sam