Posted by Theresa Bradley-Banta
During the process of doing some interviewing recently, an old tried but true interview question popped into my mind that I’d like to share with you. It’s useful in a variety of entrepreneurial settings.
People conceal things for the best and worst reasons – but one thing is certain, unless they are a complete sociopath, that one thing they do not want you to know about is at the forefront of their mind. They’re thinking along the lines of, “Please don’t let her ask me about this”, or, “What if I’m asked about this, how will I answer?”
Most people, I’ve found, will not tell an outright lie, however they are reluctant to volunteer things that might be detrimental to their cause.
The challenge as an interviewer is figuring out what that something might be.
Here’s the interview question… and, again, it works because the answer is already in the front of the interviewees mind. You simply ask, with an expectant expression, “Is there something I should have asked you that I haven’t asked?”
I owned a corporate recruiting business for almost a decade and I’ve interviewed thousands of candidates for jobs. Trust me, this interview question works. It is simply amazing what people will tell you when asked — they are almost compelled to answer because they’ve already thought about it so much.
I had a woman tell me the reason she had a six-month gap in employment was because she had been in rehab for a drug addiction, although she had been clean for the past three days.
I had a prospective tenant for a rental property tell me they had been evicted from their last house because they had trashed it.
I had a contractor tell me he has trouble getting out of bed in the morning and he never makes it to work on time.
You can use your own variations of the interview question, such as this one (a favorite with parents):
“Is there anything else you want to tell me?”
And, “Is there something I should know that I haven’t asked you?”
Or, “Is there anything else I should know about you?”
I’ve used these questions with contractors, employees, service providers such as realtors or house cleaners, babysitters, teachers, tenants in our properties, etc.
Also, let me point out, these questions work on both sides of the table. For example, as an interviewee for a job, you can close an interview by asking the interviewer a variation of this question. You may discover the job position is newly created and the company hasn’t fully committed to it yet. Or, you may find out the person vacating the job is on maternity leave and is likely to return, leaving you jobless.
Theresa Bradley-Banta, co-creator of www.bigfishtopdogs.com, is a musician, award winning graphic artist, mentor, coach, blogger, and owner of multiple businesses. You can follow her on twitter @bigfishtopdogs.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Theresa,
You shared that interview question with me in a conversation in Greeley in the early ’80′s. I’m glad to read that you still use it with effectiveness. I’ve used it on my sons who have in turn incriminated themselves. Good advice.
Ron.
Hi Ron – so glad to hear from you! I didn’t realize I used the question in my pre-headhunting days! Thanks for commenting, it’s so nice to connect! Theresa
Hi Theresa
I’ve used this question as part of the Friday Friends interview I do on Give A Brick from time to time. I’ve always had great answers but I’d never appreciated the ‘why’ behind this is such a great question.
Now I know, I’ll definitely be using it more so thank you
El x
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Hi El,
Thanks for stopping by! It’s great to meet you. I’ll check out your Friday Friends interviews on Give A Brick… I saw this on your blog but didn’t dig into it, will definitely do so now. Thanks for the comment El.
Theresa