INTERVIEW STRUCTURE & QUESTION GUIDE

Lou Adler’s Behavioral Interview Questions

Lou Adler, recruiting guru, believes the four most important predictors of success (which can be
evaluated via behavioral/experiential questions) are:

1. Self-Motivation/Drive
2. Team Leadership - ability to persuade, motivate, and energize others (as well as cooperate)
3. Track record of accomplishments similar/comparable to the objectives we need to meet
4. Thinking/planning/problem solving - questions include how to solve a problem they'll encounter
on the job
PLEASE USE THE ‘GREENHOUSE SCORECARD’ TO GUIDE PREPARATION FOR EACH CANDIDATE.

FIRST: do a comprehensive work-history review

• why they took the jobs they did

• their major accomplishments at each position
• about the team they worked with
• the recognition they received
• why they left each role

HR will complete a comprehensive work-history review of each candidate via phone interview but it
may be necessary to follow-up. See the candidate’s SCORECARD for suggestions.

NEXT: use the Two-Question Interview process to assess the four main areas listed above

Start with a Major Accomplishment Question, followed by a 360 Degree Deep Dive. You can ask this
line of questioning a couple more times about other significant projects. Go through the process again.
Then review your "make or break items" to be sure that the answers the candidate gave were covered.

Question 1: “Of all the things you've accomplished in your career, what stands out as most significant?”

Deep Dive:
• What were the 3 or 4 biggest challenges you had to overcome?
• What were the actual results obtained?
• When did this take place and at what company?
• How long to complete?
• What was the situation you faced when you took on the project?
• Why were you chosen for the role?
• Who was on your team?

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• What was your supervisor's title?

• What technical skills were needed to accomplish the task? What skills did you learn?
• Describe the planning process, your role in it, and whether the plan was met.
• Provide details of what went wrong and how you overcame them.
• What was your actual role in the project?
• Give me three examples of where you took initiative on the project. Why?
• What were the biggest changes or improvements from them?
• What was the toughest decision you had to make? How did you make it? Was it the right
decision? Would you make it differently if you could?
• Describe the environment, the pace, the resources available, your boss, and the level of
professionalism.
• What was the biggest conflict you faced? What/who was it with and how did you resolve it?
• Give me some examples of helping or coaching others.
• Give me some examples of where you really had to influence or persuade others to change their
opinion.
• How did you personally grow or change as a result of this effort?
• What did you like the most and least?
• What type of recognition did you receive for this project? Was it appropriate in your mind?

* Reminder - ask this line of questioning a couple more times about other significant projects. Go
through the process again. Then review your "make or break items” and THE SCORECARD.

You can also ask a variation of the question for job-related accomplishments:

“One important project or objective for us is_____ Can you please describe something you've
been involved with/accomplished that's most comparable?”

and/or

“An important objective of this position is _____. If you were to get the job what additional
information would you need to know, and how would you go about accomplishing the
objective?”

Question 2 - Problem Solving Question

“If you were to get this job, how would you go about solving ____________?” [Describe a
typical problem here. And then as far as possible, without sharing confidential or protected
information, let this be a give and take conversation, allow questions, and supply information,
even if it needs to be hypothetical]

Afterwards assess the conversation:

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1. Evidence of reasoning?
2. Focus of response was technical, tactical, or strategic?
3. Emphasis on team or individual efforts?
4. Was the conversation multifunctional in perspective (thinking about cross-functional impact?)
5. Evaluate their ability to answer both factual/history based questions and visualization

Follow up Self-Evaluation Questions

1. What is your greatest strength? (Keep in mind: Ask them to ground strengths in specific
examples; strengths may not match what you need)
2. Where do you see yourself in five years?
3. What makes you stand out among your peers?
4. What is your stretch area - skill you have been working on developing?
5. What do you think you are known for in your current or previous role?

Important to remember:
• Whenever they are using too many adjectives about themselves, ask them to ground in the
specifics.
• Ask followup questions any time the candidate speaks in generalities
• Make sure you really understand the nature of their accomplishments; ask for clarification if you
don’t understand something
• COMPARE YOUR NOTES TO THE SCORECARD TO ENSURE YOU’VE COVERED EVERYTHING!

References:
Hiring With Your Head – Lou Adler
96 Great interview Questions to Ask Before you Hire – Paul Falcone

Need more support? Watch Lou Adler’s LinkedIn training on ‘Performance-Based Hiring’!