The Most Important Interview Question You Can Ask

I love and hate recruiting.

I love it because you can’t beat the thrill of finding a fantastic candidate who you are excited about working with. Especially when they accept your offer, join your company, and exceed every expectation you had for them. Finding great people to join your team is one of the most rewarding moments of running a company.

But I hate it because you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince or princess. And also because resumes don’t mean much. If I had a dime for every time I got excited by a resume only to be disappointed during the interview process…Let’s just say recruiting is requires patience and leave it at that.

I am a big believer in following the same process and asking the same questions for all candidates, specific to the role. Over time this helps you spot good ones and weed out the weaker ones faster. If every interview is different than the last, its hard to compare and contrast candidates.

No matter what role I am interviewing for, and what I have already asked, I have one question that I ask everyone at the end of the final round of interviews. When a candidate has made it through all the hoops and I think I am ready to make them an offer, I end the final interview with:

“Is there anything else you need to tell me?”

Or, just as good: “What else should I know about you?”

And then, I stay silent for as long as I need to.

Sometimes, the candidate will say, “Nope, I think we’ve covered it all”. That’s fine.

Sometimes the candidate will launch into a long explanation of why they want to work there. Why the role is their dream job. Why they are perfect for your company. When you get a heartfelt answer, it’s always great.

And sometimes, the candidate will tell me something that they omitted. That they really didn’t leave the last job for growth opportunities, but they were actually let go for performance. That they just broke up with their girlfriend and are thinking of moving out of state. That this role isn’t exactly appealing to them, but they are eager to work for the company so they decided to apply anyway.

I have heard all of the above answers when I have asked “Is there anything else you need to tell me?” (and some crazier answers that I will leave out of this blog post in order to protect the innocent).

You will be surprised what people will share when you ask what else you need to know about them. Sometimes the confessional includes material information and sometimes it doesn’t. Either way, asking it is an important part of the final stages of the interview process and shows a different aspect of the candidate.