Great interview questions that might help your professional development even if you’re not looking for a job.

My business partners and I have been spending time lately thinking about what works well and what doesn’t work well in IT recruiting we have a few ideas on how we might be able to create a better mousetrap. I think the process of how people look for jobs and how companies recruit is more broken than not. Interviews are one area that is mostly broken in my opinion. I think most companies are pretty OK in figuring out of the person they are speaking with has the base level of technical skills they need to get the job done. But it’s my experience that most people and companies don’t do a great job beyond that. I was reading an old Seth Godin blog recently that resonated with me.  

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/11/what-interview-questions-are-actually-trying-to-discover.html

 He listed a few questions that he thinks are important to explore in interviews.  I’ve recapped them here.

·         How long are you willing to keep pushing on a good project until you give up?

·         How hard is it to get you to change your mind when you're wrong?

·         How much do you learn from failing?

·         How long does it take you to learn something new?

·         How hard is it for you to let someone else take the lead?

·         How much do you care?

I love those questions especially when thinking about what makes a great IT pro or developer and intend to add them to my tool box. I encourage you to reflect on your personal answers to these questions even if you’re not in in the market for a job today. You might learn something about yourself that proves useful.