Top Down Interview
The deep dive into a candidates past.
The screening interview is a quick overview to get an understanding of the candidate and which allows you to quickly move on from anyone with glaring red flags. The top down interview is used to do a deep dive into a candidate’s past, and you should run through this set of questions for each job that they have had.
Top Down Interview
What were you hired to do?
- What accomplishments are you most proud of?
- What were some of the low points during that job?
- Who were the people you worked with specifically?
3A. What was your bosses name? How do you spell it? What was it like working with them? What will they tell me is your greatest strength and biggest area for improvement
3B. How would you rate the team you inherited on an A B C scale? What changes did you make? Did you hire or fire anyone? How would you rate the team you left on an A B C scale?
Why did you leave that job?
What were you hired to do?
This will give you insight into how the candidate views their previous jobs. You will find out what their mission was, key outcomes, and what competencies were relevant.
What accomplishments are you most proud of?
This is where you will hear about each bullet point that is on their resume. Ideally, the accomplishments will match the job description that you are trying to fill. If their accomplishments mirror the role you are looking to fill, then you are off to the races.
I would be wary if a candidate’s best accomplishments do not match what they were hired to do. A-players tend to talk more about outcomes linked to expectations, whereas B/C-players tend to talk more about people they met, or aspects of the job they liked, without going deep into any tangible results.
What were some of the low points during that job?
Everyone, and I mean everyone, has had low points during a career. Think about your last job and see if you can remember your lowest point. I know I absolutely can — I had six deals all fall through in one day. It is still heartbreaking to this day and taught me a lesson I’ll never forget. But I digress…If you and I both can, it means that the candidate you’re interviewing can too. If they try to get out of it do not let them. There is a good chance that this will be an uncomfortable push if they say that nothing ever went wrong, or give you a fluff answer. Dig into this to by rephrasing the question — What was your biggest mistake? Or how did peers outperform you?
Who were the people you worked with specifically?
A. What was your boss’ name? How do you spell it? What was it like working with them? What will they tell me is your greatest strength and biggest area for improvement
This question builds off of, and uses a similar technique as, one of the questions you ask during the screening interview. You get them to spell it so that they know you are going to call, so they should tell the truth.
You’re about to hear what a candidate is going to potentially say about you if you hired them. A-players will rarely talk poorly about a previous boss even if they were incompetent, therefore be wary of what type of answer you get here.
Back to strengths and weaknesses. Using the spell technique and the use of “will” instead of “would,” should get you viable answers here. If they cannot come up with improvements, continue to reframe the question until they can.
Side note — A candidate not working on something means they are not actively trying to do self-improvement. We all have deficiencies and it is extremely worrisome if they do not know what they are.
Who were the people you worked with specifically?
B. How would you rate the team you inherited on an A B C scale? What changes did you make? Did you hire or fire anyone? How would you rate the team you left on an A B C scale?
This is for managers specifically. It will give you insight into how they go about building a team, deal with low or high performers, and how quickly they make changes. It also gives you an idea of what will happen if they move on as well.
Why did you leave that job?
A-players are recruited or promoted to a new position. B/C players are pushed out. This is an extremely telling question, and you will need to dig around, because candidates that are pushed out traditionally give non-answers and evade the question.
Pro-tip — Do not start at the top and work your way backwards. Start from the beginning and work your way forward. Candidates will work through and get comfortable telling their life story and will be more willing to reveal entire truths.
What, How, & Tell Me More
As with all sections:
One of the reasons that sales is so important is that it is used in every facet of life. When a candidate gives you an answer here, start probing. What do you mean by that? How did that make you feel? Tell me more about that particular situation.
You can spend as much time or as little time during this process with the candidate, but if too many red flags are raised, feel free to end the process quickly.
Lucas is the founder of Spark xyz, platform management software for incubators, accelerators, Angel groups, and VC’s.
