5 job interview questions for president

What would it be like if we treated presidential candidates like job applicants?

All of us have been on one or both sides of the job interview table. Odds are, you’ve heard the “Tell me about a time …” questions. What if we asked those behavioral interview questions of the people applying for the highest job in the land? Why not?

I’ve hired more than a hundred people over the years, and it always has come down to discerning between several good people. They are all qualified on paper, but who will be the right fit for the job and for the team? Who will “own” the work, take it to the next level, grow personally, and elevate the team?

When choosing our nation’s leader every four years, we have them “debate.” We put them on a stage and ask questions designed to have the candidates stake out their positions and contrast them to their opponents in the starkest terms.

I guess that helps voters get crystal clear about the divide (if we hadn’t grasped it already), but it leaves a sea of gray area in the middle. And isn’t the CEO’s job one of navigating that sea? How do we determine how these people will perform on the job, in real life?

What if we asked those “Tell me about a time …” questions?

STAR interview questions

The interview technique I have settled on is the STAR technique:

• Tell me a Situation or Task
• Tell me the Action YOU took
• Tell me the Results.

It’s often a challenge to get candidates to move from general statements to specific examples. But when I get them there, I learn so much more as they tell the story, put me in their shoes, help me see how they think, how they feel, what gives them joy and what freaks them out.

So when the job candidate says something like, “The Hispanics love me,” I would say, “Tell me a specific time when you worked with an Hispanic person on a project of mutual interest. What did you do, and what were the results?”

Or when the job candidate says, “I believe I deserve to be trusted, but have been dogged by witch hunts,” I would say, “Tell me about a time when you sensed that people did not trust you. What did you do to gain their trust? Did it work? What did you conclude from that situation?”

If any job candidate spent interview time tearing down other candidates, I would probably wrap it up pretty quick and put the resume in the Nice Rejection Letter pile.

The STAR interview system is so widespread, you can go online and find lists of STAR questions and how to answer them. But I’ve gotten best results by creating my own questions. I start by listing the essential characteristics and skills. I describe the ideal experience I’m looking for. Then I write questions to match.

STAR questions for job of President

So for the role of President, here are a few questions I would ask:

1. The President of the United States has been described as the most powerful job in the world. You have been in positions of power in the past. Describe a time when you used your power to accomplish a goal. What did you do to exercise that power? How did your use of your power shape the result? What did you learn about use of power?
2. Often, the President must bring people of differing opinions together to work out a solution that everyone can live with and that will improve the situation. Tell me about a time when you helped bring people of differing opinions together to solve a serious problem. What was your role? What did you do to facilitate the discussion? How did you overcome barriers to dialogue? What was the result? Looking back, would you do anything differently?
3. The President sometimes has to change direction because of unforeseen events or new information. Describe a time when you had to suddenly change priorities or redirect a project because of events or new discoveries. What did you do to reorient yourself to the new situation? What did you do to help others understand the need to change direction? How did you lead the change? What happened in the end? What do you think you gained from that experience?
4. The President must make difficult decisions in situations that do not have clear answers. Tell me about a time when you had to evaluate conflicting information from multiple sources, then make decisions based on that information. What did you do to analyze the information? What did you do about the conflicts? What decision did you make? How did it turn out?
5. The President works long hours, often seven days a week. This requires stamina and sustained clear-headedness. Tell me about a time when you were under extreme stress over a long period of time. What did you do to keep yourself engaged and focused throughout the episode? Were you able to keep a sustained focus? How did you feel about it afterward?

What questions would you ask? Please submit them in the Responses section (and click the heart if you liked this column — my FIRST on Medium!)