75+ Job Interview Questions for Startups To Hire the Right Fit
Use these 75+ job interview questions to hire the best talent for your startup. They’ll help you uncover a candidate’s passion, company fit, and more now:
If your job interview questions only rehash what’s in a candidate’s resume and cover letter, you’re doing it wrong.
Candidates know they have to do their homework to get hired at a startup. So they spend time researching your company and its mission, competitors, and future goals.
Shouldn’t you be doing the same for them?
To find the right talent as a startup, you must perform a bit of due diligence on your end and go beyond their job search documents. Check their LinkedIn and other social channels. Take a peek at their digital portfolio and GitHub.
And above all else, ask the right questions during your interviews.
This is your best opportunity to learn whether top talent will be the right fit for your company culture and current/future needs. Their answers will also help you determine whether they’ll complement your existing team.
So in today’s guide, you’ll find over 75 open-ended job interview questions to ask your candidates. They’ll encourage engaging conversation and help you uncover their personal and professional values, passions, and priorities.
75+ Job Interview Questions for Startups To Hire the Right Fit
You’ll find lots of standard job interview questions with a quick Google search.
But guess what?
Your candidates will be prepared to answer almost all of them.
So these job interview questions will help you assess whether your candidates have the top characteristics every startup hire should have. They’ll also show you how your potential hire thinks on their feet.
Add these questions to your list to gauge:
Company Fit
Hiring the right teammates is one of the best ways to help build culture at your startup. These questions will help you find your missing puzzle piece:
- Describe yourself in one word.
- How would you describe our startup?
- Why do you think you’re a good fit for our company?
- Why do you think our company is a good fit for you?
- How do you feel about our biggest competitors?
- Who comes first: you, your teammates, your boss, the company, our investors, or the customer? Why?
- What’s something unique you bring to the table that you think we need?
- What are your biggest concerns about joining our startup?
- Do you think about work when you’re off the clock? Why?
- How do you envision your first 30 days of working here?
- What part of our mission or values do you resonate with most?
Your employees shouldn’t be carbon copies of each other. Try to recruit a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives for a diverse and well-rounded team.
Passion
If your candidate isn’t passionate about your product or mission, there’s no way they’ll be able to weather the inevitable ups and downs of startup life. So use these questions to assess a candidate’s drive, motivation, and interests:
- Why do you want to work at a startup?
- What excites you most about our product?
- What don’t you like about our product?
- If you could have worked on any project in history, what would you have wanted to be a part of?
- Which founders, CEOs, or startups do you admire?
- What’s your biggest professional accomplishment?
- What part of your resume best describes you?
- Would you ever launch your own startup? Why or why not? What would it be?
- Can you give an example of a career goal you set and how you achieved it?
- What inspires you when you’re feeling unmotivated?
Passion takes more than wanting to work at one of the best UK startups changing the world. It takes genuine excitement and commitment. So bypass candidates who seem like they’re only interested in adding your company’s name to their resume.
Teamwork and Collaboration
It’s rare for startup employees to work solo in a silo. That’s why finding candidates comfortable with cross-collaboration is so essential. Use these questions to see if your interviewee works well with others:
- Do you perform better on your own or with a team? Why?
- What makes a team function smoothly?
- How have you dealt with a difficult coworker in the past?
- Do you like to delegate tasks, collaborate, or follow a leader?
- Describe a time when a team leader or supervisor asked you to do something you weren’t comfortable with.
- What’s the most challenging part about working with a team for you?
- What kinds of people do you enjoy/dislike working with?
- Have you ever had to tell a teammate that their idea wasn’t feasible? Have you ever had to say “no” to a leader? How did these go?
- Can you describe a time you had to go along with an idea you didn’t like?
- Can you be 100% onboard with leaders or decisions you disagree with?
- What did you do when you were in a situation requiring an immediate decision but could not reach a leader?
- Has a boss or team leader ever treated you unfairly? What happened, and how did you handle it?
Take note of whether you and your candidate agree on what defines a difficult teammate or unfair situation. Aim for a mix of natural-born leaders and productive followers for successful team-building.
Work Style, Resourcefulness, and Accountability
Startups are all about doing more with less. So candidates should display strong resourcefulness skills and know how to hold themselves accountable. You should also try to gauge whether a candidate’s work style will mesh with the rest of the team.
Use these questions on your quest:
- What traits do you think someone in this position should have? Which ones do you possess?
- How would you make the biggest impact at our startup?
- How do you hold yourself accountable for deliverables?
- How do you feel about working with tight deadlines?
- Do you work better in a more structured or laid-back environment?
- Do you prefer working remotely or in-house?
- What was your favorite/least favorite part about your last/current job?
- What’s one thing you absolutely need to do your job well?
- Tell us about a time you delivered something awesome with very little (money, resources, time, help, etc.).
- Tell us about a time you went above and beyond your job description.
- Have you ever made a bad decision? What would you change if you had to do it again?
Throw in a few job-specific questions here too. After all, the traits someone needs to build a pitch deck aren’t the same as what someone would need to code your new app.
Intellectual Curiosity and a Constant Desire To Learn
Intellectual curiosity is one of the top characteristics every startup hire should have. It’s what separates people who love to learn from those who think they know everything.
Use these questions to find the former:
- What do you like to do in your free time?
- What was the last book you enjoyed reading? Why?
- What new ideas would you implement in this position?
- What’s one piece of advice or motto you live by?
- What special talent have you always wanted to cultivate?
- What’s a new skill you learned within the last year?
- Do you rely more on your natural talents/gifts/abilities or your work ethic/drive?
- Do you think it’s better to be superb at one thing or pretty good at many things?
- Do you plan to continue your education while working here?
- Do you have a mentor or career coach? Do you want one?
- What’s the biggest mistake you’ve learned from?
- What’s one thing you would have done differently in your professional career?
- What’s the best idea that’s ever come to you?
- When you’re confused by a request, how do you gain clarity?
- What do you hope to learn by working here?
- What’s the first thing you do when faced with an obstacle?
- Describe a time in your professional life when you took a chance on one of your hunches. How did it work out?
Always put forward-thinking candidates at the top of your list. Their eagerness to pick up new skills and focus on self-improvement will add tons of value to your organization. They’ll soon become your best creative problem solvers.
Flexibility, Adaptability, and the Ability to Thrive In Uncertainty
Change is constant when working at a startup. Employees are often testing theories and protocols for the first time. They must be flexible and learn how to adapt to new data.
So use these questions to see how well candidates thrive in uncertain waters:
- How did you feel about the protocols at your last job? Did they guide or hinder your progress?
- How often did policies or priorities change in your last role? How did changes make you feel? Please give an example of how you adapted.
- Are you comfortable establishing and iterating new procedures or policy updates?
- How do you prioritize your day and tasks? If an urgent situation arises, how does that affect your plans?
- How do you deal with multiple projects at once? How do you know when your plate is too full for you to give 100%?
- Let’s say you’ve been working on a project for two weeks, and your supervisor says you need to overhaul the whole thing from scratch. How would you respond? What’s the first thing you’d do?
- Are you comfortable performing tasks outside of your job description?
- Describe a time when you had to think outside of the box. How did it go?
If your candidate prefers to stay in their lane and doesn’t do well with curveballs on the fly, keep looking. They may be in over their head at your startup.
Resilience and Positivity In the Face of Adversity
Let’s be honest: startup life is more like finding your way out of a storm than smooth sailing on a clear day. You need employees who stay positive and motivated during the lows (bonus points if they can spread this around to your team).
These questions will help you determine a candidate’s resilience:
- Please describe a time in your career when things didn’t work out as planned. What went wrong, how did you react/feel, and what steps did you take to overcome the problem? What were the results?
- What makes you uncomfortable or stressed at work?
- How do you cope with stress?
- How do you help others who may be stressed?
- How do you know when you’re on the verge of burnout?
- Have you ever given up on an idea or project?
- Please describe a time when your perseverance has paid off.
- How do you combat toxic positivity?
- How do you react to cynical coworkers or passive-aggressive behavior?
Candidates don’t have to exude rainbows and sunshine to nail this part of their interview. But they have to know how to keep their head above water (and help their coworkers do the same) when times get tough.
Now That You Have the Best Job Interview Questions, Let’s Get Some Candidates for Your Startup To Meet!
Asking the right job interview questions is one of the best hiring tips for startups. But your team of interviewers must listen for thoughtful questions from candidates too.
In the candidate-driven market we’re currently in, you have to show potential hires why they’ll be happy at your company. What’s in it for them? What does your team offer that other employers can’t?
Use your job ads to attract the best talent, then follow up with an engaging interview that lets both parties learn if they’re a match. That’s how you build the best teams to launch a successful startup or take yours to the next level.
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