The best person in the room

After hundreds of interviews, I’ve found three questions get great answers from candidates.

Sam Dunn
Sam Dunn
Aug 8, 2017 · 3 min read

I only ask three questions at interviews now:

  1. “What are you typically the best person in the room at?”
  2. “What are you the go-to person for today?”
  3. “What do you want to become the go-to person for?”

“What are you typically the best person in the room at?”

Have an ego for a moment. Don’t just say “sales”, “marketing”, or whatever industry you’re in. “Problem solving” and “ideas” are equally vague and need further qualification.

What is a good response to this question? The more specific, the better:

  • Steering a conversation.
  • Prototyping designs quickly.
  • De-escalating a situation.
  • Seeing a problem before others do.
  • Getting the first meeting.
  • Relentless follow up.
  • Explaining a technical concept.

This question helps boost confidence. The candidate has to look at themselves and realize they have a differentiator. There’s enthusiasm and if you’re lucky, you see a glimmer of what makes them passionate.

The best answer I’ve ever heard? Someone who worked with Rupert Murdoch said he “always knows what 3 out of 5 people in a room will like.”

“What are you the go-to person for today?”

Do your colleagues trust you with the thing you think you’re good at? What problems are your colleagues most likely to bring you? What questions are they most likely to ask you?

This follow up helps encourage people to be more specific with their answer to the “best in the room” question. It also gives a glimpse at how the candidate views their coworkers.

“What do you want to become the go-to person for?”

When your industry colleagues talk about you, what do you want to be known for? “This is the best person in Boston to bring in if you need (insert specific problem) solved.”

Ask the “go-to person” question to establish how someone sees success in terms of career growth, detached from a job title.

  • I want to be the person that gets brought in for mobile app redesigns.
  • I want to be the person you send to close the big enterprise deals.
  • I want to be the person that drives the onboarding for new employees.
  • I want to be the person you throw at data to see what matters.

Tours of Duty by Reid Hoffman is an excellent way to look at career advancement as a series of checkpoints rather than a marathon.

Don’t wait to be asked — brand yourself

Proactively volunteer your specialty. Place yourself in an organization as someone that can be applied to a problem, not just a department.

Clarity around speciality also gives a powerful addition to the first day introductions: “This is Morgan, who just joined sales — she’s really good at email.”

I tend to be the best person in the room at phrasing. My emails have higher than average open and response rates. I’m able to help folks with questions related to objection handling, emails that don’t get responses, or marketing copy.

My weakest? Follow up. I really have to force myself to keep momentum and stay top of mind with next steps. Unchecked, this can hurt my strength, which is why it’s important to keep yourself honest and identify both ends of the spectrum.

Remember, you’re bad at more things than you’re good at! Help people around you fast forward to your strengths.


Since you already know what questions to expect — we’re hiring at Robin! Help us build software to power workplaces of the future. robinpowered.com

Sam Dunn

Written by

Sam Dunn

Working on workplace as CEO & Co-Founder of @robinpowered

Robin Powered

Modernizing the open office. https://robinpowered.com

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