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Ask HN: How do you determine leadership qualities in an interview?

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Ask HN: How do you determine leadership qualities in an interview?

#1

Post by PericlesTheo »

Usually, in behavioural questions, a candidate is asked about a time that x happened and how they reacted in order, or when they led a project in order to quantify leadership qualities.

Unless the candidate is really unprepared, most people would have read about these sort of questions and come up with some template answers. Now, it's up to the interviewer to ask further questions to get a better understanding but I'm wondering if people approach this in a different way.

As a side note, leadership qualities in my mind have nothing to do with seniority.

Re: Ask HN: How do you determine leadership qualities in an interview?

#3

Post by newen »

Amazon literally lists out the leadership qualities they look for and asks people to prepare for them. You prepare for them, tell the story, and they don't bother with follow-up questions most of the time.

I find behavioral questions to be bs anyway, since how someone presents themselves during an interview and their day to day behavior can be very different. Atleast here, you do your preparation, spit out your story, and you're done. Slightly less bs way to interview for personality qualities.

Re: Ask HN: How do you determine leadership qualities in an interview?

#4

Post by sethammons »

I've never tried this, and it probably would not work. I don't think I'd even attempt it. However! A trick to detect a lie or fabrication is to have someone go through something in reverse chronological order. People usually have trouble constructing a false narrative in reverse.

Re: Ask HN: How do you determine leadership qualities in an interview?

#5

Post by PericlesTheo »

newen wrote: post #3

Amazon literally lists out the leadership qualities they look for and asks people to prepare for them. You prepare for them, tell the story, and they don't bother with follow-up questions most of the time. I find behavioral questions to be bs anyway, since how someone presents themselves during an interview and their day to day behavior can be very different. Atleast here, you do your preparation, spit out your story…

Interesting, are the leadership qualities list public to have a look?

Re: Ask HN: How do you determine leadership qualities in an interview?

#6

Post by anotheryou »

PericlesTheo wrote: post #5
newen wrote: post #3

Amazon literally lists out the leadership qualities they look for and asks people to prepare for them. You prepare for them, tell the story, and they don't bother with follow-up questions most of the time. I find behavioral questions to be bs anyway, since how someone presents themselves during an interview and their day to day behavior can be very different. Atleast here, you do your preparation, spit out your story…

Interesting, are the leadership qualities list public to have a look?

I guess it's this one: https://www.amazon.jobs/en/principles

Re: Ask HN: How do you determine leadership qualities in an interview?

#7

Post by comprev »

sethammons wrote: post #4

I've never tried this, and it probably would not work. I don't think I'd even attempt it. However! A trick to detect a lie or fabrication is to have someone go through something in reverse chronological order. People usually have trouble constructing a false narrative in reverse.

Common police tactic to test the authenticity of a witness/suspect's story. Another tactic is to leave the topic for a while - go completely off course - and then ask the candidate to write it down in front of them. The act of writing, instead of speaking, adds to the difficulty if the story is false.

Re: Ask HN: How do you determine leadership qualities in an interview?

#8

Post by anotheryou »

I think I do a good job, but coming up with a nice story is difficult.

Success stories are short: you intervened early, spoke to the parties involved, made a plan everyone could agree on and moved on.

The interesting stories often only have OK-ish endings: You are facing extreme issues that are not under your direct control and you somehow keep things working (bad hires, dis-functioning external teams, legacy code falling apart from all ends, bad higher management).

And than there are non-issues you tackled early enough. E.g.: Newly established workflows and documentation between departments, getting you a compliment once and there might be less conflicts and pressure now, but it's hard to quantify.

Maybe good questions would be (answers I'd like to hear in brackets):

How and when do you...

- criticize (reviewing work, in a constructive manner)

- praise (frequent and honest praise, but no participation trophies)

- get involved in a grudge between team members (pro-actively, in private)

- escalate to higher ups (as a last resort and for serious violations)

- talk to individuals about work related, but not directly task-related things (one on ones, actively checking on those you don't communicate with often)

- encourage autonomy (take risks, keep pushing, give feedback)

- Do you approach different people in different ways? If so, make 1-2 examples. (adjusted level of politeness and formality when communication with other cultures (I'm German, we really have to change gears depending on who's on the other line), adjust how much guidance is needed when giving tasks, don't be racist/sexist/etc.)

- And to include something less people focused: When and how do decide to get a 2nd opinion? (acknowledge when you are out of your depth, do research, learn and ask others)

Re: Ask HN: How do you determine leadership qualities in an interview?

#10

Post by leaky_valve »

anotheryou wrote: post #8

I think I do a good job, but coming up with a nice story is difficult. Success stories are short: you intervened early, spoke to the parties involved, made a plan everyone could agree on and moved on. The interesting stories often only have OK-ish endings: You are facing extreme issues that are not under your direct control and you somehow keep things working (bad hires, dis-functioning external teams, legacy code fa…

I think it's just absurd to believe you can get to know someone within 60 - 90 minutes. A good liar/imposter can fool people for years. That's why you always ask for references and cross check stories.
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