50 Startup Interview Questions to Hire a Great Team
Picking a team can make or break any startup. Since employers will be spending every day working with their team, it is critical to ask the right questions during an interview to get to know the strength, weakness, value, work ethics, creativity, and how the individual work through a challenge. Interviewers should strive to ask both common interview questions and unique questions related to startups, since both are important for finding well-balanced employees. One new platform called mata by Saffron, now allows you to easily book on-demand services and receive quick and quality deliverables at an affordable price every time. There is no need to search on different websites for that perfect employee you are trying to find. This will make the interviewing process much easier and allows you to purchase one-off products that are guaranteed to suit your needs!
Keep in mind that each answer that candidates provide says a lot about who they are as a worker and as a person. If a startup thrives on creativity, thinking outside the box, and taking risks, then it wouldn’t make sense to select a candidate that answers all the interview questions with similar answers as everyone else. This type of startup should ask more interesting interview questions to find someone who thinks right on the spot and thrives at generating creative and unique ideas. They should pay particular attention to how candidates respond to the question – “What do you know about our company?” The best interview questions will showcase their ability to go above and beyond, solve challenging problems, and help take a small business to the next level.
Another aspect that a startup might desire is a candidate that can work well in a team and get along with other people. Therefore, some interview questions should gear towards getting to know how well they work with people in the past and how good they are in collaborations during meetings. Businesses should focus on asking ‘share questions,’ which would provide insight on their communication skills, as well as questions about what work environment they thrive in.
With all this in mind, here are the 50 top interviewing questions to ask in order to get the best startup candidate.
Popular Interview Questions
Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?
How did you hear about this position?
Why do you want this job?
Why should we hire you?
What superpower do you have that can help this company?
What is your weakness?
What did you want to know about our company?
What is the best thing that you did last year?
What would you have done differently in your previous role?
What mistakes have you made in the past, and how did you rectify it?
Culture Interview Questions
What is the most meaningful gift you bought or made for someone?
How do you spend your time outside of work?
Work Environment Interview Questions
If your supervisor and CEO tell you two different things of how to approach your project, how do you resolve it?
How do you stay on task when you’re extremely busy?
If you have the freedom to create your own job, what would it look like?
If you have been working on a project for a long time, and you were informed by your supervisor that requirements have changed, what would you do?
What would discourage you from working here?
Have you worked in a distributor team before?
What is your favorite work environment?
What is your typical 9 AM to 5 PM workday like?
Would you rather work in a team or individually?
If you open your own business, what kind of business would you open?
Were there any uncomfortable experiences that your manager had asked you to do?
What company would you love to work for?
If you have to complete a one month project in 72 hours, how would you convince a team of people to work with you?
Startup and Tech Company Interview Questions
What type of websites interest you?
Why do you want to work at a startup?
What product would you build for yourself?
What are your five favorite apps?
Who are our five biggest competitors?
What is it about our industry that interest you?
Where do you see our industry going in the next five years?
Explain to me what you know about the Internet in layman’s terms.
Personality Interview Questions
Would you rather be a jack of all trades or an expert at one thing?
Do you consider yourself a smart or hard-working person? What are your powers?
What is the craziest thing that you have done?
What gets you excited about the future?
Should you seek permission or ask for forgiveness?
What are you passionate about?
What are you learning right now?
What challenges are you working through?
What did your last manager say was the area that you need to improve upon?
What is the most significant accomplishment in your life?
Have you done something big when it wasn’t your responsibility?
Unique Interview Questions
Tell me a joke.
Would you rather fight 10 duck sized bear or a bear size duck?
How would you growth hack a city?
If you were the CEO, what changes would you make to our company?
How would you describe the color red to a blind person?
I don’t think you’re the perfect fit for this role. Why do you think you’re the best candidate?
Related: What Is the Average Equity for Startup Employees?
Questions to Avoid Asking Candidates
Discrimination is one of the significant ethical reasons for companies getting sued. Therefore, it is not a good idea to ask certain questions during a job interview.
For example, employers should avoid asking candidates about their age, gender, race, ethnicity, color, country of birthplace or origin, disability, religion, pregnancy, or marital/family status. All of these questions can indicate racial, sexual, or any type of discrimination.
If a candidate really wants the position but isn’t able to get it because of the lack of experience, they might find a way to secure the position through unethical means. If the employer has asked any of these illegal job interview questions, the candidate can bring it up to a lawyer and claimed that it’s a discriminatory interview question. This could potentially checkmate the employer into hiring this candidate so that the discriminatory case doesn’t get to trial.
After all, companies will do whatever they can to avoid legal issues or to waste money on matters that they can avoid.
Related: Should You Hire a Business Startup Consultant?
Conclusion
When it comes to a startup, it’s the right group of individuals that form together and collaborate to make any business adventure move smoothly and efficiently. The most sought after quality in a startup team is creativity, problem-solving, excellent teamwork abilities, leadership experience, and perseverance. In order to see which individuals have these qualities, it’s vital to ask the right interview questions and to carefully analyze the candidates’ responses. It’s a good idea to record the interview so the teams can go back and look at it.
At the end of the day, everyone wants to hire the right team to help the startup shoot for the sky.
Related: How to Obtain Private Investors for Startups
