Share with me the major inflection points in your life

From Brad Smith of Intuit: Follow the Fastest Beat of Your Heart interview by Adam Bryant.

How do you hire?

I end up asking three questions, but after an icebreaker. I share my own story first, but the icebreaker is: “I want you and I to get to know each other. So in the next three minutes, I’d like you to take me from where you were born to where you are now, and share with me the major inflection points in your life that you think have helped form who you are today.”

After that, the first question I ask is, “Tell me about the area that your last boss and the one before that said, ‘This is your biggest opportunity for improvement.’ ” That’s really to see if they are willing to be vulnerable.

From there I’ll ask, “What is the single biggest professional business mistake you’ve made, and what was the lesson you took from that?” That’s intended to see if they’re a learner.

My last question is really designed to find out if there is a barrier to getting them to accept an offer from us. So I’ll say, “Why would you not join our company?” It helps me tease apart any concerns they might have, and whether those concerns are about the job or the company. So I’m able to learn in the process, too.