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The Interview Questions That Actually Work · The Science of Leading

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  Heyyy, welcome back to The Science of Leading.
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  I'm Claire Monroe-and sitting across from me is the ever-wise Edwin Carrington.
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  Edwin, I wanna jump right in-'Cause honestly?
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  Hiring mistakes... they're one of those things you don't really get until
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  you've been through the pain yourself.
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  You've worked with,
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  sooo many orgs over the years.
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  Do you have a real story-like,
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  when a bad hire really, I dunno,
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  blew things up?
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  Oh, definitely.
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  One comes to mind right away.
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  I was working with a mid-sized logistics
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  company-this was maybe ten years back.
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  They brought in this new operations manager.
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  He looked like a dream hire.
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  Strong background, glowing references.
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  But a few months in?
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  Total chaos.
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  Productivity dipped,
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  turnover went up, and the whole strategy kind of... just stalled.
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  Now-this
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  person wasn't bad at their job.
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  But the fit?
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  Wasn't there.
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  The way they gave feedback,
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  the way they communicated-it clashed with the team's rhythm.
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  It took almost
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  a full year to recover from that decision.
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  Yeah... I so get that.
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  It's weird,
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  right?
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  You think if someone's got the right background,
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  they'll just... slot in.
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  But nope...Back when I led my first project team-I
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  hired someone who, like, on paper,
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  looked solid.
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  But the group vibe?
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  Off.
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  Meetings got awkward... people stopped speaking up...And I remember-I
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  literally started dreading work.
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  It's wild how one person can shift the
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  energy of a whole team.
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  Exactly.
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  And yet-most companies are still using the same tired interview questions.
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  You
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  know: "Tell me about yourself." "What are your strengths and weaknesses?"We've
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  had decades of research showing those don't actually predict success.
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  But
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  old habits stick.
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  There's comfort in the familiar-even if it's not working.
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  Yeah,
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  why is that?
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  I mean... we know better.
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  There's all this evidence out there-and still,
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  people fall back on surface-level stuff.
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  Is it just,
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  like... inertia?
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  Or is there more to it?
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  Some of it's inertia,
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  sure.
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  But some of it is fear.
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  Because going deeper-asking the real questions-it
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  means facing answers you might not know how to handle.
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  And people worry:
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  "What if the candidate shuts down?
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  What if I say the wrong thing?"But the truth is... the cost of not asking
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  those deeper questions?
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  It's way higher.
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  It's not just about dollars.
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  It's
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  about momentum.
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  Morale.
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  Even your reputation as a leader.
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  Okay-so let's get into the good stuff.
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  Like,
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  what are the questions that actually work?
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  I know you and the OAD team
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  are big on behavioral interviews.
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  What are these five magic questions I
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  keep hearing about?
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  Right.
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  The core idea is-go beyond the resume.
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  These five questions dig into how
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  someone operates under pressure,
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  how they handle feedback, and whether they'll thrive in your environment.
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  They're
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  things like:"Tell me about a time you had to adapt quickly to a major
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  change."Or... "Describe a situation where you got tough feedback-how'd you
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  respond?"What you're looking for is patterns.
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  Not polished answers-but real behavior.
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  I love that.'Cause honestly,
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  anyone can fake their way through the usual questions.
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  But when you're
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  asking about real-life moments?
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  You see how they think.
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  How do these questions help you spot stuff like,
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  I dunno-adaptability?
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  Coachability?
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  It's in the details.
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  With adaptability,
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  you're listening for whether they resisted the change-or leaned in and
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  figured things out.
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  With coachability,
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  it's whether they took feedback in stride-or got defensive.
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  And you'll
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  hear it.
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  Do they blame others?
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  Or do they own their mistakes and grow?
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  Okay but-what about culture fit?
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  That
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  one always feels like... a moving target.
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  What does a poor fit actually look
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  like, like... day-to-day?
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  It's subtle,
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  but constant.
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  Imagine someone used to a strict,
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  top-down structure-and now they're in a team that thrives on collaboration.
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  They
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  don't share info.
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  They make decisions alone.
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  Or maybe your team values direct feedback-and
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  this person just shuts down when challenged.
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  Little things add up.
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  You get
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  tension.
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  Missed expectations.
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  Eventually-turnover.
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  Oof-yeah.
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  There's this tech startup
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  I talked to once...They started using behavioral questions,
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  and it was like night and day.
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  They could tell who could roll with the
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  chaos-and who needed hand-holding.
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  Saved them so much stress.
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  Exactly.
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  The
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  goal isn't to trick anyone.
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  It's clarity.
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  When you ask the right questions,
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  you see both strengths and limits-before the hire happens.
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  Alright-so
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  let's say I'm a manager who actually wants to get this right.
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  How do I
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  use these questions to make faster,
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  better decisions?
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  Do you have, like,
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  a success story?
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  I do.
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  One client-a family-owned manufacturing company-was
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  really struggling with supervisor turnover.
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  We brought in the five questions,
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  and pretty quickly, they saw patterns.
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  The candidates who showed self-awareness
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  and adaptability?
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  They stuck.
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  They performed better.
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  Team morale went up.
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  It wasn't magic...but it was predictive.
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  They stopped
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  guessing-and started hiring with intention.
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  That's huge.
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  And I think a lot
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  of leaders still underestimate how much culture matters.
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  Especially heading
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  into 2025.
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  Why do you think people still overlook it?
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  Because skills are
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  easy to see.
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  Fit?
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  Not so much.
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  Culture feels abstract,
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  so it gets ignored.
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  But here's the thing-Culture doesn't happen by accident.
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  It's
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  either shaped... or it slips away.
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  And great teams?
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  They're built on alignment.
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  Not just talent.
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  Mmm, yeah.
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  I've seen that in retail too.
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  Like when teams
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  use OAD's role-fit tools-They catch red flags early.
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  Like,
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  someone who's awesome with customers... but hates routine.
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  Or the opposite.
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  It's
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  not about filtering people out-it's about setting them up to win.
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  The goal
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  isn't perfection-it's predictability.
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  If you know what you're looking for-and
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  ask the right things-You can build teams that last.
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  And that's the edge.
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  Especially as work keeps evolving.
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  And if you're wondering where to start-honestly?
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  Just
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  book a demo.
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  The OAD team makes it simple to see where your hiring process is working...
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  and where it's not.
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  Yep-and that demo's totally free.
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  Just head over to
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  oad.
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  ai-that's O-A-D dot A-I-and you can book it in like... a minute.
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  Especially
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  if you've got new roles to fill soon?
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  Don't wing it.
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  Now I think that's the perfect place to pause.
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  Edwin,
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  thank you-again-for always bringing the clarity.
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  Always a pleasure,
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  Claire.
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  And thank you to everyone listening.
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  We'll be back soon with more
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  on building teams that thrive.
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  Take care,
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  everyone.
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  See you next time on The Science of Leading.