Top 10 Interview Questions for Finding Impactful Long-Term Employees

When trying to identify long-term employees the question you absolutely do not want to ask is: 

If you got the job, “how long do you plan on working here?”. 

This question does not belong in your top 10 interview questions (or any of your interview questions) unless you want to encounter a flustered interviewee struggling to put together an acceptable answer. As you build your startup you’re looking for long-term employees that will grow with you as you scale. You and your team already make what feels like hundreds of decisions per day and replacing bad hires is not something you need on your plate. 

This means you want to focus on making the right hire the first time so you don’t have to start the process all over again in a few months. After you’ve attracted the right candidates into your pipeline, focus on asking specific questions in your initial interview to identify their long-term potential. 

Top 10 Interview Questions to Find Long-Term Employees and Why they’re Important

Interview questions aren’t for determining if they are good at what they do (that’s what resumes and portfolios are for) but whether they fit your current needs. This means you should approach the questions you ask during interviews with intentionality. You’re not just trying to add a warm body to your employee list but you’re trying to recruit long-term impact. 

Question 1: Tell me about yourself and how you ended up pursuing this field?

This is a great question to break the ice and one that your candidate is mostly expecting to hear. Typically they will begin by highlighting their resume. They may discuss their education before hopping into a recap of their previous/current employment. Pay attention to how they talk about their experiences and their sentiments on why they are moving on from their current role.

 By asking how they ended up in their employment field, and at this particular interview, shows where their passion lies. Have they been mining your website for the perfect fit role at your company? Are they passionate more about the role (i.e. Human Resources Manager) or the field your company is in (i.e. healthcare or construction).

This top 10 interview question is going to help you identify the buy-in a prospective candidate has to your team and this role. The more buy-in a candidate in their role and your company the higher their long-term potential.

Question 2: What do you need to do your job?

In this question you begin to establish their work process. Do they value a collaborative process? Or do they just ask for a clear set of directions and the freedom to work without much communication? With this question you can also pinpoint if they are more detail oriented or big picture focused. If you’re looking for someone to accomplish day-to-day tasks, detail-oriented people are helpful. If you’re looking for someone to lead a department then big picture, forward thinking skills are important skills for a candidate to possess.

Question 3: Scenario: What’s your process for “fundamental work task x”?

You can’t leave an interview without asking very specific task-oriented questions. A great follow up to the previous question, dig in a little deeper to see how they handle day to day tasks. Feel free to make this very specific such as “how do you write sales page copy” or more high level like “how do you prioritize project tasks”. 

Question 4: Where do you hope to be in the next 2-3 years?

This question is unique because people expect for this question to be “where do you see yourself in the next 5-10 years?” Remixing the question to ask about the next 2-3 years instead of the next 5-10 years gets you closer to a more off the cuff response versus the prepared answer they think you want to hear. 

If in the next 2-3 years they hope to be a more experienced version of where they are now, great! They are potentially in it for the long haul. If they instead paint a picture of entrepreneurship or leaving your field entirely, you have to weigh whether or not this fits into your business needs. The median time millennials stay at a job is 2.8 years so you may consider 2-3 years the perfect timeline for a prospective candidate to want to stay. 

Question 5: Scenario: if you encountered “problem x” how would you respond?

Identifying problem solving skills is more than likely an important skill for start-up team members, especially if the employee has a more senior role or they are one of a few people in their department.

Knowing how to do something when everything is perfect is one skill set but knowing how to fix a problem is an entirely different skill set that’s valuable to identify. Problem solvers are great assets for you to have as a leader as they can support you and their teammates. 

Question 6: What are your superpowers? What are you good at?

This question allows you insight into their personalities that you won’t get from figuring out how they approach a spreadsheet or their favorite method for community building. It might take an attempt or two but really encourage them to go deeper than identifying a key job task. 

Finding out that your community manager loves hosting themed dinner parties for family and friends and has translated them to a virtual environment relates to their ability to connect with your audience. A potential project manager who also has a perfume making hobby? This shows they have an attention to detail but also have a potential for flair which can come in very handy when a little creative problem solving is in order. 

Question 7: What’s one potential change you would make in your first 6 months in this role? 

Another big picture question, asking a candidate what changes they would implement can show how aligned you are moving forward or major holes you’re missing without the point of view of someone like them. Growing your team isn’t only useful to help you accomplish more tasks. New voices means new opportunities to innovate. Having perfect synergy shouldn’t be the top requirement of a new employee.

Question 8: How do you like to receive feedback?

As a candidate, this is a reassuring question. It indicates the employer values their wellbeing and certainly puts them at ease about the work environment. There are people who enjoy kudos, others that appreciate time off after big projects, or advanced responsibilities after a job well done. Knowing what style of feedback your candidate can shed light on their previous experiences as well.

If it seems they aren’t particularly fond of their current role you may want to ask the question, “how do you like to receive feedback that you aren’t currently receiving?” to see if their displeasure with their current role is based on a lack of support or feedback. 

Question 9: Describe a time you had conflict at work and how you worked through it??

Conflict is going to come up at work so it’s important to figure out how your potential teammate will react when it does happen. Note how they escalate or deescalate the situation and if there’s anything that could have been done to avoid the situation.

If the role you’re hiring for is in HR you may want to provide more specific scenarios and ask this question in a variety of ways to see how they respond to problems they are directly involved in and others they are expected to solve as part of their job description. 

Question 10: Do you have any questions for me?

Finally, interviews are not one way streets! The questions candidates ask are going to help you figure out what they think is important. I suggest jotting down questions they ask throughout the interview to use in your final review before moving candidates forward in the interview process.

Conclusion

Interviews are your opportunity to find the employee that’s going to help you as you scale your company. Using these top 10 interview questions you can continue the process of finding the candidate that’s going to have the most impact and long-term potential on your team.