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Congrats on growing your team! I like asking “Who’s doing XYZ right in our industry or another?” Adjust the question to focus on visual branding, social, content marketing, etc. so that it’s tailored to the position you’re hiring.

If you’re hiring for a creative role, I would choose at least one question that lets you see how the candidate processes and analyzes information.

For example, the only question I actually remember being asked for the role I’m in now is this: Star Wars or Star Trek? Then, when I answered “Star Wars,” my interviewer asked me why. She didn’t care what my answer was (she loved both!). She wanted to know how I perceived the content I took in, and how I made decisions based on that. I didn’t get it then; I just thought it was a fun question. But now, I get it. And I appreciate it.

It’s so exciting that your team is expanding! My org just went through hiring so I know how much work it is. One question we asked all candidates that I really liked was “How do you like to be recognized? What makes you feel seen at work?” 

Candidates thanked us for asking this question and everyone gave thoughtful answers!

Incredible that your team is expanding! I was asked in my latest interview: 

“What’s more important in marketing: being understood or being remembered? Why?” This initially stumped me, but I understand that it highlights the candidates perspective on clarity vs impact.

I love to ask people what brands they think are doing social well. Their answer says a lot! 

I love to ask if they had a professional superpower, what would it be? It’s fun to see how they answer and what it says about a person.

Our work culture is something we value deeply, and we’ve made an effort to reflect that in the interviews we’ve conducted since expanding our team.

Each year, we participate in a gingerbread house building competition across the hospital. One of my favorite questions to ask is, “If you had a team of 5 and an hour to create an award-winning gingerbread house, what would you make?”

This question not only brings out their fun side, but it also helps build rapport and encourages creativity. The answers are always entertaining! We actually hired one person who responded with, “I’d kick everyone out—too many cooks in the kitchen!” I guess gingerbread houses aren’t everything when it comes to hiring the right candidate!

I’ve found a good one in hiring entry-level/student workers is, “What do you use to keep up with current trends?”

It gives them a chance to expand on how they approach the job, and it gives you insight into what I find to be the top-needed skill for any role: Curiosity.

We have some fun ones that we use to show creativity and ability to explain things in a manner a recipient would understand based on limitations:

• Describe the color (insert color) to someone who is blind?
• If you could be any kitchen appliance what would it be and why?

I liked to ask people what their favorite hobby was and ask them to briefly teach me how to do it. This helped both reveal things that interested them beyond their career to give a little insight into what they were passionate about, and showed whether they were able to explain something they knew really well in simple terms. I was hiring marketing professionals, so being able to explain a concept clearly was critical to their and our success.

Mine is a little off from any of the others. I used to hire preschool teachers and my favorite question was. If we were getting ready to go out for a walk and one of the students wanted to hang on to their comfort item/blankie what would you do?  The answers told me a lot about the candidate..

I think a helpful but challenging question to ask is, “How do you handle negative feedback or comments on social media?” Social media can sometimes be tough, as we know. A candidate’s answer to that kind of a question can speak to their crisis management skills and resiliency in maintaining brand consistency - even knowing when to get help and support.