For job seekers, interviews can feel like a maze of unpredictable questions, but some CEOs have revealed the one simple question that can reveal more than it seems about every candidate. Indeed CEO Chris Hyams has revealed that he has asked the same question for over 15 years to as many as 3,000 candidates: “Do you have an iPhone or an Android, and why?”
The question might seem like a casual icebreaker, but Hyams claims it reveals everything he needs to know about the candidate’s decision-making process. He said it starts a small discussion that reveals how individuals make choices, their personal preferences and their adaptability.
Even after asking the same questions to almost every candidate, Hyams notes he always gets varied answers. He said most candidates who chose iPhone cited long-term brand loyalty, while others spoke of specific apps they use, revealing their interests. He also asked them what they wanted to change about their chosen platform to understand their critical thinking and problem-solving abilities.
Unconventional interview questions
However, CEOs’ approach of using unconventional interview questions to assess potential hires is not unique to Hyams. Former TripAdvisor CEO Stephen Kaufer asks candidates to discuss a challenging project to see how they dealt with it using either teamwork or problem-solving skills.
Similarly, Wisp CEO Monica Cepak asks candidates to describe the most complex problem they’ve solved at work, using their response to assess critical thinking and cross-functional collaboration. Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, prefers a more straightforward query: “How soon can you start?” and reads between the lines.
If a currently employed candidate says they can begin immediately, he sees it as a red flag for loyalty. Meanwhile, StockX CEO Scott Cutler throws in a brain teaser: “How many degrees separate the minute and hour hands of a clock at 3:15?”, not to test math skills, but to observe how candidates think under pressure.