June 03, 2025 02:35 IST
CEOs and CEOs Hyams use unconventional questions in interviews to assess the decision -making and problem -solving skills of candidates.
For job seekers, interviews may resemble a labyrinth of unpredictable questions, but some CEOs have revealed the only simple question that can reveal more than it seems about each candidate. Indeed, CEO Chris Hyams revealed that he had asked the same question for over 15 years to up to 3,000 candidates: “Do you have an iPhone or an Android, and why?”
The question may seem an occasional icebreaker, but Hyams says that 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 all candidates, Hyams notes that he always gets various answers. He said most of the candidates who chose the iPhone cited the brand’s long -term loyalty, while others have spoken of specific applications they use, revealing their interests. He also asked them what they wanted to change on their chosen platform to understand their critical thinking and their problem solving capacities.
Unconventional interview issues
However, the CEO’s approach to use unconventional interview issues to assess potential hires is not unique to Hyams. The former CEO of Tripadvisor, Stephen Kaufer, asks the candidates to discuss a difficult project to see how they treated it using team work or problem solving skills.
Likewise, WISP CEO, Monica Cepak, asks the candidates to describe the most complex problem they have resolved at work, using their response to assess critical thinking and interfunctional collaboration. Gary Shapiro, CEO of Consumer Technology Association, prefers a simpler request: “How long can you start?” and reads between the lines.
If a candidate currently employed says he can start immediately, he sees him as a red flag for loyalty. Meanwhile, the CEO of Stockx, Scott Cutler, throws into a brain teaser: “How many degrees separate the hands of minute and hour from a clock at 3:15 am?”, Not to test the skills in mathematics, but to observe how candidates think under pressure.
(Read also: Elon Musk was the CEO of S&P 500 the least well paid in 2024. Tesla gave him $ 0: report)
