12 interview questions to help you hire winners

Larry Ryan knows it takes time to get to know someone.

Ryan’s the president of Ryan Lawn & Tree, which he started in 1987. The company’s blossomed into a $73.3 million company that earned No. 46 on Lawn & Landscape’s Top 100 list last year. But he learned a key lesson about hiring outside of the walls of his own business.

As he recalls it, Ryan had been married to his wife for seven years the day he learned she can whistle. And she hadn’t just hummed out a tune – she called out to someone across the field at a sporting event by whistling with her fingers.

“I had no idea she knew how to do that,” Ryan laughs now.

Ryan says his company hires 100 people each year, but it’s only the top 5% of applicants. He and his team use the interview process to sift through hundreds of candidates annually.

“The purpose of the interview is to match people with our culture,” Ryan says. “Our whole goal is to get to really know people during the interview. You can’t limit it to too few questions.”

While Ryan emphasizes that managers can’t ask enough questions during interviews, here are 12 he and his team use to find the best employees – and leave out the rest.

1. Who are you? Ryan says candidates who aren’t very open may not know themselves very well. He also emphasizes that this question gets right to the root of someone’s character. “You get who you hire,” Ryan says. “You will not change people.”
2. What are things that drive you, or what motivates you? Ryan says these answers help flesh out what’s important to a candidate. Quality candidates might point out that being part of a successful team matters to them.
3. What are you good at, or what are your strengths? “Young people have a very difficult time answering that,” Ryan admits. He’s noticed that some people also try to be humble during the interview process or they’re embarrassed to embrace their gifts. So, if they’re shy, Ryan says he’s rephrased the question to, “What traits do people compliment you on?”
4. What’s your purpose in life? It’s a nebulous question, but Ryan says this helps managers determine what a candidate’s inner goal is all about. “I want to find somebody who’s somewhat driven and who wants to change the world,” Ryan says.
5. How can our company help you be your very best? Ryan points out that one of his employees had a forestry degree but wanted to become a trained driver, too. Now he’s lined up with a CDL. Ryan says it’s important to empower employees, and this is a good opportunity to figure out if the company can do that or if it’s a bad fit.
6. Why would we hire you? Ryan says he’s told employees that they hire only 5% of their applicants, so he’ll also ask, “Why would you be in that 5%?” Here, Ryan looks for answers like “I’m a hard worker” or “I give my best to every employer I’ve worked for in the past.”
7. How do you strive to make those around you better? Here, Ryan’s trying to decide whether an applicant is altruistic and outgoing or introverted and uninterested in his coworkers.
8. Why are you interested in this industry? Ryan cautions managers against hiring people just because they say they want to work outside. It’s easy to crave the great outdoors when it’s a brisk fall day or a warm spring afternoon, but people crave their cubicles again once they’re out working in the blistering heat or freezing cold.
9. When have you acted like an owner, regardless of your position? While Ryan Lawn & Tree is an ESOP company, Ryan says employees can always act like an owner within their own work.
10. How would your former associates describe you? Ryan may also ask applicants if job references would say the same thing about them that the applicant would say about herself.  
11. When is a time when, in a work situation, your integrity was tested? Whether it was a coworker cutting corners or a boss who wants to unethically treat clients, Ryan tries to also find out how applicants handled that difficult situation.
12. What was your favorite past work experience and your least favorite work experience? Regardless the second part of the question, Ryan emphasizes that they’re not interested in complainers. Instead, he wants to find the folks who have the social skills to say some variation of, “I’m not here to put anyone down, but I didn’t like working for this boss because they asked me to do tasks that weren’t in my wheelhouse.”