Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives, and Winners Around the World

But there is yet another use of personality psychology: namely, as a way of developing a common language so that you and your team can discuss and evaluate claims about personality. We suggest using Five Factor theory in this manner.

Daniel also places candidate answers in a very specific framework. As the candidate tells their story, Daniel continuously asks himself: Whom is this person responding to or used to performing for? Whom do they view as important to impress? Their parents? A particular peer? High school friends? A former boss? This is revealed at moments when they d

“Who are our competitors?”

Finally, here is another useful question used by Peter Thiel: “How successful do you want to be?” Or this variant favored by Tyler: “How ambitious are you?”

Here are a few somewhat more unusual questions we recommend—again, depending on context—with more questions coming in the section on how to get “meta”: “What are ten words your spouse or partner or friend would use to describe you?” “What’s the most courageous thing you’ve done?” “If you joined us and then in three to six months you were no longer

Elon Musk personally interviewed the first three thousand employees at SpaceX because he wanted to make sure the company was hiring the right people.

Or when conscientiousness truly does matter, make sure you interview the person’s references as well,

Can this person get you where you need to be way faster than any reasonable person could?

We both find during interviews that “downtime-revealed preferences” are more interesting than “stories about your prior jobs.”