The Talgo Blog

Your goal is to hire great people. That decision requires reliable data of which the interview process is a crucial component. You obviously want to gather as much relevant data per unit of time as you possibly can, subject to also ensuring that the candidate has a fantastic experience.

Given this,...

Great leaders and investors know the unique power of hiring exceptional talent—the proverbial “best of the best.” A few outstanding hires, particularly in leadership roles, can change the destiny of a company. But how do you differentially attract these top 5% performers?

I’ve had the privilege to ...

This is the latest in our series about how to unpack various types of stories in candidate interviews—see blog.talgo.io for other story archetypes!

For many human beings, effort itself is intrinsically rewarding. When you interview these people about their proud moments or accomplishments, they may...

Interviewing is a massive pain point for most high-growth companies. “What questions should we be asking? What information should we be seeking in our follow-ups? How do we improve time management, get past the candidate’s ‘spin’, interpret the data we’ve gathered, etc.?”

Interview training is our ...

(And How To Ask Instead)

Closed-ended questions are ones that can be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.” Questions like: “Did you…?”, “Could you…?”, “Was there…?” etc.

In candidate interviews, closed-ended questions are almost always a mistake. Why? It is not because they “cut off the dialogue...

Candidates–especially senior-level ones—frequently tell stories about tough decisions they had to make. This usually comes up when talking about a big accomplishment or achievement in their past, but it can come up in other contexts as well.

Imagine that you are interviewing a candidate who is curr...

“She was clearly very well-prepared for the interview. I was impressed.”

“He fumbled with some of his responses. I’m not sure he’s the strong communicator we need.”

“He talked about his sales metrics a lot. You can tell he’s driven and competitive.”

These kinds of comments are what we call “inter...

The way most good-but-not-great interviewing is done is to ask the candidate for examples of very specific skills, behaviors or competencies from their past. Something like:

“What’s your best example of leading a cross-functional initiative where you had to really herd cats—reining in a lot of opin...

If you’re not conducting high-quality, high-touch reference interviews, you are leaving enormous value on the table—on multiple fronts! Having rich interactions with the key individuals from your candidate’s professional past is not just “good hygiene,” it can add considerable value to your entire h...