Topgrading Interview Questions

Asking the right Topgrading interview questions is a prerequisite to accurately comparing candidates and hiring A players. I tested questions over a two-year period. Below are the lessons learned for each step in the process.

Screening Questions

Screening questions save time when using job boards such as Indeed or LinkedIn.

Sometimes the responses will remove an applicant from consideration. Other times, they will impact the scores and ranking of applicants.

These qualifiers are most effective when verifying the minimum criteria that represent the basic success requirements of the role.

Below are some examples of minimum criteria and screening questions.

  • Experience (i.e., minimum of 3 years' full-time sales experience):
    How many years of full-time sales experience do you have?
  • PC proficiency:
    On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your proficiency with PC applications such as Excel and Word?
  • Technology proficiency:
    On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your proficiency with any CRM application?
  • Citizenship (to prevent work authorization, H1B and other Visa sponsorship requests):
    Are you a U.S. citizen?
  • Home state (to better accommodate real-time collaboration across time zones):
    Would state do you reside in?
  • Instruction to insert a unique keyword in the job post to deny mass submitters (and catch those who didn't read carefully):
    Please include the word "culture" in your cover letter.

Work History Form

Recruiters or hiring managers will review resumes for candidates that pass the screening process.

High potential candidates will be invited to submit their work history on the company's Work History Form.

Questions on the form vary by company, but at the minimum should include each applicants last 3 positions with the information below.

  • Performance review ratings:
    What were your annual performance scores in this role?
  • Self-appraisal:
    How would you rate your job performance and why?
  • Job likes and dislikes:
    What did you like and dislike most about this job?
  • Reason for departure:
    What was the reason you left this job?

Online video recordings are an alternative to the traditional Work History Form. We use an AI-based video recruiting product called Eddi. Another solution is the Korn Ferry Nible Recruit Tool. We've learned that video is more effective in demonstrating confidence, personality and clear communication skills.

Some candidates will self-select out by choosing not to complete the form. An unwillingness to complete a simple form suggests the candidate was not serious about the open position.

The Screening Interview

The screening interview is a preliminary, high-level filter to quickly eliminate unsuitable candidates.

The Topgrading interview questions are usually asked in an online video discussion.

The interviewer should lead with a brief introduction of the company, the open role and hiring process. Company brand and culture should be emphasized when describing the company.

The interviewer should also inform the applicant that they will be responsible for arranging their reference calls at a later stage. The Topgrading methodology refers to this as the Threat of Reference Check (TORC). I don't care for the word 'threat' but this up-front disclosure can be very effective in reducing the candidate's tendency to embellish their work history.

It's also effective in eliminating candidates that may be unwilling to provide references for their claims. Candidates that create barriers or resistance to arranging references should be eliminated.

The screening interview drills down on the prior experiences included in the Work History Form.

Topgrading interview questions determine basic alignment with the role's requirements, such as relevant experience, career goals and compensation expectations.

Below are examples of Topgrading interview questions used in the Screening discussion.

Will (e.g., determination and perseverance):

  • What was the most difficult part of the job? How did you deal with that?
  • What was something you wanted to see changed at the company? What did you do about it?
  • Was your supervisor a hands-on or hands-off manager? How did you feel about that?
  • Did your supervisor direct your daily or weekly tasks? How so?

Values (i.e., fit with company culture):

  • What did you most like and dislike about the company?
  • What were the company's core values? How did you feel about those values? Why?
  • How would you describe the corporate culture at your prior employer?
  • How did you fit into the company culture? Was it important to fit?
  • How did you contribute to or change the company culture?

Results (i.e., achievement of business outcomes):

  • What were you hired to do?
  • How were you measured in your role?
  • How often did you receive measured performance reviews? What were those measurements?
  • How did your performance reviews impact your success?
  • Why did you get (or not get) promoted?
  • Why did you leave the company?

Skills:

  • What were the most important skills needed in your role? Why?
  • When was the last training class you completed? How did you apply the knowledge?
  • How would you rate your PC skills? Why?
  • How did you use business systems such as CRM in your role?

You won't need to ask all the above questions. Use the responses in the Work History Form to determine where you want to learn more.

Over the course of a 45 minute conversation you will vet the applicant and quickly narrow the candidate pool.

The Competency-Based Interview

The competency interview uses more time to ask more rigorous questions.

The purpose of this meeting is to drill down on job scorecard requirements and narrow the field to a shortlist of A-player candidates.

From over two years of Topgrading experience, we've learned to focus our discussions in the four critical categories of Will, Values, Results, and Skills. We may add additional categories depending on the job.

Here are some examples of competency-based questions.

If competency is will:

  • Tell me about the most difficult project you managed. What challenges did you incur?
  • Describe a time when you were successful in driving positive change. How did you do it?

If competency is results:

  • What were your most notable accomplishments? How did you achieve them?
  • What were some mistakes or failures that you learned from?
  • How did you increase revenue or lower costs?
  • How would your supervisor describe your strengths and weaknesses?
  • What impact did you make at the company?

If competency is values:

  • Tell me about a time you went the extra mile for your job. How did you do it?
  • What did you like most and least about the company culture?
  • How would your colleagues describe your character and professionalism?

If competency is skills:

  • Did you suggest or make process changes?
  • What was the last book you read? Were there takeaways you applied to your job?
  • Knowing what you know now, what would you have done differently?

If competency is industry experience:

  • What makes this industry different than others for this role?
  • How do you see this industry changing over the next three years?

If competency is customer centricity:

  • How do you build successful customer relationships?
  • Tell me about a time when a customer approached you with a big problem they couldn't solve. What did you do?

Finally, assess the candidate's desire for the position.

  • Why do you want this job?
  • Why do you think you are a good fit for this job?

Competency-based Interviews should last 45 to 60 minutes. We've found that it's best to be performed by somebody other than the person who did the screening interview.

The Topgrading Interview

This step in the process retraces the applicant's job history and accomplishments in more detail.

The methodology refers to this as the "Chronological In‐Depth Structured" (CIDS) question and answer session.

The methodology calls for a complete job history review. That means assessing every job ever held.

We've learned that you will gain the most about the candidate's potential from their last 3 jobs. Or possibly only one or two jobs if they had long tenures. Our experience is that there's just not much value in exploring older positions.

The methodology also advises this discussion should take at least four hours. However, our experience shows that it can be completed in half that time if your inquiries are squarely focused on the most important competencies.

Sample Topgrading interview questions include the following:

  • Why did you take the job?
  • What were your goals for this job?
  • Who did you report to?
  • How was your performance measured?
  • Tell me about your successes and failures
  • What was your relationship like with your supervisor?
  • How would your supervisor describe your performance and accomplishments?
  • What did you like and dislike?
  • Why did you leave?
  • What did you learn or take away from the job?
  • Tell me more about your strengths and weaknesses
  • What are you now looking for in your next job?
  • What are your short and long-term goals?
  • Where do you see yourself in 2 or 3 years?

Once the discussion is complete the candidate is asked to arrange reference calls with their previous supervisors.

The Final Points of Topgrading Interview Questions

Most employers will have three different people perform the three Topgrading interviews.

They then meet to review their findings, establish a consensus, and draft an Executive Summary with an overall score. Scores should be weighted by category and sum to either an A, B or C candidate.

As mentioned, we learned the hard way to increase the weightings for scores in the categories of Will, Values, Results and Skills. You will likely have additional job scorecard categories, but we've found these first four are the most influential in acquiring A-level talent.

Also, these first four categories are not equal. They are sequentially arranged in order of importance.