
Savvy executives know that interview questions like, "What's your biggest strength?" and, "What's your biggest weakness?" aren't as telling as they seem.
That's why they steer clear of these cliché queries and instead ask more meaningful ones.
Many of the most successful execs have their one favorite go-to question that reveals everything they need to know about a job candidate.
Here are 30 of them.
Alison Griswold and Vivian Giang contributed to previous versions of this article.
'What didn't you get a chance to include on your résumé?'
Virgin Group founder Richard Branson explains in his new book "The Virgin Way: Everything I Know About Leadership," that he isn't a fan of the traditional job interview, reports Business Insider's Richard Feloni.
"Obviously a good CV is important, but if you were going to hire by what they say about themselves on paper, you wouldn't need to waste time on an interview," Branson writes. That's why he likes to ask: What didn't you get a chance to include on your résumé?
'Are you the smartest person you know?'
As Dartmouth business professor Sydney Finkelstein describes in his new book, "Superbosses," Oracle executive chairman and CTO Larry Ellison makes a point of only hiring exceptionally talented and extremely intelligent employees, and consequently coached his coached his recruiters to ask new college graduates this question.
If the candidate answered "yes," they'd get hired. If they answered "no," the recruiter would ask, "Who is?" Then they'd try to hire that other person instead, Business Insider previously reported.
According to Finkelstein, superbosses like Ellison are confident enough in their own abilities that they aren't worried about employees outshining them, and they aim to hire people who are more intelligent than they are because those employees will challenge them to come up with better ideas and solutions to problems.
'On a scale of one to 10, how weird are you?'
One of Zappos' core values is to "create fun and a little weirdness," Tony Hsieh, CEO of the company, tells Business Insider.
To make sure he hires candidates with the right fit, Hsieh typically asks the question: "On a scale of one to 10, how weird are you?" He says the number isn't too important, but it's more about how people answer the question. Nonetheless, if "you're a one, you probably are a little bit too straight-laced for the Zappos culture," he says. "If you're a 10, you might be too psychotic for us."
Another question Zappos usually asks candidates is: "On a scale of one to 10, how lucky are you in life?" Again, the number doesn't matter too much, but if you're a one, you don't know why bad things happen to you (and probably blame others a lot). And if you're a 10, you don't understand why good things always seem to happen to you (and probably lack confidence).
'What would the closest person in your life say if I asked them, 'What is the one characteristic that they totally dig about you, and the one that drives them insane?''
Kat Cole, group president of FOCUS Brands, tells Adam Bryant in a New York Times interview that before asking questions, she likes to see how job candidates interact with people in the waiting area.
"I'll ask people to offer the candidate a drink to see if there's a general gratefulness there, and they'll send me notes," she tells Bryant. "Then, when someone walks into my office, I'll have a big wad of paper on my floor between the door and the table. I want to see if the person picks it up. I don't make huge judgments around it, but it does give me a sense of how detail-oriented they are."
After some conversation, she finally says: "Tell me about the closest person in your life who you're comfortable talking about. What would they say if I asked them, 'What is the one characteristic that they totally dig about you?'"
Then she'll say: "What is the one characteristic that drives them insane, and that they would love for you to do just a little bit less?"
"People are pretty comfortable talking about that because I've pinpointed a person and a point of view," she tells the Times.
'You are standing on the surface of the Earth. You walk one mile south, one mile west, and one mile north. You end up exactly where you started. Where are you?'
According to the biography "Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future," the Tesla and SpaceX CEO likes to ask candidates this riddle to test their intelligence.
There are multiple correct answers, and one is the North Pole.
'On your very best day at work -- the day you come home and think you have the best job in the world -- what did you do that day?'
Business Insider's Richard Feloni recently spoke with Miranda Kalinowski, Facebook's global head of recruiting, about how the social media giant recruits top talent. She said that she and Lori Goler, the vice president of People Operations, ask this question to help them find employees who are a perfect fit.
Feloni reports that "they're looking to see what the candidate is truly passionate about, and if that innate interest fits into what Facebook is looking for."
They're also hoping to see if that candidate's drive and values align with Facebook's mission "to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected."
'What was the last costume you wore?'
It doesn't matter so much what they wore, but why they wore it. If the candidate's reasoning matches Warby Parker's core value of injecting "fun and quirkiness into work, life, and everything they do," they might have a real shot at getting a job there.
"We find that people who are able to make the job environment fun build followership more easily," the company's cofounder and co-CEO David Gilboa tells Iris Mansour at Quartz. "If we hire the most technically skilled person in the world whose work style doesn't fit here, they won't be successful."
'Give me an example of a time when you solved an analytically difficult problem.'
Laszlo Bock, Google's HR boss, says the company ditched its famous brainteaser interview questions in recent years for behavioral ones.
"The interesting thing about the behavioral interview is that when you ask somebody to speak to their own experience, and you drill into that, you get two kinds of information," Bock tells The New York Times's Bryant. "One is you get to see how they actually interacted in a real-world situation, and the valuable 'meta' information you get about the candidate is a sense of what they consider to be difficult."
'Tell me about your background.'
During a conversation with Adam Bryant of the New York Times, Melanie Whelan, CEO of the New York-based fitness company SoulCycle, says she always starts interviews with: "Tell me about your background."
"It's a great way to warm up any conversation, and it really helps me understand how you communicate. Are you linear, concise, and direct? Or are you a storyteller? Are you entertaining? Do you go off on tangents?"
'If you were an animal, which animal would you be?'
"The animal kingdom is broad, and everyone can identify with a specific animal they think embodies their own personalities and characteristics," Stormy Simon, president of Overstock,tells Business Insider.
"There are so many different human traits, where in the animal kingdom they put themselves, and why, really gives insight to the person answering the question. For example, just because you love dogs doesn't mean you would identify yourself as a dog," she explains.
Good answers, she says, are where the candidate picks an animal that they think truly personifies the traits that set them apart. "People have often chosen the same animal as other candidates, but the traits they describe have never been the same," says Simon. But they're not all good answers.
"One time an interviewee said they identified with a red panda because everyone thinks they are so cute and approachable, but it turns out they're just really lazy. We hired the candidate anyway despite that answer, but we parted ways within three weeks. It just goes to show how important the question is."
HootSuite CEO Ryan Holmes also likes to ask candidates, "What's your spirit animal?"
As he tells writer Jeff Haden, "During her interview, I asked my current executive assistant what was her favorite animal. She told me it was a duck, because ducks are calm on the surface and hustling like crazy getting things done under the surface," he says.
"I think this was an amazing response and a perfect description for the role of an EA. For the record, she's been working with us for over a year now and is amazing at her job," Holmes tells Haden.
'Tell me something that's true, that almost nobody agrees with you on.'
PayPal cofounder, managing partner of the Founders Fund, and president of Clarium Capital Peter Thiel always looks to hire people who aren't afraid to speak their minds, reports Business Insider's Aaron Taube.
To do this, he always gives job candidates and the founders of companies seeking an investment this interview prompt: "Tell me something that's true, that almost nobody agrees with you on."'
In a 2012 interview with Forbes, Thiel said the reason he loves this question is: "It sort of tests for originality of thinking, and to some extent, it tests for your courage in speaking up in a difficult interview context."
'How would you describe yourself in one word?'
The best candidates are the ones who know exactly who they are. That's why Dara Richardson-Heron, CEO of women's organization YWCA, always asks her candidates this question.
Richardson-Heron says she doesn't judge people on the word they choose, but it does give her insight into how people package themselves. She tells Adam Bryant at The New York Times that she likes when people take time to ponder the question and answer thoughtfully.