20 Underrated Qualities to Look for in Candidates — And 50+ Interview Questions to Suss Them Out

You’ve read all of those articles about “The Great Resignation” wave sweeping across the country. You’ve seen countless “I’m hiring!” posts from your network on Twitter and LinkedIn. You’ve perhaps been tapped to join more interview loops yourself, as your company revs up its own recruiting machine.

The high-stakes nature and weighty choice of every hiring decision is crashing into the sheer volume of interviews and competitive pressure to lure in the best candidates. In other words, in a hiring climate like this one, it’s tempting to take some shortcuts.

But in our view, if you’re a hiring manager, this is the perfect time to check in and rededicate yourself to running an even better process. In particular, there's an opportunity to reconsider the very qualities you’re hunting for. Because, let’s be honest, when you ask founders and startup leaders what they are looking for when hiring, a steady set of (rather unspecific) staples usually crop up: High-performer. Driven. Mission-aligned. Team player. 

But that’s just scratching the surface. There’s a bevy of more targeted, under-the-radar qualities to add to your list — and there’s certainly room to dial in your search by tailoring it to both your company’s culture and the realities of how the workplace has changed since the onset of the pandemic.

That’s why we set out to collect the answers to these questions: What are those underrated traits that you should be looking for in hiring — especially in the early-stage startup context? And how do you unearth these unsung attributes in the interview process?

Over the years here on The Review, we've interviewed hundreds of startup leaders, collecting their go-to interview questions along the way. In the past, we’ve shared several interview question sets you can lean on (like this one and this one). But we thought you might appreciate a curated compilation that’s tailored around those attributes you may be overlooking in your hiring process. 

We hope this roundup from our archives surfaces fresh perspectives and steal-worthy interview questions that you can add to your own rotation. From how a candidate approaches leading teams and the particulars of their operating style, to their motivations, unique habits, and behaviors, this collection highlights the qualities that should be on your hiring checklist — and the interview tactics that will help you figure out if a candidate has them in spades.

Some are function-specific, others are targeted to candidates for leadership or individual contributor roles, but many apply across the board.

As always, thanks for reading and sharing!

-The Review editors

Sneak preview of the interview questions: 

• Care about empathy. Tell me a story when something didn't go your way, but talk to me about how that impacted you. How did you feel?
• Tell true stories of failure — instead of humble bragging. What’s your biggest professional regret?
• Keep DEI top of mind. How do you personally learn how to be more inclusive? What's an example of a situation in which these learnings have changed the way you do your job? 
• Sell the team, not themselves. Would you rather your team win but you only score 5 points, or score 20 points but your team loses?
• Improve process. Describe a shitty system at your last company. What did you do about it?
• Focus on outcomes, not shipping. What achievements or outcomes are you most proud of as a product manager? What did that achievement result in? How did that result compare to what you said it would do? 
• Are good at spotting superpowers. What's the most important thing you've learned from a peer and how have you used that lesson in your day-to-day life?

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