The One Question Almost No Candidate Asks
Ask this question at your next interview for more clarity and better results
Over the course of more than 30 years as an engineering manager, I’ve interviewed hundreds---possibly even thousands---of software engineers. At my previous company alone, I conducted a few hundred interviews while helping build out the engineering organization.
We had a structured interview process, and I always explained it carefully to candidates. After a recruiter qualified someone, I conducted the first interview as the hiring manager. I made it clear that I wasn’t going to review their resume or ask technical questions. Instead, I wanted to understand their previous experiences---particularly how they worked with managers, peers, and, in some cases, engineers they had led.
Our interviews followed a consistent format. We used a scorecard in our applicant tracking system with a standard set of questions, so I became very familiar with asking the same questions in the same order. While every candidate brought different experiences, we were generally hiring for the same role: a senior software engineer with strong technical leadership skills.
We were looking for someone who could take ownership of a feature from beginning to end, collaborate effectively with product management, coordinate with other engineers, and help guide technical decisions. Throughout the interview, I paced the conversation carefully so there would always be about ten minutes at the end for the candidate to ask questions.
Most candidates did ask questions. Typically they wanted to know about the team, the engineering organization, the company culture, or the technology stack. If they asked technical questions, I usually deferred them since dedicated technical interviews would come later.
But there was one question that almost nobody asked, even though I had made it clear that I was their prospective manager.
The question is remarkably simple:
“What do you need me to do?”
Or, more personally:
“How can I make you successful?”
There are many ways to ask the same thing:
What do you expect from the person in this role?
What problem are you hoping this person will solve?
What isn’t getting done today that you need someone to own?
What would success look like after six or twelve months?
A thoughtful hiring manager should have clear answers. They should know what they’re hiring for, the problems they need solved, and why your background caught their attention in the first place. Perhaps there is something on your resume that aligns with a challenge they’re facing. Discovering that early gives you valuable information.
That information helps in several ways.
First, it helps you throughout the rest of the interview process. If you know which of your skills the hiring manager values most, you can emphasize those experiences in your subsequent interviews.
Second, the question demonstrates initiative. It shows that you don’t simply wait to be told what to do---you actively seek to understand where you can have the greatest impact.
Finally, it communicates something subtle but important: you understand that your role is to make your manager successful. People rarely phrase it that way, but in almost every organization, part of your job is to help your manager achieve their goals. Candidates who recognize that tend to think more like leaders than individual contributors.
At my last company, the manager interview was followed by a detailed review of the candidate’s resume. Understanding what the hiring manager cared about made it much easier for candidates to highlight the experiences that mattered most.
The next time you’re interviewing with a hiring manager, try asking some version of:
“What do you need me to accomplish?”
You may be surprised by how much you learn---and by how few other candidates think to ask.