Try not to interview like a caveman!

I recommend using a structured interview as I have found these to be the most effective interviews.

Actually, these cavemen did ask one very useful question: “Why did you leave your last job (tribe!)?”

Do you know anyone who interviews like this?

I call this the “Trick Question” interview, and there have even been books written on the subject (How Would You Move Mount Fuji?) Now, there may be some special cases where this kind of manipulative interview might be justified. But, normally it’s a bad idea.

Unless you can prove the trick questions are correlated with actual job performance, and interview like this could get you in legal trouble. And, what kind of relationship do you think this creates with a new employee?

I recommend a straightforward, structured interview that thoroughly covers a candidates past — You’ll learn a lot and have solid data to use in selecting who you hire. The Topgrading Interview developed by Brad Smart is the best as far as I know. I wrote a post on effective interviewing that will give you a quick overview of how to do a structured interview.