If you’re interviewing for a job on my team, be ready to answer this question: What tools or apps do you use to work?
When I’m hiring, I’m looking for people who are going to be able to work well with my team. If a candidate has the right work habits already, I’m confident that we can teach them the skills and give them the confidence to do great work. So that’s where my question about tools comes in — because the tools you use to work secretly reveal a lot about your work personality.
I’ve learned that:
◦ People who use a to-do app (and there are a million good ones) are typically detail oriented.
◦ People who save lots of links with an app like Evernote, Pinterest, or Delicious usually have lots of big ideas.
◦ People who swear by a calendar app like Google Cal or Sunrise are often very punctual.
◦ People who love an inbox app (Boomerang, Sanebox, Rapportive, Mailbox, etc) are almost always super organized.
This question isn’t everything — I always follow up with more questions about why that person loves an app so much, and what they use it for. But it’s a great way to dig into the mind of a candidate and catch a glimpse of how they work, and that usually gives me a good idea of whether or not they’d be a good fit for my team.
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That photo at top comes via Unsplash and photographer Todd Quackenbush.