Thoughts: YCISL-Style Interview Questions

[I “retired” from Stanford in 2022, but I continue to develop the YCISL program. I haven’t posted to this Wiki in months because of the retirement, but I continue to be involved in activities related to YCISL.]

I volunteered as a mock interviewer for a career fair organized by the Sequoia Union High School District. The event will take place in a couple of days. From the information I have received about the event, mock interviewers will (1) need to find an agreeable job scenario to discuss, (b) review the resume together with the student, and (3) engage in Q&A to help the student develop interview skills.

In preparation, I came up with a list of interview questions based on the Life Lessons in EQ-mindset of the YCISL.

1. Can you name one or two work places you would like to get your first job? What role or position would you like to have?
Hopefully, this is a good lead-in question. In a way, it’s a quick divergent-convergent thinking question based on waggle-dance reasoning fast thinking. I might ask what other work places came to mind, but were edited out.

2. Could you recall one or two experiences that have prepared you for such a work scenario?
This question relates to the “A Message to My Past Self” exercise where we reflect on our history including positive influences, decisions & circumstances. This forms our “bibliography” of support & evidence, & initiates our positivity starting point that we learned from Alison Ledgerwood.

3. What would you enjoy contributing to that work place? Can you give an example of where/when you have been a contributor?
Productivity & proactivity are basic expectations of any work situation, and remind me of our Lego exercise, the Spaghetti Tower Marshmallow exercise, the Egg Parachute Drop exercise, Human Knot exercise, and so many more. In YCISL, we look for teamwork, team-building and leadership as the EQ-action elements in developing our growth mindset.

4. What would you do to grow in that work position? Is that consistent with your educational mindset?
A discussion about education is certain to arise in a first job interview. But as Sir Ken Robinson story-told in his epic TEDTalk: “…but if you ask people about their education, they pin you to the wall.” This question would explore the propensity for growth with a growth mindset, but also a balanced understanding that a fixed mindset is sometimes appropriate (and expedient).

5. What traits or habits do you have that make you an outstanding candidate for the role?
This question is a request for the student interviewee’s feature list. We look for 3 soft skills features that will match the preferences & satisfy the needs & requirements. This is about using competitive advantage in the elevator pitch. Compatibility & work quality are also involved.

6. What are your strongest skills? Which weak skill would you most like to improve?
In the early YCISL years, we collaborated with Chris Pohalski on using SkillScan. This exercise lays out the skillset and identifies strengths as well as weaknesses that the person would like to improve upon. This touches on feature list & growth mindset.

7. Do you thrive most working independently or in a team? Explain.
This question relates to our Spaghetti Tower Marshmallow exercise with respect to group interpersonal dynamics. We can also think about the analog-digital model described by Austin Kleon where independent and team work are necessarily interconnected and balanced.

8. Have you worked on a project at school? Were there any challenges? How did they get resolved?
With this question, we can explore the structural approach to problem solving. With the initial response to this question, we can journey through the project experience using (a) the phases of the YCISL Simple Innovation Framework of Brainstorming-Prototyping-Building-Test & Readiness-Rollout, or (b) the Gamestorming framework of Open-Explore-Close.

9. Have you ever experienced a setback? If yes, could you share what you learned from it?
Failures or setbacks are explored in YCISL through our Spaghetti Tower Marshmallow exercise, and the lesson “Fail Early, Fail Fast.” This question would reveal EQ with regards to responding to a setback. Is there ownership? Was there value gained from the setback experience? Was there interest in learning what caused the setback or failure? Was appropriate closed loop-corrective action taken?

10. Imagine yourself in the future at the workplace. Describe the scene.
Of course we need to look at the third stage of our Your Personal Story series: “A Message to My Future Self.” Through this scene setting question, we look at the design thinking details of the potential result of hiring the interviewee. The imagined scene is as much a useful picture for the interviewee as the interviewer.

11. What makes you happy? What motivates you?
Most work places would prefer having a positive environment. We know that a single negative point can trigger a contagion and cause a diversion or distraction. It would be wonderful to learn how intrinsic motivation boosts the interviewee’s state of mind.

12. How do you make decisions? If I ask you to find and choose a location for a meeting at your school, how would you go about making that decision?
We’re making decisions all the time. Sometimes, it’s using fast (creative) thinking and sometimes it’s slow (reasoned) thinking. And sometimes, it might be that “5-second rule” from Mel Robbin’s about not making decisions. Or worse purposely avoiding having to make decisions. For work place decision making, ethics, honesty & trust may become involved.

Well, I hope these question ideas based on my YCISL experience will serve the purpose to educate these high school students in interviewing skills.