The Open Interview Index is a question bank of useful questions to leverage when interviewing so that you can get strong signal on the state of company culture and whether it's likely to be a good match for what you're looking for.
How to use this Interview Index
Greetings from Open Org 👋
We’ve curated and pulled together some of the most spicy 🌶️, authentic and hard-hitting questions we can find to help you in your search for your next role.
Why? Open Org spends our time working with companies to be more open & transparent.
But we have a long way to go, and part of that mission includes equipping candidates & applicants with the right questions they can take to employers to also encourage some deeper level of transparency in the hiring process.
👉You can filter the below questions based on the ‘probes on’ tags by hovering over the top of the table and hitting ‘filter’ in the top right
👉We’ve included a quick ‘why ask’ section in case you need some clarity on the purpose of the question
Some high level guidance on general Red Flags (🚩) & Green Flags (🟢) to be aware of when asking these questions…
🚩 Vague or Fluffy answers to these questions should be probed on further. If your gut tells you it’s vague and hasn’t hit the mark, the follow up and, dig deeper and ask for an example
🚩 Defensive answers, or refusal to answer should be a flag on how open & transparent this business is, and whether there are some deeper issues associated with the topic you asked about
🚩 Inability to answer could be a signal that the interviewer doesn’t know because the information isn’t shared with them. This could signal poor communication or transparency internally.
🟢 Clear, concise ability to answer in depth, including any follow up questions you pose
🟢 Able to comfortably answer questions you ask without suggesting that ‘they aren’t sure’ or ‘you’d need to ask someone else’ - This signals some positive levels of communication and transparency
🟢 Honesty, and preparedness to talk about failings, flaws, and imperfections within the business. They share where improvements could be made, what they don’t do well, and harsh realities
Please Note: This is intended to be open-source, so we welcome contributions to this if you feel you have valuable questions to add! Please add them in as a comment.
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