65 “Tell me about a time when you accomplished something that you felt was remarkable.” Or, “Give me an example of a goal you reached that you believe was life-changing.” These are what I call foundation questions. Then, after asking that foundation question, I instruct them to continue asking a series of follow-up questions that steadily dig deeper and uncover more specific information relat- ed to the candidate’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. This week, I discovered someone who shares my philosophies and feels like a kindred spirit. Lou Adler announced that after “10 years of trial and error” he eventually discovered “the only interview question that matters.” Read the full article from Inc: "The Only Interview Question That Matters." So here’s the magic question: “What single proj- ect or task would you consider your most signif- icant accomplishment in your career to date?” Pretty good stuff, right? If you’re a manager who interviews recent college graduates, you could modify the question to ask, “What sin- gle project or task would you consider your most significant accomplishment to date?” After the initial question, he suggests the fol- lowing follow-up questions: • Can you give me a detailed overview of the accomplishment? • Tell me about the company, your title, your position, your role, and the team involved. • What were the actual results achieved? • When did it take place and how long did the project take to complete? • Why were you chosen? • What were the 3 or 4 biggest challenges you faced and how did you deal with them? Those are just the tip of the iceberg. Imagine what you could unearth after 15 more min- utes of delving in to this single, meaningful, magic question! As I’ve written before, finding the right person for an open position can be really hard, and it can be very tempting to rush through the process or take shortcuts when possible. But making the wrong hire can cost your company up to five times their annual salary – and once you finally get rid of them, you’ll find yourself back at square one, sweating over your hiring process again. If you don’t have time now to do it right, when will you have time to do it over again? Save yourself the headache and do it right the first time! Beth Sunshine Partner, VP Talent Services The Center for Sales Strategy