Investing in Transparency: Enhancing the Candidate Experience by Sharing Interview Questions

As part of our Humane Hiring Practice, my team and I have done this in our last two hiring processes. We have found that candidates appreciate being able to think through their answers prior to the interview and it does lead to a richer, more focused discussion. This practice can show how resourceful a candidate is and how well they research and prepare (surprisingly, we've had some candidates that didn't prepare well). It also promotes inclusivity -there are people who would be a wonderful employee, but may not think quickly on their feet when they're nervous. However, this doesn't have to be an all or nothing approach. If a interviewer is concerned about candidates using AI or stating an answer that they don't fully understand, the interviewer can ask a follow-up question to clarify the candidate's understanding. Finally, we have found that doing this strengthens our position and reputation in the community for being a people-centered organization.

Sharing questions ahead of time is professional and respectful, and can lead to a more productive, thoughtful conversation about a candidate's alignment with a role. There is plenty of opportunity during the course of any search process to observe how a candidate thinks "on their feet" and responds in the moment to unexpected cues or situations. I wholeheartedly support this, rather than leaving candidates feeling hijacked and recruiters/interviewers without any real sense of a candidate's full breadth of experience or knowledge in a particular area.

Yeah! And.. with the popularity and ease of use that ChatGPT - as well as other interview AI tools - bring, we have concerns that there is little original preparation being done. I can see this even with themes. In response, some orgs I work with give half the questions. Or all the questions for senior roles (they tend to be more involved and multi-faceted). It would be ideal to find a way to have candidates prepare in advance and on 'their own'. It would be just the best to read articles around recruitment that keep AI in mind, because it's impacting every stage of the process.

I’ve been reading about this and see a lot of value in this model!

I experienced this recently and appreciated the ability to prepare my answers a few hours before the actual interview. It was a less stressful experience, and since the interview questions were in-depth and practical, I don't believe I felt like my answers were rehearsed. Knowing the questions ahead of time just allowed me to focus my preparation to those themes and topics.