Interview Tip #2: Show potential, not perfection

“Tell me about a time when you bent or broke a rule to accomplish something you felt was important.” That was one of my favorite questions to ask candidates interviewing for White House positions.

Often, candidates who had responded well to prior questions would stumble here. They’d pause. They’d ponder. They’d struggle to find an answer that didn’t jeopardize their background check. How can you handle an unexpected question in the heat of a job interview? This is the question I discuss today in this ongoing series of interview tips.

Interviewers don’t expect perfection

When I posed this question as an interviewer, I was not expecting a perfect answer. The purpose was to see how the candidate performed under pressure. Did they demonstrate mental agility and creative thinking? Did they share an example that responded to the question? Were they able to come up with any response at all?

In more than one interview, candidates divulged information about their past lawbreaking that was, at best, questionable to share in a job interview. Other candidates would pause for a long time and then inform me that they could not think of a single example. That was not ideal either. In an interview, any substantive response is better than no response. 

How to handle oddball questions

It’s impossible to anticipate every question that may come your way in an interview. If an oddball question surprises you, use it as a chance to show your creativity and nimbleness. Try to incorporate one of your key messages into your response. (See my prior post for more on key messages for interviews.) If you’re really stumped, share an anecdote that at least demonstrates a skill you know the employer will find valuable.

I hired many candidates who performed imperfectly in their interviews. What I looked for was not perfection, but potential. I gleaned from the interview performance a sense of how the candidate would perform on the job.

In a high-stakes work environment like the White House, I needed to know that a candidate would thoughtfully and creatively find their way through thorny problems. Bushwhacking our way through legal issues of first impression required excellent judgment and problem-solving skills. When candidates showed those skills, it didn’t matter if their answer to oddball interview questions was a little rough. The core of their potential shone through their answers, and we hired them.

One candidate’s killer response

Ten years later, I still remember the outstanding response one candidate gave in her interview. After I asked the question, she paused for a few seconds, and then shared this story: 

When she worked at a homeless shelter, a state law limited the number of meals her organization could distribute each week. One week, due to an unexpected windfall, her organization found itself with more than the maximum distributable number of meals available. Rather than waste the food, they defied the law, and freely gave the meals to people in need. 

You might disagree with her and the organization’s decision. She had ready responses and explanations for why this action was carefully considered and chosen. She showed a respect and understanding of the law, and made clear that their action was not intended to defy the purpose of the law, which limited meal distribution for essentially technical reasons. 

Whether her action was right or not, she demonstrated the complexity of legal thinking and deliberate decision-making that we wanted in a candidate. We hired her. And she performed her job exceptionally well.