It sounds very self-serving, but I like to ask what the candidate thinks about our website and our products. It's interesting to see who actually does the research about us and what information they're able to bring to the interview. It shows me whether they're really looking to work for our company and if they're really engaged in the interview. I find that when someone is interested in what we do they're able to talk about what they do and how they can be useful to our company. The information is very revealing and insightful.

When you live with your product every day, you think you know everything about it and it can be good to get a different perspective. Those are the kind of candidates I'm interested in.

But what can also be really interesting is hearing from the candidates who didn't do the research and what excuses they have for that. That can be a red flag. If you're not going to show me any effort into the interview, I'm not interested [in hiring you].

And I would say that keeping quiet in an interview is quite important. I was always amazed when I would go to interviews for a job, I'd walk in the door, say a few words and the interviewer was off chatting for a half hour. In the end, it was fine because I would be offered the job, but I'm not sure how much they really got out of me.

What I learned from those interviews was to keep quiet and listen to the interviewee. You learn a lot about them, from their mannerisms and their eye contact and even just the silence that's in the room when they finish. A lot of people are uncomfortable with the lack of noise and they start filling that space with responses that they probably had not planned. Those responses are very interesting because they are revealing something unprepared and not always appropriate. Those moments make a difference in an interview.