Strategic-thinking

Why strategic-thinking interview questions are important

Strategic-thinking is the ability to make informed business decisions through analysis. Strategic thinkers take a company’s vision and transform it into action.

Your ideal strategic-thinking candidate can:

• Ace long-term objectives
• Catch potential risks and plan ahead
• Use resources efficiently
• Develop action plans no matter what
• Deal with competition like a pro

Strategic-thinking interview questions

• How much time do you put aside for strategic-planning? What does that time look like?
• How do you communicate your strategic decisions?
• Have you ever proactively identified and addressed an issue at your company? What happened?
• How do you set, check and review long-term team goals?
• Describe a time when your approach didn’t work. What happened?
• How do you build an awesome action plan?
• How do you measure how awesome your strategies are?

Candidates to look for 

• Analytical thinkers: Look for a candidate who compares alternatives and weighs pros and cons.
• Methodical thinkers: Your ideal candidate will be methodical and assess alternatives and potential risks.
• They can identify mistakes: Delve into past projects that failed and ask them to evaluate it. 
• They understand your needs: Use hypothetical scenarios related to the role to test if they understand your needs and objectives.

Candidates to avoid

• Bad decision-makers: Candidates who lack confidence and seem nervous about decision-making are a no-no.
• They’re poor leaders: Setting challenging objectives and motivating teams are key to an awesome candidate, so avoid candidates who aren’t confident delegating and can’t engage a team.
• They’re reckless: Generic, detail-free answers probably won’t be able to think strategically at tricky times.
• They’re change avoiders: Flexibility is a must when it comes to strategies. Candidates who aren’t great at change management probably won’t be any good at re-evaluating strategies.