UpTrajectory Review
Inc. Magazine runs a short piece by Alexis Franzese on one interview question that reveals how a candidate thinks. The text we received runs only a single line: there is no right answer, only a host of possibilities. That line tells us the question is open-ended. It asks the candidate to reason, not to recite. We cannot quote the question itself. The original article, we expect, names it and walks through strong and weak responses. What we can do here is weigh what such a question does in a hiring process and why it matters to a small-business operator who interviews without a human-resources department behind them.
Small employers hire infrequently and feel each bad hire. A wrong senior hire can cost a year of salary and momentum. A wrong early hire can sink a startup. Structured interviews with scored rubrics predict performance better than gut feel, yet most owners still rely on instinct. An open-ended thinking question gives the owner a window into how a candidate frames a problem, what assumptions they surface, and how they handle ambiguity. That matters more than a polished story about a past win, which a candidate can rehearse. The thinking question is hard to rehearse because the interviewer can probe each step.
We agree with Franzese that a question with many valid answers beats one with a single key. A single-answer question tests preparation. A many-answers question tests judgment. Skeptics will say such questions favor confident talkers over quiet performers. That risk is real. The fix is to listen for structure, not polish. Does the candidate name constraints? Do they ask clarifying questions before they solve? Do they weigh trade-offs or jump to one answer? A strong thinker shows their work. A smooth talker hides the lack of it. The interviewer must know what good thinking sounds like before the interview starts.
The second-order effect runs to the candidate pool. Open-ended questions can disadvantage people who interview in a second language or who come from cultures that value deference over speculation. They can also screen out candidates with non-linear career paths who lack the vocabulary of case interviews. Owners who use such questions should pair them with a work sample or a paid trial task. That levels the field and gives the quiet performer a second channel. It also costs time. A thirty-minute thinking question plus a two-hour work sample adds up across a shortlist of five.
Watch for the full article to name the question and show sample answers. In the meantime, operators can act. Pick one open-ended question that maps to the role. Write down what a strong answer includes before the first interview. Score each candidate on that rubric within an hour of the meeting. Compare scores across candidates, not impressions. That habit alone will cut the noise from charm and raise the signal from judgment. The question matters less than the discipline around it.
Takeaway: Pick one open-ended thinking question per role, define what a strong answer includes before you interview, and score candidates against that rubric.
Excerpt from the original — Inc. Magazine
There’s no right answer, but rather a host of possibilities.