Sam Parr shares three interview questions that reveal how candidates think. He asks "On a scale of 1-10, how lucky are you?" to spot optimism and resourcefulness, follows reference checks with "what would make them a 10?" to find growth areas, and uses fill-in-the-blank prompts like "Life is..." to surface someone's core outlook.
Um, what's your favorite interview question when you're interviewing somebody for a job?
Uh, on a scale of 1 to 10, how lucky do you think you are?
Nice. Where'd you get that from?
Uh, when I interviewed at Airbnb, the founder asked me it.
It's the Jeff Bezos question. He, he was the, I think, the originator of it. or made it popular at least. Uh, they asked Jeff Bezos, what's your favorite question? He said this, and now a bunch of us have stole this.
Joe Gebbia asked me it and I told him a 9 or a 10, and he said, why? And I explained to him why. And I go, why'd you ask me that? He goes, people who, uh, say they're really lucky are the people I wanna be around.
Right.
I was like, why do you think that? And he goes, well, if you're lucky, if you think you're lucky, you must be talented and things just fall in your place, or you actually are lucky. And I I want to surround myself with lucky people. I don't wanna be around unlucky people.
Yeah. The, the specific of the question is, uh, how lucky of a person do you think you are? 1 to 10. 1, 2, 3 is like, uh, I'm not very lucky. I don't consider myself a lucky person. Um, 4, 5, 6 is I think I'm pretty, I think I'm, you know, decently lucky, average. And I, you know, I think I know why, or sorry, I don't know why. Just, that's just how it is. And then this, uh, the sort of the 8, 9, 10s are, um, I consider myself a very lucky person and here's why. And, uh, you want people who are either, you know, if luck is a thing, you want them around you, just like he said. Or if they're not, you want people who are optimistic. And, uh, you know, when you're building a, a young business, you need optimistic people. And then the, the why part is interesting too, because some people know how to earn, uh, engineer serendipity. They know how to engineer lucky situations for themselves, or they're looking out for situations where they may be getting lucky and pounce on those opportunities. And that's again, somebody you want in an early business.
And then I'm going to ask you the same question. And I think I know what yours is, but I'm going to say another one that is deadly. I love this question. And this is when you backchannel on someone and you want to ask about— so let's say I'm interviewing Henry and you're his old boss and I reference check. I'll go, I'll go, Sean, what would you give Henry out of 10?
Just say a number. I'll give Henry a 7.
Okay. And you're going to give him a 7 because you want to— you don't want to completely shit on them, but you also want to be realistic. And so I would, then I would say, okay, well what, what can I, what can he do to get the remaining 3 points? What could make him a perfect 10? That is the only way I've ever found to get critical feedback on a person other than saying, what are they bad at? Uh, well, you know, they're pretty good. Or like, that's what, that's what they'll always say.
Yeah, for sure. Because people, like you said, wanna be polite and then people also don't wanna like lie based on their own experience.
That is the best way I've ever found to get it.
Love it. Okay.
Yours.
Good reference check question for that specific thing. Yeah.
I, I know what it is and you should tell it.
Uh, I don't, I don't remember what, cuz I've told a story once, but I don't even remember what it was. Is this the founder of Second Life told me once who you are, who you wanna be, or, oh, oh, this one. Yeah, this is a good one. Uh, yeah. You know, I love questions like this. Uh, I asked this in job interviews. Um, but I also just ask this in social situations to be awkward. Uh, fill in, uh, say, hey, we're gonna play a little game. I want you to fill in the blank. First thing that comes to mind. First answer, best answer. I'm gonna say the first part, you finish it. And I'll say, life is, all right, let's, Alan, let's play. All right, sorry, Henry, you have the mic. So let's play. First answer, best answer. Answer as you go. Life is.
Great.
People are.
Tough.
I am. Henry. Oh, okay.
The middle one was the only good one.
Yeah, so, and then you, you use it to sort of have a little bit of a conversation. You try not to judge people too much off the top of the mind, but, um, I actually just think this is useful for yourself. So this is like your core outlook. It's like, what's life? And you said life is great.
Cool.
Uh, optimistic, sort of grateful person. Um, then you said people are tough. That's interesting. Why'd you say people are tough?
Uh, are you, do you have a, you have a girlfriend?
Yeah, I do.
Are you guys at a good spot?
You dealing with some stuff right now?
You are? Yeah, totally. That's what I was—
What's the situation where people have been tough? Tough to deal with. I don't know.
Right now I'm trying to like, like figure out where I'm going and like figure out what job I like am ultimately gonna get in career I'm gonna do. And it's just like tough, like just communicating with other people and like getting them to realize what like you want and like making them like see what you see in yourself.
I guess people are tough to persuade or tough to, to get on your, on your page.
That's a great question. You totally have, you've like, you could see what he, struggles with and values.
Yeah.
And then the last one, which is I am, and you went with Henry, which is a very literal answer. If you were gonna do another one, what would it be? I am, I don't know, like a student.
I don't know. I don't, I don't know.
Okay. Uh, and then the, the second question I'll kind of ask is, uh, so, so I usually pause there. I do the psychoanalysis and then, uh, couple things happen. People are like, oh, okay. And they just like wanna leave cuz they feel so uncomfortable. Or they'll be like, what are yours?
Cool.
I like that. That's a good sign when you ask, what are yours? Um, and then I'll tell them mine and then they'll do the same thing back to me. And the last question is like, um, I tell 'em, I say, you know, one thing I did was I did those answers top of mind and I didn't really like what I said. And then I just reassessed it. I was like, what do I think the answer should be for me? Like, what do I want my answers to be? What do I want my outlook of life, people, and myself to be? Right? What do I want my mental model to be? And then I revised it. And then the best people come back a few days later and they're like, hey, by the way, I, uh, you know, I came up with my own and, uh, here's mine. And those are the people I'm like, I'm gonna be friends with you for a long, long time cuz you're like me.
You, you like to do this stuff.
