What it tests

The full arc of a candidate's career — patterns of growth, recurring strengths, recurring failures, and whether they have consistently been an A-player across every role they've held.

Format

1Interviewer walks through the candidate's entire work history chronologically, starting from the earliest relevant job
2For each role, ask four questions: What were you hired to do? What were your biggest accomplishments? What were your biggest failures or regrets? Why did you leave?
3The key closing question for each role: 'What do you think your manager from that job would say your biggest strengths and weaknesses were?' — then reference-check against what managers actually say
4Look for patterns across all roles: does performance improve or plateau? Are the same weaknesses showing up 10 years apart?
5Final 15 minutes: candidate rates their own performance at each job on a 1–10 scale, then discusses the gaps between their self-rating and their manager's likely rating

What to look for

Trajectory — consistent upward growth in scope and impact, not just years of experience
Pattern recognition — strengths that appear across every role are real; strengths that only appear in one role may be situational
Self-awareness gap — candidates who rate themselves significantly higher than their managers rated them rarely have the self-correction mechanism to become great
Honesty about departures — 'mutual decision' and 'new opportunity' language for every exit is a red flag; authentic candidates can name at least one role they left badly
Whether failures were actually failures — candidates who struggle to name real failures have either had unusually safe careers or lack self-awareness

Adaptation guide

Prepare a one-page interview guide with the four questions for each role and space to take notes. Allot 10–15 minutes per job, skipping early-career roles quickly. Run this interview before any skills-based assessment — it reframes everything you hear later. The final reference check confirms or contradicts what you heard in the room.

Full description

Format:

Interviewer walks through the candidate's entire work history chronologically, starting from the earliest relevant role
For each role, ask four questions: What were you hired to do? What were your biggest accomplishments? What were your biggest failures? Why did you leave?
Key closing question per role: "What would your manager from that job say your biggest strengths and weaknesses were?" — then verify against actual references
Look for patterns across all roles: does performance improve or plateau? Do the same weaknesses appear 10 years apart?
Final 15 minutes: candidate rates their own performance at each job (1–10), then discusses gaps between self-rating and manager's likely rating

Time: 90 minutes

What to look for:

Trajectory — consistent upward growth in scope and impact, not just years of experience
Pattern recognition — strengths appearing across every role are real; strengths in only one role may be situational
Self-awareness gap — candidates who consistently self-rate above their managers' assessments rarely self-correct
Honesty about departures — "mutual decision" for every exit is a red flag; authentic candidates can name at least one role they left badly
Whether failures were actually failures — inability to name real failures signals unusually safe careers or lack of self-awareness

Adaptation: Prepare a one-page interview guide with the four questions per role and space for notes. Allot 10–15 minutes per job, skimming early-career roles quickly. Run this interview before any skills-based assessment — it reframes everything you hear later. The final reference check confirms or contradicts what you heard.