Career Kit: Questions to ask journalism job candidates

(Or be prepared to answer if you’re the job candidate)

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When I first started interviewing job candidates, I wasn’t quite sure what to ask to get the best sense of the person as a journalist and potential colleague. We all get training and experience interviewing story sources, but not necessarily for hiring people!

Beyond the most common interview questions, I started keeping a journalism-specific list when I heard someone ask a good question or when a question on my list elicited good results. I kept the list for years on my desktop as a “starter list” for job interviews. 

Below is that list. It’s intended to help those who’ll be speaking to candidates get a start on their interview prep (and it can also help job candidates prepare if they’re reading this). This could also help inform an outlet’s structured interview questions/rubrics so it’s not entirely left up to the individuals.