Hiring is one of a team lead’s most important and time-consuming jobs — from defining needs and writing job descriptions to promotion, screening, interviews and onboarding. Interviews demand the most energy because you’re evaluating a candidate while representing the company. Korean startup leader Lee Jin-ho distilled his approach from roughly 200 interviews for first-time interviewers. Without prepared startup interview questions and a structure, you can have a great conversation and still be unable to decide.
Treat these as guidelines; some interviews end at 30 minutes, others run over an hour. Keeping the structure in mind lets you check where you are and rebalance.
Jumping straight into hard technical questions makes candidates tense and hides who they really are. Candidates are also potential customers and future voices for your reputation. After small talk, skip the scripted self-introduction and ask:
The last two separate “backup” applications from genuine interest. Record the motivations you hear so you can check for consistency later.
Questions that just restate a résumé are useless. Follow-ups should uncover what the candidate personally drove, their real contribution and what they learned and applied next. Lee narrowed his criteria to traits shared by people who succeed in startups without manuals or much data:
Korea’s Fair Hiring Procedure Act bans requests for personal information unrelated to the job — mandatory for workplaces with 30 or more regular employees and good practice for smaller ones. Don’t ask about marriage or children, hometown or parents’ occupations, or age, height and weight.
Interviews are also when candidates evaluate you. After verification, briefly share the company’s vision and the team, then invite questions. Candidates who ask about the team’s problems and goals, not just pay and perks, stand out.
A well-run interview improves candidate experience; even those not hired may leave positive reviews or refer others. Careers pages and interviews are employer branding at its closest range. For how hiring is changing, see why the middle of startup HR careers is disappearing, and for growth after joining, how to keep growing as your organization scales.
Ten minutes for icebreaking and motivation, 40 for questions and verification, and 10 for Q&A and wrap-up, adjusted to the candidate.
Zero-to-one experience, data-driven thinking, unlearning and learning, resilience, grit and self-initiative, probed through follow-up questions.
Anything unrelated to the job, such as marriage or children plans, hometown or parents’ jobs, and age, height or weight — prohibited under Korea’s Fair Hiring Procedure Act.
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