To Test Critical Thinking Skills, Consider the Flip Interview

For organizational success, hiring top talent is important, but traditional job interviews have limitations when assessing essential skills, particularly critical thinking. Organizations seeking growth or survival in challenging times must recruit individuals with strong critical thinking abilities, curiosity, problem-solving and active-listening skills, and a propensity for learning. To address this challenge, hiring managers should consider the flip interview, which is inspired by the Socratic method. In the flip interview, the candidate interviews the hiring manager, asking questions about a given scenario. This approach helps assess the candidate’s abilities to suss out problems and contextualize information, formulate narratives, and problem solve. The flip interview is composed of four stages: framing, linking, interpreting, and proceeding. Each stage helps you evaluate the candidate’s critical thinking, adaptability, and curiosity based on their questions and the depth of their inquiry. Individuals who excel in the flip interview are critical thinkers who can identify strategy weaknesses and uncover alternative paths, making them valuable assets to organizations. Fostering a culture of curiosity is crucial for building successful teams; organizations should embrace questioning as a vital skill. To build resilience in a complicated world, organizations need to create an environment where employees are motivated to ask questions, reframe challenges as opportunities, and adapt to changing business conditions.