CLICK HERE TO 📄 Download the “What Does Success Look Like?” Planning Worksheet
“What does success look like in this role?”
It’s an AMAZING question.
And I wish I could take credit for it, but it was my colleague Katie who first asked this in an interview with a client.
When I heard the answer, I immediately knew she’d struck gold.
Since then, I’ve stolen it (with full credit to Katie Hardie, of course) and I’ve asked it to EVERY other client I’ve had (and ever will).
It’s such a simple question, and yet the answer is SO unbelievably insightful. It tells you exactly what’s going on in their company – the pressure points, the expectations, the politics, the fire drills no one’s mentioned yet.
And with that knowledge, it’s revolutionised our ability to match candidates to the right roles.
Pretty cool, right? But why am I telling you?
Because…
You NEED to ask this question in interviews.
“What does success look like in this role?”
Or at least a variation of it…
- What would you expect the person in this role to have delivered after 3 months?
- What’s fixed by month 6?
- What does success look like at the 12-month mark?
And candidates who ask this will stand out.
Because they’re not just trying to get the job – they’re already thinking about how to do the job.
I remember one interview where two candidates were neck and neck…
On paper, Candidate A was the clear front-runner. More experience, more relevant titles…
But Candidate B walked into the final round and asked;
“What would a successful candidate look like in this role after 6 months?”
They spent the rest of the interview sketching out the real problems in the company and how they’d tackle them.
Guess who got the offer?
And it doesn’t just reveal your intent. It tells you everything about the company, too.
If the answer is vague, defensive, or completely uninspiring, that’s a red flag.
If they can’t articulate what success looks like, chances are they haven’t scoped the role properly…
Or worse: they just want someone to “keep the lights on” without making a fuss.
You don’t want that job.
But if they say;
“We’re behind on cash visibility, we need to get hedging right, and the CFO wants a quarterly dashboard that actually makes sense”?
Now you know what you’re walking into. And you can show them exactly how you’d solve it.
So, if you’re prepping for an interview, don’t just review your CV or practise your strengths and weaknesses routine…
Do what I did and steal this question.
Write at the top of your notes:
“What does success look like in this role at 3, 6, and 12 months?”
Ask it. Pause. Let them talk.
Then use what they say to show how you’d deliver it.
That’s how real conversations start. The kind that lands offers.
Best regards,
Mike
P.S. Have you ever been in an interview where the answers raised your eyebrows (or alarm bells)?
