3 Short Words Could Be the Perfect Answer to a Difficult Job

Expert Opinion By Jeff Haden, Contributing editor, Inc. @jeff_haden

Over the years I've asked thousands of interview questions. The most common job interview questions. The most common behavioral interview questions. Occasionally, an unusual interview question. (But never brain teaser interview questions, for good reason.)

Out of all those questions, only one person ever said, "I don't know." Everyone else gave every question the old college try. Platitudes. Generalizations. Opinions instead of facts. Everyone cobbled together some sort of answer.

After all, an interview is like a test where you need to answer all the questions.

But she didn't. We were talking about process improvement and I said, "What would you do if increased productivity seems to always result in higher waste?" That wasn't a question I usually asked; it came up naturally in conversation, she was/is smart, and I was genuinely curious.

She paused. "I don't know," she said. "I haven't worked in a manufacturing plant."

Red flag? Conventional wisdom says yes: The best job candidates provide the best answers.

But not for her.

And not for Google CEO Sundar Pichai. In 2004, Sundar was a consultant with McKinsey when he interviewed for a job at Google as the VP of product management.

During an early interview, he was asked his thoughts on Gmail, an obvious question to ask a person whose job it would be to lead product development. The problem was, Gmail had just been announced the day of the interview, which meant Sundar knew nothing--could know nothing--about Gmail.

Most people would have reached for an answer. Possibly speculating on how Gmail would fit within Google's suite of tools and applications. Or describing the weaknesses of other email platforms, and how Gmail might solve them. Or predicting how an email service would add another input to Google's flywheel.

Most people would have said something.

Not Sundar. He thought for a moment and said, "I don't know. I haven't used it."

Not my job candidate. She said, "I don't know. I haven't worked in a manufacturing plant."

Think of those answers as a sign of confident humility. People less confident in their ability to learn and grow are naturally less willing to admit a weakness or failure. When you're insecure, it's natural to pretend you have the answers. (Or at least an answer.)

That's why my job candidate then said, "But here's what I would do. First I would look at the data to see if the correlation remains steady under different outcomes. Then I would determine which variables contribute most to increased productivity: Maybe they're rushing the job changeover, or they have to do certain things differently when the line is running faster. Something is happening. It shouldn't be too hard to spot at least a few things we could try to change."

She was right in general--something was happening--and wrong in eventual specific. (The main cause was that operators were starting the line before they had fine-tuned quality, under the assumption they could make final adjustments quickly. That rarely turned out to be the case, though--hence greater waste. The idea was good, the execution less so.) Over time, we made process and equipment changes that allowed for speed and accuracy.

Whether she was right or wrong didn't matter. I didn't expect her to know the answer. (We didn't know it, how could she?) 

What I liked is that she admitted she didn't know, and then talked about how she would go about knowing.

So I hired her.

The same happened to Sundar. He didn't know how to answer the Gmail question, yet he was hired.

Confident humility underlies what Jeff Bezos says is the number one sign of intelligence. Bezos looks for people who can admit when they don't know. Who can admit when they are wrong. Who can change their opinions quickly, and often.

Bezos believes the smartest people are open to new points of view, new information, new ideas, contradictions, and challenges to their own way of thinking.

In short, they know they don't have all the answers--and even when they do think they have the answer, they're constantly looking for new information or perspectives that might cause them to change their way of thinking.

The next time someone says, "I don't know," pay attention to what they say next.

Maybe they'll say, "Can you help me?" That's a good sign, because it shows vulnerability, respect, the willingness to listen, and the desire to improve. 

Maybe they'll say, "But here's what I would do to figure it out." That's a good sign, because it shows they've faced the unknown before, and feel confident they can gain the knowledge and skills required.

In either case, "I don't know," isn't necessarily a sign of weakness.

It could be a sign of strength.

Photo Credit: Getty Images.