At my job, I have always been advised to use implicit questioning. This generally ensures that the candidates’ experience matches the requirements of the role. Explicit questioning is great for understanding candidates’ preferences to ensure that I can provide them the best opportunity.

One day, I was working with a candidate for a technical role at Amazon. He passed two phone screens and a rigorous onsite interview, which consisted of five rounds with five different individuals. When it was time to make an offer to him, he told me that although he would love to have the opportunity to work with us, he needed to pass. I remembered him being very excited about the opportunity in the beginning, so I was determined to understand what happened and started asking him questions. Initially, I asked him if he received a better opportunity, to which he replied no. Eventually, he let me know that his father suddenly fell ill so he had to move back to his home country and thus reject our offer. I really wanted to help him, so I started asking explicit questions such as “You have to move to India immediately and you don’t have a job lined out, am I correct?” He told me that it isn’t immediately but he does have to move within the next couple of months and he won’t come back to USA as he is fully relocating. The information I got thanks to explicit questioning gave me an idea and I talked to my hiring manager about his situation. He was very successful during the interview and the team really didn’t want to lose him. We decided to give him the offer in America and hire him as he didn’t have to relocate immediately. After him joining the team, we opened a relocation case and Amazon helped him with visas and a relocation package, so he was able to expense this big cost and save money for helping his father. In this case, ignorance could have let me fall into an ORJI trap, but I didn’t let it happen. I was able to observe the candidate and the situation. While my reaction was not solely based on emotion, I was aware why I felt the way I did. My judgment was made in a logical manner and my explicit questioning was the correct intervention.