How to Interview With CognaCore.
Read this before you apply. It's short. It tells you what we're deciding, how the process runs, and how to show us what you can do.
What We Are Deciding
Every interview is scored against three questions. Nothing else.
- Where could this person be their best in the firm?
- Will they make the team stronger?
- Will they tell us when something won't work?
If we can't answer all three, we don't make an offer. Knowing the questions doesn't make them easier to pass. It makes the interview shorter.
How the Process Runs
How to Prepare
Bring one piece of work you can walk through end to end.
What the problem was, what you decided, what happened, and what you'd do differently. We'll ask about the part that went wrong.
Know where you're strongest.
We'll ask. “Everything” isn't an answer, and neither is the job title. Name the work you'd want handed to you first.
Be specific.
Numbers, tools, dates, names of the decisions. “Led,” “drove,” and “supported” tell us nothing. “Cut the estimate turnaround from nine days to four” tells us a lot.
Disagree and commit.
If we describe an approach and you think it will not work, say so and say why. That is the third question. We are not looking for contrarians. Once the decision is made, we want people who carry it out as if it were their own.
Ask us hard questions.
About the client, the firm, the work, the money. We'll answer them.
What Counts Against You
- Describing what the team did without saying what you did.
- Claiming skills you can't demonstrate when asked. We'd rather hear “I have not done that.”
- A resume that is a list of titles. We hire for outcomes, and the resume should read that way.
- Agreeing with something you think won't work.
What You Can Expect From Us
- We ask about work you've done.
- Scores written down before we talk to each other about you.
- A decision either way, sent to you directly.
- Straight answers to your questions, including the ones about money.
That's the whole process.