How to Ask Interview Questions That Prove You Know the Job
Andrew LaCivita's "preloading the answers" technique: ask interview questions with multiple-choice options attached, then pitch the exact solution the interviewer picks. Example phrasing, concrete steps, and the research on why framed questions read as proof of experience.
You know the moment. The interview winds down, someone says “do you have any questions for us?”, and you reach for the list you googled the night before. Everyone in that room has heard those questions a hundred times, and not one of them proves you can do the job.
In this clip from How to Turn Interview Questions Into Proof You Know the Job, executive recruiter and career coach Andrew LaCivita teaches a different move. Don’t ask an open question. Ask one that comes with its own answer options attached.
What Andrew LaCivita actually said
LaCivita calls the technique “preloading the answers.” Here’s how he describes it:
“We want to ask a question, we want to give them their answers so they can choose from our list that we give them.”
And why it works, in his words:
“Number one, it gives them an understanding that you have real-world experience. It’s a wide range, but it also gives you an opportunity to follow up their response with exactly how you would handle what’s important to them.”
His example is the classic success question. Instead of asking “what does success look like?” and waiting, you follow it up with, “Okay, with those success parameters, is it more important that it’s speed to market, quality of output, consistency over time, or something else?”
Notice what just happened. Only someone who has actually done this kind of work knows those are the tradeoffs that matter. The options themselves are the credential. And whichever one the interviewer picks, you now know exactly which story to tell next.
This is not a trivial edge, because your questions are being scored, not just tolerated. Research Glassdoor commissioned from Aptitude Research Partners found that 88% of hiring decision makers agree an informed candidate is a quality candidate, and 48% said what marks a candidate as informed is being prepared and asking pertinent questions.
How to actually do it
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Pick the two or three problems this role exists to solve. Read the job posting and recent company news, and ask yourself why they’re paying for this seat right now. Those problems become your question topics.
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Write one question per problem with the answers built in. The formula: open question, then “is it more A, B, C, or something else?” For a marketing role, ask, “When you think about pipeline this year, is the bigger constraint lead volume, lead quality, or conversion further down the funnel, or something else?” Negotiation research on multiple simultaneous offers (published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology in 2013) finds that two or three framed options is the sweet spot for revealing what the other side actually cares about; more than that triggers choice overload. Always end with “or something else?” so you’re probing, not boxing them in.
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Prepare one short story per option. This is the whole point. If they pick speed, you have a 60-second example of shipping fast. If they pick quality, you have one for that. Any pick leads to your pitch.
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Deliver the story as a natural follow-up, not a monologue. “That’s useful, speed was exactly the crunch at my last company. Here’s what we did.” This is LaCivita’s second benefit in action. Their answer tells you what’s important to them, and you respond with precisely how you’d handle it.
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Rehearse until it sounds like curiosity, not a script. Say it out loud a few times. The goal is a sharp colleague thinking through the problem with them, not a candidate running a play.
One thing to watch
The format cuts both ways. If your answer options are generic or wrong for this company, you’ve just demonstrated a shallow model of the job, in a way an open question never would have. Question-design research, like Nielsen Norman Group’s guidance on open versus closed questions, also finds open questions draw out richer, less constrained answers. So use this move only on the one or two questions where you genuinely have the research and the stories, and keep the rest of your questions open.
Before your next interview
Preloading the answers works because it flips the question round from information-gathering into evidence. It’s the same reason most networking falls flat. Telling people you’re good is noise, showing them is signal. Speakrphone runs on the same idea, turning your talks and speaking moments into a talk resume you can share anywhere.
Frequently asked
How many multiple-choice questions should I prepare?
Two or three, each with two or three answer options. The research on presenting framed options finds that more than three triggers choice overload, and you rarely get time for more than a few questions anyway. Depth beats coverage: one well-built question with real stories behind it outperforms a long list of open ones.
What if the interviewer picks an option I don't have a story for?
That's why you always end with "or something else?" If they name something unexpected, ask one honest follow-up about it, then connect it to your closest real experience. Never fake a story; a stretched example under follow-up questioning does more damage than saying "that's newer territory for me, here's the nearest thing I've handled."
Does this work in a first-round recruiter screen?
Usually not at full strength. Recruiters often can't answer detailed questions about success metrics or team tradeoffs, so a preloaded question can land awkwardly. Save the full version for hiring managers and future teammates, and use a lighter variant with recruiters, like asking whether the role is more of a build-from-scratch or an optimize-what-exists job.
