Product, marketing and design
A spoken interview can’t test the writing itself. It tests what sits behind it: how they research, how they respond to an editor’s changes, and whether they can explain why one draft is better than another. Read their writing samples separately, and use this interview to hear how they think.
Writing isn’t an on-camera job, so this interview is audio-only. The AI’s follow-up questions draw out the reasoning behind a specific piece.
What to look for
The questions
Ask them in order. Listen for real details: what happened, what the candidate did, and how it ended.
Strong answer
Covers the brief and audience, how they researched, the outline, and what changed between drafts and in editing, and why.
Weak answer
“I researched the topic and wrote it.”
Strong answer
Describes the feedback in detail, what they agreed with, what they pushed back on and why, and how the piece ended up.
Weak answer
Says the editor was wrong, or accepted every change without thinking about it.
Strong answer
Goes to original sources, talks to experts, checks each claim, and says when a piece needs someone who knows more.
Weak answer
Rewrites whatever comes up first in a web search.
Strong answer
Gives a specific example and explains why it works: it’s concrete, it makes you want to read the next sentence, and the piece delivers what the opening promises.
Weak answer
“It should be catchy”, with no example.
Strong answer
Changes the words, how much the reader is assumed to know, the length and the examples, and can say what stays the same.
Weak answer
“I’d just change the tone.”
Strong answer
Gives an honest reason, such as the wrong audience, a weak headline, or a piece that didn’t match what readers were searching for, and says what they tried next.
Weak answer
Doesn’t know how any of their pieces performed.
Strong answer
Is specific about where they use them, like research or outlines, where they don’t, and how they check facts and keep the voice their own.
Weak answer
Avoids the question, or has tools write whole drafts and publishes them with light edits.
Strong answer
Names a writer or publication and a specific technique they’ve borrowed, like short paragraphs or leading with the example.
Weak answer
Can’t name anyone, or names someone without saying why.
Before the interview
Short form questions the candidate answers before the interview. You read the answers next to the interview. They aren’t scored.
Listen for
Avoid
Use this in LessRounds
Paste the questions into a scripted interview, where the AI reads each question word for word. Add the skills from the scorecard, then share one link. Every content writer candidate gets the same questions. You get a score for each skill, with the candidate’s own words that explain it.
Not on its own, and it shouldn’t pretend to. It tells you how they think about writing: their process, how they take feedback, and their judgment. Collect samples as an upload with the interview and read them separately. Tell candidates up front that a portfolio review and a small paid writing task come in a later interview.
Yes, if it takes more than an hour or you might publish it. Keep it short, give a real brief, and only ask the candidates you’re seriously considering.
Start with 100 free credits, enough for about 20 interviews. No credit card or sales call needed.