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Shark Tank star Barbara Corcoran is famed for her no-nonsense approach when it comes to closing deals.
Whether it’s clinching a new partnership on the ABC show, selling a business or landing a role—Corcoran knows how to come out on top.
The real estate mogul has now shared the essential question she believes candidates should always ask in a job interview.
Speaking on TikTok, Corcoran, reportedly worth $100 million, added her tactic is guaranteed to earn the respect of the interview panel.
“Do you want to know the most important question you can ask in an interview?” Corcoran asks the camera, appearing in the garden at her home. “I bet you haven’t heard this one.”
Corcoran urges candidates to ask the question before leaving the room: “You look at the person interviewing you and you say to them: ‘Is there anything standing in the way of you hiring me?’”
Simple tactics
It’s one of many simple tactics high-profile individuals have used to land a role.
Recently Warren Buffett’s protege Tracy Britt Cool told CNBC that when she graduated Harvard Business School she wrote to a hose of C-suite executives at top companies.
This lead to meetings with the likes of Morgan Stanley and Bear Stearns—and ultimately a job with Buffett-led Berkshire Hathaway.
Britt Cool said her approach was proactive and respectful, a trait Corcoran highlights is key in her own tactic.
The 74-year-old said the question is: “It’s polite. You force them into the position of telling you what they might object to.
“There may have been a miscommunication, they didn’t understand you. It gives you the last shot.”
As well as establishing a rapport with the interviewing panel, the bold question can also garner their respect, Corcoran added.
Corcoran, who once took former president Donald Trump to court and won, isn’t afraid to voice what’s on her mind.
The TV star famously had to fight for her spot on the ABC show, after she was told by producer Mark Burnett that another female entrepreneur had been given her seat.
She emailed Burnett directly with a request: an invite for both women to go to L.A. to compete for the seat, and the rest is history.
On her interview question, Corcoran finished: “Ask it, watch what happens. You’ll close the deal.”
Tips from the masters
Of course, Corcoran isn’t the only one with a few career tricks up her sleeve.
Her Shark Tank co-star Mark Cuban has previously shared the answer to a “trick question” which he believes landed him a job forty years ago.
During an interview for a PC salesman job with Your Business Software, Cuban was asked what he would do if a customer asked a question he didn’t know the answer to.
In an old blog post, which Cuban reposted on Elon Musk’s social media platform X—formerly known as Twitter—last year, he wrote: “After who knows how long, I blurted out that, ‘I would look it up in the manual and find the answer for them.
“Ding ding ding… [the interviewer] just loved the answer.”
Likewise Bill Gates has previously shared his response to a textbook interview question: “What are your strengths and weaknesses?”
Two years ago the Microsoft co-founder appeared on NBA star Stephen Curry’s YouTube series called State of Inspiration and shared his succinct responses to classic interview questions.
His strengths and weaknesses, Gates had a 30 second response which, like Cuban, was open and honest: “Well I’m not somebody who knows a lot about marketing. I wouldn’t enjoy being a salesman.
“For a position where you’re actually creating the products and thinking through what those features should be, I’m fascinated by that.
“I followed the history of the industry, read about the mistakes that have been made. So product definition, product creation, very strong. If you have a team that understands the customers, the sales, the marketing, I’m not going to bring that, but I would enjoy working with them.”
