A woman who owns a consulting firm aimed to assist workers changing careers has briefly explained the secret to a successful job interview.
Kendal Lindstrom, 25, submitted an as-told-to essay to Business Insider earlier this year after she posted a viral TikTok video about her tips on March 11.
According to Lindstrom, she has always been successful in landing a job that she’s interviewed for.
Her best advice to impressing in interviews, which she briefly explained in her video and essay, is to come prepared to ask five specific questions to the employee that’s conducting the interview.
‘Questions that I come prepared with to ask the interview panel after my interview is what sets me apart and keeps me memorable,’ she said in her video.
Kendal Lindstrom, 25, posted a TikTok video on March 11 and listed the top 5 questions she would ask an employee while being interviewed for a job
Lindstrom claimed in her video and an essay she submitted to Business Insider that she’s never not been offered a job that she was interviewed for
Lindstrom, who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, founded Doux in October 2023.
She described Doux on her LinkedIn as ‘a Career Change Management consulting firm with the development of personal job portfolios and the guidance to enter into new markets, otherwise unattainable.’
Lindstrom explained in her essay that she started Doux because she didn’t like to be put in a box when it came to her career.
She originally wanted to be known as ‘the girl in fashion’ after she graduated from college, which ended up not being the case.
While she worked in fashion, she’s also had positions in medical sales, and as a tech consultant.
Lindstrom followed a formula before applying to her jobs – mapping out a résumé based on the career choice – and not the previous job.
She advises her clients to contact their hiring manager and that when it comes to an interview, ‘it’s about follow-ups.’
Lindstrom, who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, founded Doux in October 2023. Doux is a career-change consulting firm that has Lindstrom founded after working multiple jobs
Prior to founding Doux, Lindstrom worked in fashion, medical sales, and as a tech consultant. Lindstrom originally wanted to be known as ‘the girl in fashion’ after she graduated from college
Lindstrom purposely pushed herself to do well at her job while she worked as a tech consultant.
She explained in her essay that it’s primarily about how one presents themselves professionally rather than what answers they give to the questions that are asked.
According to the consulting firm founder, she had the drive the company was looking for in an applicant.
Lindstrom would spend 30 minutes reading a training book that her company gave her after every work day, and she would try to apply what she learned.
She would then find time to go to her boss the next day and say: ‘This is what I learned yesterday. Tell me how you have seen this applied in scenarios with a client.’
Her hard work over the years in all her career choices led her to participate in 10 or 11 interviews.
Lindstrom added that she believes that she’s never not been offered a job after her interview because her goal was to make an employer feel like she had their best interests at heart and that she wanted to be part of their company.
Her questions that she would always ask an employer after her interview may have also pointed her in the right direction in the minds of a superior at a workplace.
Lindstrom pushed herself to do well while she was working as a tech consultant. She would spend 30 minutes reading a training book that her company gave her everyday
In her opinion, one of the make-it-or-break-it questions she always asks at a job interview is: ‘What is the company culture like, and what do you guys do to actively keep it a positive environment?’
Lindstrom’s essay read that she wanted her audience to know that the question is important because it’s part of what makes someone enjoy their job.
She believes that employees who accept a job that makes them miserable will set themselves up to fail.
Once an applicant has an idea about the work culture, they can move on and ask: ‘What did the person in this role before me do that was appreciated but not required based on the job description.’
Lindstrom suggested the question so that applicants can imagine themselves working in the position they applied for.
She has used the ‘assumptive selling tactic’ more than once and she even changed it up once and asked and employer: ‘What are you going to miss most about this person?’
That interviewer told Lindstrom that their previous employee always bought Starbucks for their co-workers, to which she responded: ‘Great, I guess we’ll be getting Starbucks for the office all the time.’
This answer may have helped her get an idea of what the team would be like, which in part deals with work culture and the third question: ‘How can I best suit the needs of my direct counterparts.’
Lindstrom believes that a make-it-or-break-it question is, ‘What is the company culture like, and what do you guys do to actively keep it a positive environment’
Lindstrom suggested that applicants imagine themselves working in the position they applied for after asking the interviewer about a previous employee that worked in the job role
Lindstrom revealed in her essay that the question came from wanting to understand the team of colleagues that could turn into co-workers.
This fact would help in understanding and identifying how one would best fit into the team.
Lindstrom admitted that she’s seen unhappy teams before in a workplace.
However, she added that no one truly knows what it’s like until their first day at work, and if it’s not good, they will have to decide if they should leave or stick with their job until they find another one.
Relationships could impact the success of a team, which could be a partial reason as to why Lindstrom would ask ‘what is the current state of this department and how are they performing in reference to the bottom line.’
This question, which she said concerns sales, also led her to ask questions like, ‘Am I walking into a failing department’ or ‘Are you expecting me to just take the blame for something that’s already failing.’
It could impact the company’s future, and before one’s interview is finished , Lindstrom suggests that the applicant ask, ‘What’s the company’s three-year, five-year, and 10-year plan.’
The Doux CEO admitted in her essay that she loves that final question because she’s never walked into a job and thought, ‘I’m only going to be here for one year,’ or ‘I’m only doing this to collect a paycheck.’
Lindstrom advised readers to ask about the suiting the needs of ones counterparts in a workplace and that she has experience in working somewhere with an unhappy team
Despite these being her top 5 questions, Lindstrom clarified that all one needs or has time to do is ask one of them.
She reviewed the comments on her TikTok video from users who wrote that those were ‘too many questions’ and one person even called her ‘high maintenance.’
Lindstrom wrote in her comment section that asking just one of those questions will leave an interviewer ‘blown away.’
The questions are based on Lindstrom’s personal opinions, but she hopes that others will take her advice to ace their job interviews.
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