A Google Cloud exec shares the two ways she evaluates creativity in job interviews

Google executive Yasmeen Ahmad is looking for something specific when hiring engineers — and it’s not just technical know-how.

Ahmad told Business Insider that the typical software engineering interview used to focus on detailed coding tests and test suites. Now, as she hires for a forward-deployed engineering team, which will work with customers, she said she’s prioritizing people with fresh ideas.

The strongest candidates are “able to think outside the box,” Ahmad, director of Google Cloud’s data cloud, said. “They’re able to think outside the frame of how we would have normally described a problem.”

The executive added that candidates who take a traditional approach to engineering aren’t performing as well in her team’s interviews. The ideal candidate nowadays, she said, can demonstrate creative problem-solving by using AI to reimagine traditional processes. She said she evaluates that type of thinking in two ways:

1. Constant experimentation

Ahmad…