The ultimate question when hiring someone is not the one to which the answer is 42. It's the one that gives you a clear understanding of the person's work habits. That question came to me today.

As I was passing by my mechanic's garage, I decided I may as well stop in to get my car inspected. There was a man there waiting who had the same thought. Both of us are the types who bring our cars in at the first opportunity -- the first of the month. As we chatted, we agreed that we like to know things are done and that we don't have to worry that things will crop up that will interfere with getting the inspection done. We also don't want to feel stressed about rushing to fix something the prevents the car from passing inspection on the last day of the month.

Our choice of days for taking care of things like this says a lot about how we approach tasks and our sense of responsibility. There are people in my family who are the opposite. They would think it's absurd to rush out to get it done when you have another 30 days. They're the types who forget to cancel their subscriptions when they have assured me they will do so because they fail to remember in time. That extreme type is likely to even miss the inspection on the 30th or 31st and may only remember when getting a ticket for a lapsed inspection sticker.

Consequently, this is the question that hiring managers should ask rather than all the usual hypothetical stuff to figure out if the job candidate has a strong sense of responsibility and a healthy respect for deadlines. If you operate the type of place where you don't care about these things, and you don't want your employees to care about them either (because it can be frustrating for a conscientious worker to be working under those who don't want to be held to a timeline) then the car inspection habit can also reveal the answer you seek.

Obviously, the world is not simply divided into those who get the car inspected on the first day or the month or the last day of the month. I don't always get it in on the first either. But the tendency toward the beginning or end of the month tells you a lot about how the person thinks and operates.