The make-or-break job interview question I always ask [Video]

Gary Shapiro has one interview question he always poses to job candidates: How soon can you start?

It’s a straightforward inquiry, but a person’s response can be immediately disqualifying, says Shapiro, the longtime CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, a trade organization that produces the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

If an interviewee says they can start in less than two weeks — and they’re currently employed — “they don’t get the job, because they’ll treat us the way they treat that former employer,” Shapiro, 68, tells CNBC Make It. The pass-fail question doesn’t apply to candidates who are currently without a job, he notes.

“I want an [employee] with a level of commitment to their organization — even if they don’t love their job — where they won’t leave their employer hanging,” says Shapiro, who’s been the CTA’s CEO for the past 33 years.

How people leave their jobs is “really important,” he …