Introductory Questions
- What five adjectives best describe you?
- How would you describe your character?
- Why should I consider you for this position?
- What can you do for us that someone else cannot?
- What qualities do you think are necessary to make a success of this job?
- How would you describe your ideal job?
General Past Job Performance
- Tell me about the last time you made a mistake.
- Tell me about the last time you made a good decision.
- Did you implement new procedures in your previous positions? Tell me about them.
- If you do not leave your current job, what will happen there? How far can you advance?
- Of all the work you have done, where have you been most successful?
- Give me an example of when you demonstrated your customer service skills.
Technical Questions
- Tell me about the types of word processing you did in your last job.
- What software program do you use most often in your current position?
- What was more important in your job, written or oral communication?
- How do you merge a file in Microsoft Word? (or ask a question specific to a computer program the position will be required to know)
Goals
- What do you want to be doing in five years from now?
- What was your favorite job? Why?
- You have stayed with the same organization for several years. Why have you now decided to leave?
- What do you do when you are having trouble with your job?
- What interests you most about this position?
- What would you change about your current job?
- What motivates you?
- Give me an example of an important goal you set and tell me about your progress in reaching that goal.
Supervisory
- How do you motivate people?
- Have you ever hired anyone? Why did you choose that person?
- Have you ever fired anyone? Why?
- What do you do when you are having trouble with your employees?
- Have you ever had to make unpopular decisions? How did you communicate it to your workers?
Performance
- What were your most memorable accomplishments at your last job?
- What is the biggest failure you have had in your career?
- How do you go about making important decisions?
- Give me an example of a time you found a unique solution to a problem.
- What aspects of your job do you like best?
- What aspects of your job do you like least?
Flexibility
- Tell me about the last change that occurred in your office. How did you handle it?
- Tell me about a time when an emergency caused you to reschedule your work/projects.
- When did you go above and beyond the call of duty to get your job done?
- Tell me about a specific occasion when you conformed to a policy even though you did not agree with it.
Stress
- Tell me about a deadline you had to meet. How did you plan for it?
- How do you generally handle conflict?
- What do you do when you’re burned out?
- You have worked in a fast-paced environment. How do you handle the stress?
- You work in a customer is always right environment, how do you handle the stress?
- What kinds of decisions are most difficult for you?
- What is the most difficult work situation you have faced? What stress did you feel?
- What do you do when you have a great deal of work to accomplish in a short period of time?
- What is the most frustrating thing about your current position?
- Describe a time when you were faced with problems or stresses at work that tested your coping skills. What did you do?
Organization/Time Management
- Describe the top of your desk.
- What do you do when you are having trouble solving a problem?
- What do you do when things are slow?
- What do you do when things are hectic?
- What do you do when you have multiple priorities?
- Tell me about your typical work day.
- How much time do you spend on the phone? In meetings?
- Your supervisor left you an assignment, then left for a week. You cannot reach them and you do not fully understand the assignment. What would you do?
- How do you organize and plan for major projects?
- How many projects do you like handling at one time?
- Describe a project that required a high amount of energy over an extended period of time.
- How do you organize yourself for day-to-day activities?
- Tell me about a task you started but just could not seem to get finished.
- Give me an example of a time when you had to be relatively quick in coming to a decision.
Cooperation with Coworkers
- What types of people have trouble getting along with you?
- Do you prefer to work by yourself or with others?
- How would your coworkers describe you?
- What kind of person do you get along with best?
- Define cooperation.
- Tell me about an occasion when, in difficult circumstances, you pulled a team together.
- What do you find most challenging in working with coworkers?
Manageability
- What do supervisors tend to criticize most about your performance?
- If your boss knew you were interviewing, what would he or she say?
- Your supervisor tells you to do something in a way you know is dead wrong. What do you do?
- Tell me about a time when our manager was in a rush and didn’t give you enough attention.
- What are some of the things about which you and your boss disagreed?
- What are some of the things your boss did that you dislike?
- How does a boss get the best of you?