Staffing: 20 Great Interviewing Questions

Written by Marcia Zidle | Edited by Rory Hart
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    A woman interviewed by a staff

    Asking questions prompts answers. Asking great questions can result in great information about a potential job seeker’s qualifications.

    Here are a list of questions to ask to find out more about the person and to determine how good a match there is between the individual and the job.

    Warm-Up Questions

    1. Tell me about yourself.
    2. What made you apply for this position?
    3. What do you know about this company?

    Work History

    4. What parts of your work experience has prepared you for this job?
    5. Can you describe one or two of your most important accomplishments?
    6. Which job did you find the most satisfying and which job the least satisfying?
    7. What kinds of people do you find it easy to work with? Difficult to work with?
    8. In your previous jobs what kinds of pressures did you encounter? How did you deal with them?

    Job Performance

    9. How did your supervisor, on your most recent job, evaluate your job performance? What were some of the good and bad points of that rating?
    10. When you have been told or discovered a problem in your job performance, what have you typically done? Can you give me an example?
    11. What are some of the things on your job you feel you have done particularly well or in which you have achieved the greatest success?
    12. What are some of the problems you encounter in doing your job? Which ones frustrate you the most? What do you usually do about it?
    13. If I were to ask your present (most recent) employer about your ability to do____________ what would he/she say?

    Self-Assessment

    14. What kind of things do you feel most confident in doing?
    15. What things frustrate you the most? How do you usually cope?
    16. What do you think are the most important characteristics and abilities a person must possess to become a successful? How do you rate yourself in these areas?

    Leadership

    17. What specifically do you do to set an example for your employees?
    18. What approach do you take in getting your people to accept your ideas or department goals?
    19. Can you describe your basic leadership style? Give specific examples of how you practice it.
    20. What would you most like to accomplish if you had this job? What might make you leave this job?

    Management Success Tip:

    Avoid these popular but meaningless questions: What animal would you like to be? what’s your favorite movie? What book would you want to have if you were stranded on a desert island? Although you may get interesting answers, it doesn’t tell you what you need – is this candidate the most qualified and the right person for the job. Rather focus on specific questions to get specific answers. Also see The Top Five Hiring Mistakes and Behavioral Interviewing.

    Do you want to develop your Management Smarts?

    Marcia Zidle