Interview Question Guide

All questions must be job-related. Ensure that:

- the answer to the question measures or predicts job performance

- the same questions are asked of every applicant
- the questions focus on job-related functions and the applicant’s ability to perform those
functions
- the questions are based on the knowledge, skills, and abilities listed in the job description

Sample Job-Related Questions:

A variety of job-related questions are listed below. They are designed to assist hiring managers to
obtain pertinent information from applicants.

1. Questions To Learn How The Applicant Regards Current or Past Positions

• Would you tell me about your present (last) position?

• How would you describe a typical workday?
• What activities did you enjoy most at your last job?
• What do you feel you do best? Why?
• What job functions are most difficult for you? Why?
• What problems do you encounter on the job? Which frustrate you the most? Why? How
do you deal with them?
• What was your greatest contribution in your present (past) position?
• What are the reasons you left your last job?
• Give two examples of things you have done in previous jobs that demonstrate your
willingness to work hard.
• In your current job, what organizational change have you made or contributed to that
you are proud of? How did you go about making the change? What has been the
impact of the change?
• Tell me about the last new procedure you had to learn in your job. Tell me what
specifically the hardest aspect was of learning the new procedure. Tell me specifically
what you liked best about learning the new procedure. How well is the new procedure
working now?

2. Questions To Probe The Applicant’s Relationships With People

• What do you feel are your supervisor’s greatest strengths? Why? Weaknesses? Why?
• For what kinds of things have you been recognized? Criticized?
• How would you characterize your coworkers?
• What disagreements have you had with coworkers?
• How would you describe your relationships with people in other departments?
• What kind of people do you enjoy working with? What kind do you find difficult?
• What do you consider essential in the management of people?
• What types of committees have you worked on? What did you contribute?
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 • What types of teams have you been a part of? What was your role on the team?
• Tell me specifically which co-workers in your organization are your customers. What
have you done specifically to improve the service you give these internal customers?
• Tell me about a time when a co-worker had a good idea and you agreed but no one
else was willing to listen. How did you handle the situation and what was the outcome?
• Give a specific example of a time when you had to deal with an angry customer. What
was the problem and what was the outcome? What was your role in diffusing the
situation?
• Tell about a situation at work where you realized a person needed help. How did you
realize the person needed assistance and what did you do? What was the outcome of
this situation?
• Describe a time when you were able to effectively communicate a difficult or unpleasant
idea to a superior. What made your communication work?
• It can be difficult to build good relationships at work but sometimes it does not always
work. If you can, tell about a time when you were not able to build a successful
relationship with a difficult person. How did you handle the situation? How did you
accomplish the work?

3. Questions To Stimulate Self-Assessment

• As an employee, what do you consider your greatest strengths?

• In what areas would you most like to improve? Why?
• What motivates you?
• Why did you select this particular field of work?
• Name three things you have done in the past two years to grow in your job.
• What self-development activities are you currently engaged in?
• Tell us how you keep your job knowledge current with ongoing changes.
• Describe a time when you received negative feedback and turned it into something
positive.
• Tell me about a specific time you sought specific feedback on your performance from
subordinates. Specifically, how did you use the feedback? Cite specific changes
resulting from the feedback?

4. Questions To Determine How The Applicant Would Apply Skills, Experience, and
Knowledge To The Vacant Position

• What attracts you to the job for which you are applying?
• What do you believe qualifies you for this position?
• What elements of this job would be new to you?
• What additional training do you feel is required to achieve full proficiency?
• Compare what you know about the job you are interviewing for and your own
knowledge and skill. What areas of development do you feel you will need to meet the
job expectations?
• How do you go about explaining a complex technical problem to a person who does not
understand the technical jargon?

A common type of job interview is the behavioral interview or behavioral event interview. In this
type of interview, the interviewers tend to ask questions about general situations, with the applicants
asked to describe how they did or would handle a specific situation.
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5. Questions To Determine Behaviors the Applicant Would Display In Certain Situations

• Describe your most challenging customer service situation and explain how you
handled it.
• What has been your greatest professional mistake and what did you do to recover from
it?
• Describe a time when you were faced with a stressful situation and how you handled it.
• Give me a specific example of a time when you used good judgment and logic in solving
a problem
• Give me an example of a time when you set a goal and were able to achieve it.
• Tell me about a time when you had too many things to do and you were required to
prioritize your tasks.
• Describe your typical way of dealing with conflict and please include an example.
• Tell me about a difficult decision you have made in the last year.
• Give me an example of a time when something you tried to accomplish failed.
• Give me an example of when you showed initiative and took the lead on a project.
• Tell me about a recent situation in which you had to deal with a very upset customer or
co-worker.
• Give me an example of a time when you motivated others.
• Tell me about a time when you delegated a project effectively.
• Give me an example of a time when you used your fact-finding skills to solve a problem.
• Describe a time when you anticipated potential problems and developed preventive
measures.
• What do you do when your schedule is interrupted? Give an example of how you
handle it.
• Have you had to convince a team to work on a project they were not thrilled about? How
did you do it?
• Tell me about how you have worked effectively under pressure.
• Describe a time when you went over and above your job expectation. What motivated
you to put forth the extra effort? How did you feel when the job was finished? Did
others realize you had put forth the extra effort? What feedback did you get for your
effort?
• Tell us about a job or setting where great attention to detail was required to complete a
task. What steps were involved? How did you handle that situation?
• Describe a time when you have had to work with strong-willed peers. What did you do?
How did you handle them so you could influence their decisions?
• Tell us about a time when you had to analyze information and make a recommendation.
What kind of thought process did you go through? What was your reasoning behind
your decision?
• Give examples to illustrate how you have generated ideas that represent thinking
“outside the box.” How were your ideas received by others? What became of the
ideas?
• There are times we work without close supervision or support to get the job done. Tell
us about a time when you found yourself in such a situation and how things turned out.
• Describe a time when one of your staff or your work team was working below work
expectations. What was your response? How did the other party/parties respond?
What was the ultimate outcome?

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6. Questions related to Veterans

• What challenges do you foresee as a new civilian employee?

• What people or resources were you responsible for in the military?
• Looking across your recent military work experience, what key knowledge, skills,
abilities and experience would you say are most valuable?
• Tell me about a specific time when you suggested to improve the quality of the work
done in your unit. Tell me about a specific time when you suggested to improve the
efficiency of your unit.

Performance-Based Interviewing Tips

• Performance-based interviewing (PBI) can be a useful method in attracting high-quality,

high-performing candidates; it assesses the candidate’s ability to do the job, fit, and
determines if the job represents a career-move for the candidate.

o Like behavioral interview questions, PBI questions ask job applicants to tell about
what they did (their behavior) in the past. When deciding who is the best applicant,
the interviewer will look at the degree to which each applicant possesses the
important knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics necessary for
successful job performance.

• Ask the candidate to solve a realistic job-related problem. Pay attention to how the person
would solve the problem rather than the answer as this uncovers strategic and analytical
skills.

• Ask about the culture of the current/previous employment experience and their manager’s
leadership style, and how this impacted the candidate’s job performance. This explores
how the candidate can work in different organizational cultures and with different
managers.

• Explore the candidate’s accomplishments by using “the most significant accomplishment

question”.

o What is the best work that you have ever done? (such as a career-defining event).
When was it? How long did it take? What challenges and changes did you face?
What did you learn and what would you change?

• Also explore nontechnical skills and leadership qualities, such as proactively coaching a
peer or team management and organization skills to achieve results.

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 Permissible Inquiries During Interviews

SUBJECT PERMISSIBLE INQUIRIES NON-PERMISSIBLE

INQUIRIES
Name Whether applicant has worked for the Inquiries about the name that
University under a different name. Whether would indicate applicant’s
any additional information relative to change of lineage, ancestry, national
name or use of an assumed name or nickname origin, or descent. Inquiries
is necessary to enable a check on applicant’s into previous name of
work and educational record applicant when it has been
changed by court order,
marriage, or otherwise.

Marital and Family Whether applicant can meet specified work Any inquiries indicating
Status schedules or has activities, commitments, or whether an applicant is single,
responsibilities that may hinder the meeting of divorced, engaged, etc.
work attendance requirements. Inquiries as to Inquiries about number and
duration of stay on job or anticipated absences age of children. Any such
that are made to males and females alike. question that directly or
indirectly results in limitation of
job opportunity in any way.

Age If a minor, require proof of age in form of a work Requirement that applicant
permit or certificate of age. Require proof of state age or date of birth.
age by certificate after being hired. Whether Requirement that applicant
applicant meets the minimum age requirements produce proof of age in the
as set by law; or statement that upon hire, proof form of a birth certificate or
of age must be submitted. If age is a legal baptismal record before hiring.
requirement, whether applicant, if hired, can (The Age Discrimination in
furnish proof of age; or statement that hire is Employment Act of 1967
subject to verification of age. forbids discrimination against
persons who are age 40 and
older.)

Citizenship If applicant is not a U.S. citizen, whether he or Inquiries into applicant’s

she has the legal right to remain permanently in lineage, ancestry, national
the U.S. Statement that if hired, applicant may origin, descent, birthplace,
be required to submit proof of citizenship. If not mother tongue, or national
a citizen, whether applicant is prevented origin of applicant’s parents or
lawfully from becoming employed because of spouse.
visa or immigration status.

Ancestry or National There are no acceptable pre-employment Inquiry asking specifically the
Origin inquiries regarding race, color, or national nationality, racial, or religious
origin. It is unlawful to discriminate against an affiliation of a school. Inquiry
applicant on the basis of race, lineage, ancestry as to applicant’s mother
descent, place of birth, or national tongue or how foreign
origin/citizenship. Inquiry should be limited to language ability was acquired.
asking whether applicant is legally eligible to
work in the United States.

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 SUBJECT PERMISSIBLE INQUIRIES NON-PERMISSIBLE
INQUIRIES
Education Inquiry into applicant’s academic, vocational, or
professional education and schools attended.
Inquiry into language skills such as reading,
speaking, and writing foreign languages.

Experience Inquiry into applicant’s work experience, including

names and addresses of previous employers,
dates of employment, reasons for leaving, and into
other countries visited.

Are there other factors that we have not discussed

General
that would impact your decision to accept this
position if offered?
Specific inquiry into foreign
Address or addresses that would indicate
Inquiry as to applicant’s address and place and
Duration of national origin. Inquiry into
length of current and previous addresses. Inquiry
Residence names or relationship or persons
into how long applicant has been a resident of the
state or city. with whom applicant resides.
Whether applicant owns or rents
home.

Military Record Inquiry into type of education and experience in Type of discharge.
service as it relates to a particular job, dates of
service, branch of service.

Photograph Statement that it may be required after hiring for Request photograph before
identification. hiring. Requirement that
applicant affix a photograph to
his or her application. Request
that applicant, at his or her
option, submit photograph.
Requirement of photograph after
interview but before hiring.

Disability May ask about an applicant’s ability to perform Inquiries about an applicant’s
specific job functions. May ask applicants to physical and/or mental
describe/demonstrate how they would perform job condition. Disability- related
tasks. Once a conditional job offer is made, questions or request for medical
disability-related questions and medical examination prior to making a
examinations are permissible if required for all conditional job offer to the
employees in the job category. applicant.