Types of Questions 50 Most Common Questions Other Common Questions Behavioral Questions (Grouped by Skill) Other Behavioral Questions

Questions that show you can do the job. These relate to skills, education and experience.
Examples: Why should I hire you? Why do you want to work here? Which subject in school did you like best and why?

Questions that show you will do the job. These relate to positive work attitudes; ability to cope, and motivation for success.
Examples: What would you like to accomplish in the next 10 years? What is it that you want to do? Why did you major in ...?

Questions that show you can get along with others. These relate to interpersonal relationships, focus, flexibility and personality.
Examples: Can you describe an ideal working place in terms of your coworkers? If I called your former adviser, how do you think you would be described? What three people in public life do you admire most?

• What are your long-range and short-range goals and objectives, when and why did you establish these goals, and how are you prepared to achieve them?
• What specific goals, other than those related to your occupation, do you have for the next ten years?
• What do you see yourself doing five years from now?
• What do you really want to do in life?
• What are your long-range career objectives?
• How do you plan to achieve your career goals?
• What are the most important rewards you expect in your career?
• What do you expect to be earning in five years?
• Why did you choose the career for which you are preparing?
• Which is more important to you, the money or the type of job?
• What do you consider to be your greatest strengths and weaknesses?
• How would you describe yourself?
• How do you think a friend or professor who knows you well would describe you?
• What motivates you to put forth the greatest effort?
• How has your education prepared you for a career?
• Why should I hire you?
• What qualifications do you have that make you think you will be successful?
• How do you determine or evaluate success?
• What do you think it takes to be successful in a company like ours?
• In what ways do you think you can make a contribution to our company?
• What qualities should a successful manager possess?
• Describe the relationship that should exist between a supervisor and subordinates.
• What two or three accomplishments have given you the most satisfaction? Why?
• Describe your most rewarding college experience.
• If you were hiring a graduate for this position, what qualities would you look for?
• Why did you select your college or university?
• What led you to choose your field or major study?
• What academic subjects did you like best? Least?
• Do you enjoy doing independent research?
• If you could do so, would you plan your academic study differently?
• What changes would you make in your college or university?
• Do you think that your grades are a good indication of your academic achievement?
• What have you learned from participation in extracurricular activities?
• Do you have plans for continued study?
• Graduate students: Why did you pursue an advanced degree?
• In what kind of work environment are you most comfortable?
• How do you work under pressure?
• In what part-time or summer job have you been most interested? Why?
• How would you describe the ideal job for you following graduation?
• Why did you decide to seek a position with this company?
• What do you know about our company?
• What two or three things are most important to you in your job?
• Are you seeking employment in a company of a certain size? Why?
• What criteria are you using to evaluate the company for which you hope to work?
• Do you have a geographic preference?
• Will you relocate? Does relocation bother you?
• Are you willing to travel?
• Are you willing to spend at least six months as a trainee?
• Why do you think you might like to live in the community in which our company is located?
• What major problem have you encountered and how did you deal with it?
• What have you learned from your mistakes?

• Tell me about yourself.
• What do you know about the position I'm interviewing you for?
• What did you learn in your last three positions?
• Do you like your job? Why?
• During your career, which position did you like best?
• Why do you want to change careers?
• Have you any supervisory or administrative experience? Please tell me about it.
• What is your management style?
• How are your people-management skills? Give me one or two examples.
• How well do you communicate in writing and orally? Give me some examples of this.
• Can you meet deadlines? If so, give me an example.
• Give me an example of a decision you made that benefited your company.
• What would the people who work with you say about you?
• What motivates you?
• What are your hobbies?
• What do you do in your spare time?
• Are you willing to travel for this position?
• If your career demanded it, would you be willing to relocate for advancement?
• What are your salary requirements?
• What would your boss say about you?

Behavioral Interview Questions (grouped by skill):

Adaptability

• Tell me about a situation in which you have had to adjust to changes over which you had no control. How did you handle it?
• Tell me about a time when you had to adjust to a classmate’s or colleague’s working style in order to complete a project or achieve your objectives.
• How was your transition from high school to college? Did you face any particular problems? How did you handle them?
  

Analytical Skills / Problem Solving

• Describe the project or situation that best demonstrates your analytical abilities. What was your role?
• Tell me about a time when you had to analyze information and make a recommendation. To whom did you make the recommendation? What was your reasoning? What kind of thought process did you go through? Why? Was the recommendation accepted? If not, why?
  
• Tell me about a situation where you had to solve a difficult problem. What did you do? What was your thought process? What was the outcome? What do you wish you had done differently?
  
• What steps do you follow to study a problem before making a decision? Why?

Communication

• Tell me about a recent successful experience in making a speech or presentation? How did you prepare? What obstacles did you face? How did you handle them?
  
• Have you ever had to "sell" an idea to your classmates or coworkers? How did you do it? Did they accept your idea?
  
• Give me an example of a time when you were able to successfully communicate with another person even when that individual may not have personally liked you (or vice versa). How did you handle the situation? What obstacles or difficulties did you face? How did you deal with them?
  
• Tell me about a time in which you had to use your written communication skills in order to get an important point across.

Creativity

• When was the last time you thought "outside the box" and how did you do it? Why?
  
• Tell me about a problem that you’ve solved in a unique or unusual way. What was the outcome? Were you happy or satisfied with it?
  
• Give me an example of when someone brought you a new idea that was odd or unusual. What did you do?

Decision Making

• Tell me about a time when you had to make a decision without all the information you needed. How did you handle it? Why? Were you happy with the outcome?
  
• Give me an example of a time when you had to be quick in coming to a decision. What obstacles did you face? What did you do?
  
• What is the most difficult decision you’ve had to make? How did you arrive at your decision? What was the result?

Goal Setting

• Give me an example of an important goal which you have set and tell me how you reached it. What steps did you take? What obstacles did you encounter? How did you overcome the obstacles?
  
• Tell me about a goal that you set that you did not reach. What steps did you take? What obstacles did you encounter? How did it make you feel?

Initiative

• Describe a project or idea (not necessarily your own) that was implemented primarily because of your efforts. What was your role? What was the outcome?
  
• Describe a situation in which you recognized a potential problem as an opportunity. What did you do? What was the result? What do you wish you had done differently?
  
• Tell me about a project you initiated. What did you do? Why? What was the outcome? Were you happy with the result?
  
• Tell me about a time when your initiative caused a change to occur.
  What was the best idea you came up with during your professional or college career? How did you apply it?

Integrity / Honesty

• Discuss a time when your integrity was challenged. How did you handle it?
  
• Tell me about a time when you experienced a loss for doing what is right. How did you react?
  
• Tell me about a business situation when you felt honesty was inappropriate. Why? What did you do?
  
• Give a specific example of a policy you conformed to with which you did not agree. Why?

Interpersonal Skills

• Give an example of when you had to work with someone who was difficult to get along with. How/why was this person difficult? How did you handle it? How did the relationship progress?
  
• Describe a situation where you found yourself dealing with someone who didn’t like you. How did you handle it?
  
• Describe a recent unpopular decision you made. How was it received? How did you handle it?
  What, in your opinion, are the key ingredients in guiding and maintaining successful business relationships?
• Give me examples of how you have made these work for you.
  
• Give me an example of a time when you were able to successfully communicate with another person even when that individual may not have personally liked you (or vice versa). How did you handle the situation?
  
• Tell me about a time when you had to work on a team with someone you did not get along with. What happened?
  
• Describe a situation where you had a conflict with another individual, and how you dealt with it. What was the outcome? How did you feel about it?

Leadership

• Tell me about a team project when you had to take the lead or take charge of the project? What did you do? How did you do it? What was the result?
  
• Describe a leadership role of yours. Why did you commit your time to it? How did you feel about it?
  
• What is the toughest group that you have had to get cooperation from? What were the obstacles? How did you handle the situation? What were the reactions of the group members? What was the end result?
  

Planning and Organization/ Time Management

• Describe a situation that required you to do a number of things at the same time. How did you handle it? What was the result?
  
• How do you prioritize projects and tasks when scheduling your time? Give me some examples.
  Tell me about a project that you planned. How did your organize and schedule the tasks? Tell me about your action plan.

Teamwork

• Describe a situation where others you were working with on a project disagreed with your ideas. What did you do?
  
• Tell me about a time when you worked with a classmate or colleague who was not doing their share of the work. How did you handle it?
  
• Describe a situation in which you had to arrive at a compromise or help others to compromise. What was your role? What steps did you take? What was the result?
  
• Tell me about a time when you had to work on a team that did not get along. What happened? What role did you take? What was the result?
  

Probes / Follow-up Questions

• What steps did you take?
• What action did you take?
  
• What happened after that?
  
• What did you say?
  
• How did he/she react?
  
• How did you handle that?
  
• What was your reaction?
  
• How did you feel about that?
  
• What was the outcome/result?
  
• Were you happy with that outcome/result?
  
• What do you wish you had done differently?
  
• What did you learn from that?
  
• How did you resolve that?
  
• What was the outcome of that?
  
• Why did you decide to do that?
  
• What was your logic?
  
• What was your reasoning?
  
• Where were you when this happened?
  
• What time was it?
  
• Who else was involved?
  
• Tell me more about your interaction with that person.
  
• What was your role?
  
• What obstacles did you face?
  
• What were you thinking at that point?
  
• Lead me through your decision process.
  
• How did you prepare for that?
  
• Why?
  
• How?
  
• When?
  
• Where?

• Gaining the cooperation of others can be difficult. Give a specific example of when you had to do that, and what challenges you faced. What was the outcome? What was the long-term impact on your ability to work with this person?
• Describe a project you were responsible for that required a lot of interaction with people over a long period of time.
  Tell me about a course, work experience, or extracurricular activity where you had to work closely with others. How did it go? How did you overcome any difficulties?
  
• Give me a specific example of a time when you had to address an angry customer. What was the problem and what was the outcome? How would you assess your role in defusing the situation?
  
• Tell me about a suggestion you made to improve the way job processes/operations worked. What was the result?
  
• Describe the most significant or creative presentation/idea that you developed/implemented.
  
• Tell me about a time when you created a new process or program that was considered risky. What was the situation and what did you do?
  
• By providing examples, demonstrate that you can adapt to a wide variety of people, situations and/or environments.
  
• Tell me about a decision you made while under a lot of pressure.
  
• Give me an example of a time when there was a decision to be made and procedures were not in place? What was the outcome?
  
• What are 3 effective leadership qualities you think are important. How have you demonstrated these qualities in your past/current position?
  
• Describe a situation in which you were able to use persuasion to successfully convince someone to approach things your way. What level was the person you had to persuade?
  
• What have you done in your present/previous job that goes beyond what was required?
  
• Tell me about a time when you had to resolve a difference of opinion with a coworker/customer/supervisor. How do you feel you showed respect?
  
• Describe the way you handled a specific problem involving others with differing values, ideas and beliefs in your current/previous job.
  
• Describe a work situation that required you to really listen and display compassion to a coworker/employee who was telling you about a personal/sensitive situation.
  
• Can you recall a time when you gave feedback to a coworker who was unaccepting of others?
  
• Can you recall a time when a person's cultural background affected your approach to a work situation?
  
• Tell me about a specific time when you had to handle a tough problem which challenged fairness or ethical issues.