Interview Questions
Career Motivation and Influence
- Why did you choose this profession/field?
- Do you have professional goals? What are they? What is your plan to accomplish your career goals?
- What is a big obstacle you had to overcome to get where you are today? How did you overcome it?
- How do you keep up with technological changes in your field?
- How does this position fit into your overall career goals?
Decision-Making
- Tell me about two good decisions you’ve made and two poor decisions and your reasons for them. Why were they good or bad? What were your alternatives?
- Give me an example of a difficult decision you had to make, and the process you used to make it.
- Can you describe how you go about solving problems? Please give us some examples.
- Do you prefer to take your time to think things through or do you usually make up your mind quickly?
- Give examples of which kinds of decisions you make quickly and ones you take more time on.
- On the basis of the information you have received so far, what do you see as the major challenges of this position and how would you meet them?
- What is the biggest conflict you have ever been involved in at work? How did you handle that situation?
- What has been your most stressful job situation? What was the outcome?
- What criticism was made of your work? To what do you attribute the criticism?
- Think about an instance when you were given an assignment that you thought you would not be able to complete. How did you accomplish the assignment?
- Have you ever had a great idea but been told that you could not implement it? How did you react? What did you do?
- Describe a situation in which you did “all the right things” and were still unsuccessful. What did you learn from the experience?
Information Gathering
- Do you have any concerns that would make you have reservations about accepting this position if it is offered to you?
- Do you have any additional information that you would like to share?
- Do you have any questions for us?
- What hours (or days) are you available to work, or unavailable?
- How do you feel about travel (or relocating) ( if applicable)?
Initiative
- Give me an example of projects for which you have volunteered. Why did you volunteer?
- What volunteer or social activities have helped you develop professional skills?
- What professional associates do you belong to and how involved in them are you?
- Discuss the committees on which you have served and the impact of these committees on the organization where you currently work.
- Can you share with us your ideas about professional development?
- Describe some basic steps that you would take in implementing a new program?
- How do you keep up with technological changes in your field?
- Tell us how you would use technology in your day-to-day job.
- Tell us how you would learn your new job in the absence of a formal training program.
- What new programs or services would you start if offered the position?
- How do you demonstrate initiative in your job?
Organization and Planning
- Tell us how you go about organizing your work. Also, describe any experience you have had with computers or other tools as they relate to organization.
- What steps do you take to make sure your priority projects are accomplished?
- What experiences or skills will help you manage projects?
Probing Previous Experience
- Tell me about your work history.
- What kind of work did you do?
- How did you like your prior job? What did you particularly like about it? What did you dislike about it?
- What were your wages at your prior job?
- Tell us a little more about your professional experiences, particularly those not mentioned on your resume.
- How frequently were increases given; what were they based upon -- merit, productivity or something else?
- Were you ever promoted in prior jobs?
- What benefits did you have at your prior company?
- What kind of supervisor do you like to work for?
- Describe the best boss and the worse boss you have ever had.
- How were employee problems and complaints solved at your prior jobs? Did you think it was a good procedure?
- What are some dissatisfying job experiences you’ve had? What are some satisfying job experiences you’ve had?
- Why did you leave your prior job(s)? (get full explanation)
- What kind of references would you receive from your former employers?
Self Insight
- What prompted your decision to apply for this job?
- Why are you interested in leaving your current assignment and why do you feel that this assignment would be better for you?
- Why should we hire you? What makes you a better choice over all our other applicants?
- What in your background particularly qualifies you to do this job?
- Do you feel this position is a promotion, a lateral move, a broadening of your professional experience, or just a change? Why do you think so?
- What are your major strengths and weaknesses?
- What was the most creative thing you did in your last job? How did it happen?
- What do you consider to be your chief accomplishment in your present (previous) job(s)?
- What are one or two of your proudest professional accomplishments?
Supervisory Skills and Leadership
- What do you see as the most challenging management task?
- Give an example of how you handled a situation where your guidelines were not being followed.
- What criteria do you use for delegating assignments?
- Tell me about a specific experience where you have delegated authority and/or responsibility and how it worked out.
- What are the characteristics that you prize most in an employee? What behaviors or characteristics do you find intolerable?
- Give me an example of when you went the “extra mile” to cooperate with a difficult employee or situation.
- What procedure do you use to determine the major strengths and weaknesses of employees?
- How do you think an effective supervisor should communicate with his/her employees? What do you think are the requirements to communicate well with one’s employees?
- What would you do if an employee was having personal problems that affected job performance?
- What is your basic leadership style and how do you practice it?
- What was the greatest accomplishment that displayed your quality of leadership?
Training and Education
- What training/education other than high school or college have you had that has assisted you in your career?
- In what professional development activities have you been involved over the past few years?
- What new skills have you learned over the past year?
- How would you characterize your level of computer literacy? What are some of the programs and applications with which you are familiar?
- What are the three college courses that best prepared you for your current job?
Work Attitude
- Describe your ideal job.
- Tell us about your preferred work environment.
- How would you describe your attendance and punctuality?
- What is most important to you in a job?
- Do you prefer a pre-established work plan (you provide input) or do you prefer a range of broad goals from which to select?
- Please share with us your philosophy about customer service in an academic environment and give us
- Tell me about a time when you personally, through extra effort on your own, ensured that a customer’s needs were satisfied.
- How do you feel about diversity in the workplace? Give us some examples of your efforts to promote diversity.
Some of this content is adapted from:
Lee, Christopher D. Search Committees: A Tool Kit for Human Resource Professionals, Administrators, and Committee Members College and University Professional Association for Human Resources, 2000.

