General INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
QUESTIONS PERTAINING TO
• WARM-UP QUESTIONS
• WORK HISTORY
• JOB PERFORMANCE
• EDUCATION
• CAREER GOALS
• SELF-ASSESSMENT
• CREATIVITY
• DECISIVENESS
• RANGE OF INTERESTS
• MOTIVATION
• WORK STANDARDS
• LEADERSHIP
• ORAL PRESENTATION SKILLS
• WRITTEN COMMUNICATION SKILLS
• FLEXIBILITY
• STRESS TOLERANCE
• STABILITY & MATURITY
• INTEREST IN SELF DEVELOPMENT
WARM-UP QUESTIONS
• What made you apply for this position?
• How did you hear about this job opening?
• Briefly, would you summarize your work history & education for me?
WORK HISTORY
• What special aspects of your work experience have prepared you for
this job?
• Can you describe for me one or two of your most important
accomplishments?
• How much supervision have you typically received in your previous
job? • Describe for me one or two of the biggest disappointments in your
work history?
• Why are you leaving your present job? (or, Why did you leave your
last job?)
• What is important to you in a company? What things do you look for
in an organization?
JOB PERFORMANCE
• Everyone has strengths & weaknesses as workers. What are your
strong points for this job?
• What would you say do areas need improvement?
• How did your supervisor on your most recent job evaluate your job
performance? What were some of the good points & bad points of
that rating?
• When you have been told , or discovered for yourself , a problem in
your job performance, what have you typically done? Can you give
me an example?
• Do you prefer working alone or in groups?
• What kind of people do you find it most difficult to work with? Why?
• Starting with your last job, tell me about any of your achievements
that were recognized by your superiors.
• Can you give me an example of your ability to manage or supervise
others?
• What are some things you would like to avoid in a job? Why?
• In your previous job what kind of pressures did you encounter?
• What would you say is the most important thing you are looking for
in a job?
• 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?
Why do you feel this way?
• What were some of the things about your last job that you found
most difficult to do?
• What are some of the problems you encounter in doing your job?
Which one frustrates you the most? What do you usually do about it?
• What are some things you particularly liked about your last job?
• Do you consider your progress on the job representative of your
ability? Why?
• How do you feel about the way you & others in the department were
managed by your supervisor? • If I were to ask your present (most recent)
employer about your
ability as a____________________, what would he/she say?
EDUCATION
• What special aspects of your education or training have prepared you
for this job?
• What courses in school have been of most help in doing your job?
CAREER- GOALS
• What is your long-term employment or career objective?
• What kind of job do you see yourself holding five years from now?
• What do you feel you need to develop in terms of skill & knowledge
in order to be ready for that opportunity?
• Why might you be successful in such a job?
• How does this job fit in with your overall career goals?
• Who or what in your life would you say influenced you most with
your career objectives?
• Can you pinpoint any specific things in your past experience that
affected your present career objectives?
• What would you most like to accomplish if you had this job?
• What might make you leave this job?
SELF-ASSESSMENT
• What kind of things do you feel most confident in doing?
• Can you describe for me a difficult obstacle you have had to
overcome? How did you handle it? How do you feel this experience
affected your personality or ability?
• How would you describe yourself as a person?
• What do you think are the most important characteristics & abilities
a person must possess to become a successful ( )? How do you rate
yourself in these areas?
• Do you consider yourself a self-starter? If so, explain why ( and give
examples)
• What do you consider to be your greatest achievements to date?
Why?
• What things give you the greatest satisfaction at work? • What things
frustrate you the most? How do you usually cope with
them?
CREATIVITY
• In your work experience, what have you done that you consider truly
creative?
• Can you think of a problem you have encountered when the old
solutions didn't work & when you came up with new solutions?
• Of your creative accomplishments big or small , at work or home,
what gave you the most satisfaction?
• What kind of problems have people recently called on you to solve?
Tell me what you have devised.
DECISIVENESS
• Do you consider yourself to be thoughtful, analytical or do you
usually make up your mind fast? Give an example. (Watch time taken
to respond)
• What was your most difficult decision in the last six months? What
made it difficult?
• The last time you did not know what decision to make, what did you
do?
• How do you go about making an important decision affecting your
career?
• What was the last major problem that you were confronted with?
What action did you take on it?
RANGE OF INTERESTS
• What organizations do you belong to?
• Tell me specifically what you do in the civic activities in which
you participate. (Leading questions in selected areas. i.e. sports,
economics, current events, finance.)
• How do you keep up with what's going on in your company / your
industry/ your profession?
MOTIVATION
• What is your professional goal? • Can you give me examples of experience on
the job that you felt were
satisfying?
• Do you have a long & short-term plan for your department? Is it
realistic?
• Did you achieve it last year?
• Describe how you determine what constitutes top priorities in the
performance of your job.
WORK STANDARDS
• What are your standards of success in your job?
• In your position, how would you define doing a good job? On what
basis was your definition determined?
• When judging the performance of your subordinate, what factors or
characteristics are most important to you?
LEADERSHIP
• In your present job what approach do you take to get your people
together to establish a common approach to a problem?
• What approach do you take in getting your people to accept your
ideas or department goals?
• What specifically do you do to set an example for your employees?
• How frequently do you meet with your immediate subordinates as a
group?
• What sort of leader do your people feel you are? Are you satisfied?
• How do you get people who do not want to work together to
establish a common approach to a problem?
• If you do not have much time & they hold seriously differing views,
what would be your approach?
• How would you describe your basic leadership style? Give specific
examples of how you practice this?
• Do you feel you work more effectively on a one to one basis or in a
group situation?
• Have you ever led a task force or committee or any group who
doesn't report to you, but from whom you have to get work? How
did you do it? What were the satisfactions & disappointments? How would you
handle the job differently?
ORAL PRESENTATION SKILLS
• Have you ever done any public or group speaking? Recently? Why?
How did it go?
• Have you made any individual presentations recently? How did you
prepare?
WRITTEN COMMUNICATION SKILLS
• Would you rather write a report or give a verbal report? Why?
• What kind of writing have you done? For a group? For an individual?
• What is the extent of your participation in major reports that have to
be written? FLEXIBILITY
• What was the most important idea or suggestion you received
recently from your employees? What happened as a result?
• What do you think about the continuous changes in company
operating policies & procedures?
• How effective has your company been in adapting its policies to fit a
changing environment?
• What was the most significant change made in your company in the
last six months which directly affected you, & how successfully do
you think you implemented this change?
STRESS TOLERANCE
• Do you feel pressure in your job? Tell me about it.
• What has been the highest pressure situation you have been under in
recent years? How did you cope with it?
STABILITY & MATURITY
• Describe your most significant success & failure in the last two years.
• What do you like to do best?
• What do you like to do least?
• What in your last review did your supervisor suggest needed
improvement?
• What have you done about it?
INTEREST IN SELF DEVELOPMENT
• What has been the most important person or event in your own self
development?
• How much of your education did you earn?
• What kind of books & other publications do you read?
• Have you taken a management development course?
• How are you helping your subordinates develop themselves?
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