Behaviorial Interview Questions
for Hiring Good Employees

1. Analysis/Problem Assessment

A. Describe a complicated problem you have had to deal with on the job. How did you identify or gain a better understanding of that problem?
B. What kind of information have you been required to analyze? Describe one of your most difficult analyses.
C. Have you ever had to review proposals submitted by a vendor or by another team? Tell me about one of those situations.

2. Teamwork/Collaboration

A. Interacting with others can be challenging at times. Describe a situation when you wished you’d acted differently with someone at work. What happened? What did you do about the situation?
B. Tell me about one of the toughest teams/groups you’ve had to work with. What made it difficult? What did you do?
C. Can you give me an example of a team decision you were involved in recently? What did you do to help the team reach the decision?
D. Sometimes it can be frustrating and trying to get information from other people so that you can solve a problem. Please describe a situation you’ve had like this. What did you do?

3. Adaptability

A. Tell me about a situation when you had to adjust quickly to change in organizational, departmental, or team priorities. How did the change affect you?
B. Tell me about the manager/supervisor/team leader who was the most difficult to work for. How did you handle this difficult relationship?
C. Sometimes we have to work under new policies we don’t agree with. Tell me about the last time you disagreed with a new policy or procedure instituted by senior management. Why did you disagree? What did you do?

4. Customer Service Orientation

A. Tell me about a difficult internal/external customer you’ve had to deal with. Why was he/she difficult? What did you do?
B. Describe a time when you took steps to make sure an internal/external customer was satisfied.
C. Tell me about a time when you were able to respond to an internal/external customer’s request in a shorter period of time than was expected. Contrast that with a time when you failed to meet an internal/external customer’s expectations. What was the difference?
D. There aren’t enough hours in the day to ensure that every customer is totally satisfied. Give me a recent example of when you didn’t have the time to satisfy a customer totally.

5. Planning and Organizing/Work Management

A. We all have had times when we just couldn’t get everything done on time. Tell me about a time when this has happened to you.
B. Has your time schedule ever been upset by unforeseen circumstances? Give me a recent example. What did you do then?
C. What objectives did you set for this year? What steps have you taken to make sure you’re making progress on all of them?
D. At one time or another we’ve all forgotten to do something important for a customer. Tell me about a time this has happened to you recently. What did you forget? Why? What happened?

6. Organizational Awareness

A. Tell me about a recent business problem you solved. How did you utilize organizational structure (policies, systems, etc.) to solve the problem?
B. Sometimes you just have to disregard existing organizational policies to get something done. Tell me about a time when you knowingly disregarded an organizational policy. Why did you choose to disregard the policy? What happened?
C. In order to keep a customer satisfied, sometimes you have to make a commitment that may not be realistic. Tell me about a time your organization was unable to keep a commitment you made. What happened?
D. Give me an example of a time when you made a decision only to find out later that it was rejected. Why was it rejected? Why, do you think, was it not approved through your systems?

7. Motivational Fit

A. When were you most satisfied/dissatisfied with your work? What was most satisfying/dissatisfying about that?
B. [Creativity] Tell me about a time when you were able to be creative in your work. How satisfied were you and why?
C. [Independence] Tell me about a time when your work was closely supervised. How satisfied were you with that and why?
D. [Interaction] Tell me about a time when you had many opportunities to interact with others at work. How satisfied were you with that and why?

8. Written Communication

A. Tell me about one of the most important documents you have written. What reactions did it receive?
B. Have you written proposals for external customers? Tell me about the best one you ever wrote. Why was it the best? How did you know that it was good?
C. We’ve all written a memo that called for specific action only to discover later that those who received it didn’t do what they were supposed to do. Can you give an example of when this happened to you?

 

Joan Bolmer, 2400 Briarwest Boulevard, #1907, Houston, TX 77077; Office 281.293.8864
Copyright (c) 2007-2009, by Joan Bolmer, all rights reserved. Contact Joan Bolmer by e-mail at joan@bolmer.com Website: http://www.bolmer.com Permission is granted to reproduce, copy or distribute this article so long as this copyright notice and full information about contacting the author is attached.