Interview Questions: Work History

1. Name of company, position title and description, dates of employment. - Best Answers
2. What were your expectations for the job and to what extent were they met? - Best Answers
3. What were your responsibilities? - Best Answers
4. What major challenges and problems did you face? How did you handle them? - Best Answers
5. What did you like or dislike about your previous job? - Best Answers
6. Which was most / least rewarding? - Best Answers
7. What was the biggest accomplishment / failure in this position? - Best Answers
8. What do you expect from a supervisor? - Best Answers
9. Who was your best boss and who was the worst? - Best Answers
10. Why are you leaving your job? - Best Answers
Job Interview Questions About You
1. What is your greatest strength/weakness? - Best Answers
2. Describe a typical work week. - Best Answers
3. Do you take work home with you? - Best Answers
4. How would you describe the pace at which you work? - Best Answers
5. How do you handle stress and pressure? - Best Answers
6. What do you find are the most difficult decisions to make? - Best Answers
7. Tell me about yourself. - Best Answers
8. What are you passionate about? - Best Answers
9. What do people most often criticize about you? - Best Answers
10. When was the last time you were angry? What happened? - Best Answers
11. If you could relive the last 10 years of your life, what would you do differently? - Best Answers
12. If the people who know you were asked why you should be hired, what would they say? Best Answers
13. Do you prefer to work independently or on a team? - Best Answers
14. Give some examples of teamwork. - Best Answers
15. What type of work environment do you prefer? - Best Answers
16. If you know your boss is 100% wrong about something how would you handle it? - Best Answers
17. Describe a time when your workload was heavy and how you handled it. - Best Answers
Job Interview Questions About the New Job and the Company
1. What interests you about this job? - Best Answers
2. Why do you want this job? - Best Answers
3. Why should we hire you? - Best Answers
4. What do you know about this company? - Best Answers
5. Why do you want to work here? - Best Answers
6. What challenges are you looking for in a position? - Best Answers
7. What can you contribute to this company? - Best Answers
Interview Questions: The Future
1. What are you looking for in your next job? What is important to you? - Best Answers
2. How do you plan to achieve those goals? - Best Answers
3. What are your salary requirements - both short-term and long-term? - Best Answers
4. Questions about your career goals. - Best Answers
Brainteaser Questions:
1. How many times do a clock's hands overlap in a day?
2. How would you weigh a plane without scales?
3. Tell me 10 ways to use a pencil other than writing.
4. Sell me this pencil.
5. If you were an animal, which one would you want to be?
6. Why is there fuzz on a tennis ball?
7. If you could choose one superhero power, what would it be and why?
8. If you could get rid of any one of the US states, which one would you get rid of and why?
9. With your eyes closed, tell me step-by-step how to tie my shoes.

Sample Questions an EMPLOYER Might Ask

Write out questions that you might be asked and your answers. What specifically do you want them
to know? YOU choose what YOU share.
Tell me about yourself.
What are the reasons for your success in this profession? Why do you want
to work here?
Describe how this job relates to your overall goals. What aspects of
your job do you consider most crucial? What do you like/dislike about
your last job?
What have you learned from jobs you have held?
How long would it take you to make a contribution to our group/company? What would you
like to be doing five years from now?
What are your qualifications?
What are your biggest accomplishments?
How do you organize and plan for major projects?
What is your greatest strength? (Prepare at least three) What is your
greatest weakness? (Prepare at least three) What interests you most
about this job?
What can you do for us that someone else cannot do? Describe a
difficult problem youve had to deal with. How do you handle tension
and stress?
In your current job, what are some of the things you spend most time on? In what ways
has your job prepared you to take on greater responsibility? How do you think a former
employer or manager would describe you? What motivates you to put forth your
greatest effort?
Why should I hire you?
In what ways do you think you can make a contribution to this organization?

Sample Questions YOU Might Ask

Find out about the person who held the job before
What has been your experience with people who have done this job before? What have you
liked about the way they did the work?
What would you like to see done differently?

What does the employer want in the future What would you
like to see happening in the future? Where do you see this
organization going from here?
What are your objectives for this division/area/department?
What are some of the challenges you see this organization facing in the next year?

Success criteria and expectations

How do you expect the person in this position to benefit your organization? What objectives
do you expect to achieve with this persons help?
Six months from now, when youre evaluating the success of the person you select, what factors will you
consider? What do you want them to have accomplished?

Questions about the decision process

What is your selection process?
When can I expect to hear back from you? When would you
want me to begin?

The employers decision criteria

How much importance do you put on (specific skill) in choosing someone for this position?
What are some of the qualities or abilities youre looking for in the person you hire for this position? What other
traits or abilities are important for success in this kind of work?

Others being considered

How many other people are you interviewing for this position?
What concerns do you have about my achieving the objectives youve set for this position?

General questions to ask the interviewer

What is management style/organization culture here? What is your
departments mission?
What is senior managements vision for this area in the future?
Would you say that this organization is customer-focused? How?
Who are the organization's primary customers? What customers would I be working with? What new
products or services have you recently introduced to serve your customers?
How are employee suggestions and innovations received?
What principles or beliefs have influenced your management style? What training
opportunities are available?

To determine a candidate's weaknesses, ask:

If I were to contact your last boss, what would they say would be the biggest area you could
improve upon?
2. What is a weakness that you are currently working towards making strength?
3. What things do some of your coworkers may say are your weaknesses but you believe are
your strengths?
1.

To determine a candidate's loyalty, ask:

1.
2.
3.

What did you do the last time a recruiter called you?

Thinking of past managers, which managers did you feel more loyal to and why?
What type of person do you respect the most?

To determine a candidate's initiative, creativity etc, ask:

Initiative - Tell me about project XYZ - how did you identify the problem and what were the
steps you took to implement a change. Tell me a time when you identified a problem and had
to communicate it to management - what was it about the problem that caught your attention
and what did you do to convince management to allow you to implement change.
2. Organized - Tell me a time when your ability to organize was challenged the most and did you
find a way to create order from chaos? How do you plan your day? What tips would you give
someone who is overwhelmed with paperwork or tasks?
3. Creativity - Tell me about your last idea. What inspired you and did you change you idea after
consideration? How would you improve upon this process? Tell me a time when you creatively
solved a problem in a way no one had considered in the past?
1.

To determine a candidate's ability to work autonomously, ask:

Tell me about the last time your manager was not reachable and you needed their immediate
input. What did you do?
2. Describe for me on a scale of 1 to 10 how hands-off you prefer your managers to be?
3. Describe a time in your most recent job where you were given responsibility for a project that
you had little experience in but were provided with reference materials. How did you handle it
and did you feel you received enough guidance?
1.

To determine a candidate's motivation, ask:

1.
2.
3.
4.

What motivates you?

What are your long-term goals?
Why are you looking to leave your current position?
If money were no object, what are the things you would look for in your next position