Sample Interview Questions

Click here to create a free help wanted ad!

Sample Interview Questions

Sample questions to ask potential employees during a job interview.

Examples of interview questions that are not allowed

General Work History Performance / Experience

Please tell me about your previous position and what you did.

Tell me about the last time you made an error and how you corrected it.

If you do not leave your current position, what will happen there? How far do you think you can advance in your current position?

Given your work history, where have you been the most successful and why?

Can you give me an example of when you have previously demonstrated your customer skills?

What is your definition of continuous improvement?

What makes you stand out among your peer group?

What have you done in the past to save your company money?

Have you worked in a position similar to the one you are applying for, if so tell me about them?

What is the most important thing you learned about at your previous place of employment?

What do you enjoy the most and least about your current job?

If there were two things that you could have changed about your job, what would they be in order of importance to you?

How did you position change as you worked there?

What was your supervisor's management style?

What types of people did you encounter while on your job?

Please describe a typical day at work?

How have your previous jobs prepared you for this position that you are applying for?

What are the most important features of a job to you?

What previous jobs tasks do you feel you were the most successful at?

Describe an important project that you worked on.

What sort of manager do you enjoy working for?

What is your definition of excellent customer service?

You have a lot of great experience. Why do you want the position that you are applying for?

What is your greatest strength?

What is your most significant professional accomplishment?

What was the last work related book that you read and what did you learn?

What was your favorite previous job and why? Why did you leave?

You have stayed with the same organization for years . . . why do you feel it is time to leave now?

Technical and Software

What types of office equipment have you used previously?

Tell me about the types of word processing you have done on your prior jobs?

Explain how you merge a file that is in Microsoft Word.

Do you hold any software certifications? Were any of them required by your previous supervisor?

What are the types of documents that you deal with on a daily basis?

What are the software programs that you use most often in your current positon?

In detail what is your experience with computer software programs.

Tell me about the spreadsheets that you have created for your previous jobs.

What software have you had previous experience with and what would you say is your experience level for that software?

Goal Setting

What are your five year goals?

Tell me what the word "success" means to you?

Do you see yourself as being successful?

What does "failure" mean to you?

Do you set short / long term goals for yourself and how do you go about doing that?

Supervisor

Have you supervised people in the past . . . What were their titles and how did you supervise them?

How do you motivate other people?

Have you ever had to fire someone? What were the circumstances?

Have you ever hired anyone? Why did you choose them?

How do you handle a situation when you are having an issue with an employee?

What type of training have you previously completed for supervising employees?

How have you previously communicated bad news to your staff . . . how?

What do you think are the qualities that make a great supervisor?

Who reports to you and what are their job functions?

What teambuilding events have you planned in the past . . . what were the results?

How do you plan your day?

Describe your management style?

How do you measure success as a supervisor?

If you are hired for the position that you are applying for, what would your plan be for your first thirty days?

How do you handle unpopular upper management decisions?

What is your definition of leadership?

How do you plan an interview?

What do you look for on resumes and applications?

Communication Skills

Tell me about a work situation that you have had in the past that required excellent communication skills?

How do you prefer to communicate by speaking or writing a memo to fellow employees?

What was more important on you previous job, written or oral communication?

What is your grade when communicating with upper level management, peers, and customers?

Ability to Adapt Interview Questions-

How did you handle change that occurred in your last place of work?

Tell me about a time when a work place emergency occurred and how you rescheduled your work and various projects.

Give me an example of the last time you went above and beyond your call of duty to accomplish your job.

What are the areas that you tend to have the least amount of patience while at work?

Stress

Tell me about an important deadline you had to previously meet. How much advance notice did you have to perform the required task?

Previously you worked in a fast paced work environment . . . Did you like it?

What is the most difficult work situation that you have had to deal with?

How do handle your work environment when you have a large amount of work to do in a very short period of time?

What do you do when you are having trouble with your job?

Organization and Time Management Interview Questions-

Describe how the top of your desk at work looks.

Tell me about the last time you did not complete a project on time.

How do you handle a situation when you are having trouble solving a problem?

What do you do when you have multiple priorities to work on at the same time?

Tell me about your typical day . . . How much time do you spend on the telephone and meetings?

Please describe how would handle the following situation . . . Your supervisor left you an assignment and then left for a week. You are unable to reach him or her and you do not totally understand the assignment. What would you do?

How do you organize and plan new major projects?

How do you organize yourself for day to day activities?

Tell me about a work task that you started and could not finish due to time constraints.

Teamwork

What types of people do you have the most trouble interacting with?

Do you prefer to work in a team environment or alone?

Tell me about the last time you had a conflict at work with a co-worker . . . Specifically what was the conflict about and how did you resolve it? What were the long term implications?

How would your co-workers describe the work that you do?

The person that is hired for this position will have to work with individuals that have been with this company for a long time . . . How will you go about joining this close knit team?

What type of personalities do you get along with best?

How would you define cooperation?

How have you pulled a team together under difficult circumstances?

What do you find the most challenging when working with co-workers?

Describe the most difficult customer you have ever had to work with. What was the situation and how did you go about handling the situation.

Define the word Teamwork.

How do you build consensus among your team members when there is disagreement?

Manageability

What do you do when you are having a difficult time dealing with a boss or upper management?

If your boss knew you were interviewing outside your company, what would he say to you or do?

What obligations do you think an employer has to an employee?

If your supervisor tells you to do something that is absolutely incorrect to do . . . what do you do?

If your supervisor unfairly criticized you . . . what would you do?

Tell me about a time when your manager did not have enough time to give you the proper amount of attention . . . How did you react?

What are some of the things that you and your boss disagree?

What are some of the things that your previous supervisor did that you personally disliked?

In what areas could your boss do a better job when handling the needs of employees?

Describe the best manager you ever had? What were their best and worst qualities?

Senior Management Evaluation

Give me an example of your ability to handle change within your company?

How do you keep in touch with the information flow and monitor your employees performance?

When results are not acceptable how do you typically confront subordinates?

What is your style of mentoring and training do you have?

Do you usually delegate responsibilities or do you expect your employees that report directly to you approach you for added responsibilities?

How would you describe the amount of structure, direction, and feedback that you require for you to personally excel?

Tell me about a method you have previously developed to accomplish a work related task?

What could you have done to be more effective at a previous job?

Tell me about a time when you were placed in a situation that you had to lead a large group of people?

Do you like being in charge?

Define your style of leadership?

Problem Solving and Decision Making

Tell me about the most difficult problem you have had to previously solve. What was the situation and how did you handle it? How would you change things if you could do things differently?

How do you generally handle conflict?

Describe a solution that you came up with that used creativity.

What previous problem solving solution are you most proud of?

Tell me about a time when you have had to use your fact finding skills.

What has been your most important work related idea to date?

Who gave you the most trouble when you implemented your ideas? What was the outcome?

Describe the best co-worker you have ever had.

How would you describe a good working environment where new creative ideas can prosper?

Tell me about a time when a good idea you had was rejected. How did you handle the situation?

How do handle criticism about your ideas?

How do you go about making important decisions?

Describe the worst decision you ever made and how you corrected it.

Hiring An Employee

Letter Asking For Relocation Expenses

Promotion Request Letter To Boss

Job Descriptions

Sample Job Descriptions

Create A Job Description

Applying For A Job

Blank Job Application

Job Applicant Flow Chart

Application Release Form

Employee Interview

Sample Interview Questions

Prohibited Interview Questions

Interview Thank You Letter

Thank You Letter Template

New Hire Documents

New Hire Welcome Letter

Emergency Contact

Employee Benefits Enrollment Form