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What Are Good Interview Questions To Ask

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Questions To Ask Employees During An Interview

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When hiring a new employee, its important to ask the right questions.

There are some interview questions that are a given we all know how to put a good spin on the classic greatest weakness question. Its also expected that youll have potential employees review their job history and qualifications.

But how do you really dig into what makes someone tick as an employee, and how do you determine if theyll be a good fit for your businessnot only in terms of their skills, but also their personality, and as a part of your company culture?

To help you come up with the perfect list of interview questions to ask potential employees, Ive divided this list into five categories: personality questions, culture fit questions, background and work experience questions, work habits and working style questions, and career goal questions. Be sure to check out my article on How to Hire Your First Employee as well.

Pick and choose a handful that feel most applicable from each list, or ask them all . With a well-rounded list of interview questions, finding the perfect candidate for your open position should be no problem at all.

Best Interview Questions For Managers

via: Bigstockphotos / deagreez

Arguably, no one is more important to an organization than its managers. They have to be the go-between for those above and the organizers for those below.

So, it’s crucial you hire the right managers by asking interview questions for managers that really show who has what it takes.

Here are the 7 best interview questions for managers:

16. Describe a time when your team managed to achieve ambitious goals you set. How did you support and motivate them?

They need to have stories like this to prove they are deserve the job.

17. How do you delegate tasks to your team?

Good delegating instincts can make or break a project.

18. Imagine youre assigned an important task but your team members keep interrupting you with questions. How do you complete the task, and how do you respond to your team?

In other words, how do you manage a meeting?

19. Would you rather know a lot about a little or a little about a lot?

Philosophical, but it speaks to their curiosity and their comfort with “need to know” projects.

20. How do you handle conflict between team members?

They’re inevitable, so they have to be able to handle it.

21. Pretend youre , what three concerns about the firms future keep you up at night?

Managers, when left alone, are almost mini-CEO’s, so see how they view that role.

22. If you had to rate risk, client satisfaction, and accuracy, which would you say is most important and why? Integrity or authority?

Make Natural Transitions Between Questions

Having a list of interview questions to ask is good practice, but it has an inherent difficulty: it might make the interview seem more robotic and inflexible.

For example, imagine youre listening to a candidates answer. When they finish talking, you may suddenly feel awkward, so you nod and say something akin to OK, interesting and then you move on to the next question. This isnt how a natural conversation would flow, and it might make the experience less pleasant for the candidate .

Also Check: What Questions To Ask When Being Interviewed

What Skills Or Characteristics Make Someone An Effective Remote Worker

This is an important question to ask given the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Remote workers must be self-starters who are able to work with little supervision. They need excellent communication abilities as well as self-discipline and stellar time-management skills. Not everyone has those qualities, and not everyone thrives working outside an office. You want to be sure your new hire will be both productive and comfortable if working off-site.

Describe Your Dream Job

Best Job Interview Question to Ask In Your Interview

Three words describe how you should answer this question: relevance, relevance, relevance.

But that doesn’t mean you have to make up an answer. You can learn something from every job. You can develop skills in every job. Work backward: Identify things about the job you’re interviewing for that will help you if you do land your dream job someday, and then describe how those things apply to what you hope to someday do.

And don’t be afraid to admit that you might someday move on, whether to join another company or — better — to start your own business. Employers no longer expect “forever” employees.

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Best Personal Interview Questions

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The key to finding the right person for a major job is to get a little personal. You have to see the kind of person they are, and that takes getting beyond the basics of their resume. These personal questionsprovide an opening for your interviewees to open up.

Here are the 5 best personal interview questions:

11. Whats your favorite cartoon and why?

It probably reaches back into their childhood.

12. What are the qualities you like least and most in your parents?

Let them define themselves against the first authority figures they knew.

13. Why did you leave your first job?

Don’t make them defend leaving the last job, get a story about their first experience in work.

14. How do you handle stress and pressure?

Every job has stress. You need to know they can handle it.

15. Do you take work home with you?

The right answer to this question depends on the philosophy of your work.

Common Interview Questions And Answers

Preparing talking points for common interview questions can help you feel confident and prepared. While every interviewer is different and their questions may vary depending on the job and industry, there are a few common questions you can expect and prepare for such as, “Tell me about yourself.”

Below, we’ve put together a comprehensive list of commonly-asked interview questions including what interviewers are looking for in your response, plus example answers to help you make a great first impression.

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Is There Anything Else Youd Like Us To Know

Just when you thought you were done, your interviewer asks you this open-ended doozy. Dont panicits not a trick question! You can use this as an opportunity to close out the meeting on a high note in one of two ways, Zhang says. First, if there really is something relevant that you havent had a chance to mention, do it now. Otherwise, you can briefly summarize your qualifications. For example, Zhang says, you could say: I think weve covered most of it, but just to summarize, it sounds like youre looking for someone who can really hit the ground running. And with my previous experience , I think Id be a great fit.

What Are The Next Steps In Your Recruitment Process Before You Can Make An Offer

Good Interview Questions to Ask

This is a good next steps question great for a candidate to ask last as it closes up the interview, Brady says.

Finally, theres the question of how many of these questions to ask. Dont ask them all!

Theres no perfect number of questions you should ask, but more than one is usually good. Aoife Brady says candidates should always ask at least two or three questions.

And if thats not enough to really find out all that you want to know, just check with the interviewer and they should be happy to tell you how many questions they have time to answer.

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Tell Me About The Toughest Decision You Had To Make In The Last Six Months

The goal of this question is to evaluate the candidate’s reasoning ability, problem-solving skills, judgment, and possibly even willingness to take intelligent risks.

Having no answer is a definite warning sign. Everyone makes tough decisions, regardless of their position. My daughter worked part-time as a server at a local restaurant and made difficult decisions all the time — like the best way to deal with a regular customer whose behavior constituted borderline harassment.

A good answer proves you can make a difficult analytical or reasoning-based decision — for example, wading through reams of data to determine the best solution to a problem.

A great answer proves you can make a difficult interpersonal decision, or better yet a difficult data-driven decision that includes interpersonal considerations and ramifications.

Making decisions based on data is important, but almost every decision has an impact on people as well. The best candidates naturally weigh all sides of an issue, not just the business or human side exclusively.

Whats A Time You Disagreed With A Decision That Was Made At Work

The ideal anecdote here is one where you handled a disagreement professionally and learned something from the experience. Zhang recommends paying particular attention to how you start and end your response. To open, make a short statement to frame the rest of your answer, one that nods at the ultimate takeaway or the reason youre telling this story. For example: I learned early on in my professional career that its fine to disagree if you can back up your hunches with data. And to close strong, you can either give a one-sentence summary of your answer or talk briefly about how what you learned or gained from this experience would help you in the role youre interviewing for.

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Tell Me How You Think Other People Would Describe You

I hate this question. It’s a total throwaway. But I did ask it once, and got an answer I really liked.

“I think people would say that what you see is what you get,” the candidate said. “If I say I will do something, I do it. If I say I will help, I help. I’m not sure that everyone likes me, but they all know they can count on what I say and how hard I work.”

Can’t beat that.

Do You Have Any Questions For Us

The best job interview questions to ask employers for ...

You probably already know that an interview isnt just a chance for a hiring manager to grill youits an opportunity to sniff out whether a job is the right fit from your perspective. What do you want to know about the position? The company? The department? The team? Youll cover a lot of this in the actual interview, so have a few less-common questions ready to go. We especially like questions targeted to the interviewer or the companys growth If youre interviewing for a remote role, there are some specific questions you might want to ask related to that.

Read Also: How To Send A Thank You After An Interview

How Do You Handle Stress

How you handle stressful situations is an indicator of your ability to solve problems. Employers want to hire candidates who react to stress constructively, so its important that your answer to this question demonstrates personal growth.

Spend some time thinking about your response to stressful situations and provide an example that communicates your abilities around perseverance, resilience and stress management.

Example answer:Im able to stay calm when I focus on the bigger picture and break down my projects into smaller tasks. I always start by asking myself, What is the ultimate goal Im trying to achieve? From there, I make a list of immediate and long-term action items with achievable but ambitious deadlines. Even if the big project is due tomorrow, I ask myself, Whats something I can tackle in the next 30 minutes? Before I know it, Ive made significant progress and that impossible project doesnt seem so impossible.

Read more: Interview Question: How Do You Handle Stress?

+ Questions To Ask In A Job Interview

Job interviews should feel like a conversation, with two people asking and answering questions. You should follow the lead of your interviewer and prioritize giving them information about yourself, but know that interviewers expect you to ask questions, too. When you do, it shows that you have enthusiasm for and genuine interest in the job.

In this quick video, Indeed recruiter Linda gives examples of questions you can ask your interviewer.

Your opportunity to ask these questions typically comes at the end of the interview. Its a chance to learn more about the company culture, the challenges and opportunities the organization is facing, and what being in this job is really like.

Related: 39 of the Best Questions to Ask at the End of the Interview

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What Questions Should You Be Asking

As we said earlier, there are specific categories you want to stick to when thinking about questions to ask an interviewer.

THE JOB

What are you getting hired to do? Sure, you know what the job posting said, but is there anything about the position youre trying to get that wasnt in the posting? What are you going to be doing exactly? How long will you be doing that job and will the job evolve as you continue to work there?

THE REQUIREMENTS

Speaking of doing a job, are you fully prepared to start if you are hired? Is there anything you need to know in order to do the job? Is there any special training or any classes youre going to be required to take if youre hired?

THE EXPECTATIONS

How you do your job is also equally importantand what they expect from you as you do it! The best way to meet the goals of your employer is to know up front what they are. What do they expect from someone who is hired for this position? How do they evaluate that performance? Are there reviews?

THE COMPANY

By the way, who are you actually working for? Not just your supervisor, but the company overall. Yes, you should already have a good base of knowledgeyou got that information during your fact finding and research phase of the job huntbut there are things you cant get from research that can only come from someone on the insideand the hiring manager is a great resource!

THE PEOPLE

THE ATMOSPHERE

THE WAITING GAME

What Management Style Motivates You

Ask 2 Good Interview Questions to Get the Job

Friction between managers and workers can significantly affect job satisfaction. 52 percent of workers have quit or are currently considering leaving due to management issues. It pays to know how your employees like to be managed for example, does your candidate like a hands-on boss, or one that only occasionally checks in?

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What Makes You Unique

They genuinely want to know the answer, Dea promises. Give them a reason to pick you over other similar candidates. The key is to keep your answer relevant to the role youre applying to. So the fact that you can run a six-minute mile or crush a trivia challenge might not help you get the job . Use this opportunity to tell them something that would give you an edge over your competition for this position. To figure out what that is, you can ask some former colleagues, think back to patterns youve seen in feedback you get, or try to distill why people tend to turn to you. Focus on one or two things and dont forget to back up whatever you say with evidence.

How Many Tennis Balls Can You Fit Into A Limousine

1,000? 10,000? 100,000? Seriously? Well, seriously, you might get asked brain-teaser questions like these, especially in quantitative jobs. But remember that the interviewer doesnt necessarily want an exact numberthey want to make sure that you understand whats being asked of you, and that you can set into motion a systematic and logical way to respond. So take a deep breath and start thinking through the math.

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What Is Your Greatest Accomplishment

Its easy to get hung up on figuring out your single most impressive accomplishment. Instead, think of a few achievements that showcase your work ethic and values. If you can, pick examples that also tie back to the job youre applying for. The STAR method is a great tool to ensure you highlight the parts of your story that employers want to hear.

Example answer:In my last role, I managed all social media content. I noticed other brands were experimenting with videos and seeing great engagement from their customers, so I asked my boss if we could do a low-budget test. She agreed, so I produced a video cheaply in-house that drove double the engagement we normally saw on our social channels. It also drove conversions with 30% of viewers visiting our website within a week of seeing the video.

Read more: Interview Question: What Is Your Greatest Accomplishment?

Top 10 Interview Questions And Best Answers

30+ Questions to Ask in a Job Interview (With Video ...

Review these most frequently asked interview questions and sample answers, and then prepare your responses based on your experience, skills, and interests. Remember that its less about providing the right answers and more about demonstrating that youre the best candidate for the job.

1. Tell Me About Yourself Best Answers

This is one of the first questions you are likely to be asked. Be prepared to talk about yourself, and why you’re an ideal candidate for the position. The interviewer wants to know why you’re an excellent fit for the job.

Try to answer questions about yourself without giving too much, or too little, personal information. You can start by sharing some of your personal interests and experiences that don’t relate directly to work, such as a favorite hobby or a brief account of where you grew up, your education, and what motivates you.

You can even and showcase your personality to make the interview a little more interesting.

2. Why Are You the Best Person for the Job? Best Answers

Are you the best candidate for the job? The hiring manager wants to know whether you have all the required qualifications. Be prepared to explain why you’re the applicant who should be hired.

3. Why Do You Want This Job? Best Answers

Be specific about what makes you a good fit for this role, and mention aspects of the company and position that appeal to you most.

4. How Has Your Experience Prepared You for This Role?Best Answers

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