Interview Questions

Applicant                                             
Date and time                      
Interviewer                                            
This position serves as ____________________.
Describe previous positions that you have had working as ______.

Professional Office Skills

1. What do you think is the most important factor in managing an office effectively and
efficiently? Explain how you have done this in the past.
2. What is your approach to problem-solving? Give an example of where your approach
has been effective.
3. What experience do you have with interpreting policy and disseminating guidelines and
developing procedures for others?
4. Give examples of when and how you have maintained files and records, both paper
and electronic.
5. Give us an example of your experience with computer and typing proficiency.
6. Describe any experience you have had with clerical research and the compliment of
findings into an organized formant and how you would approach this task in this
position?
7. Describe your knowledge in the area of financial transactions such as order office
equipment and supplies and monitoring the office budget.
8. Describe your experience with composing correspondence on your own initiative or
with very little instruction.

Interpersonal Skills
1. What are your strengths?  What are your weaknesses?
2. Describe experience supervising other employees. How do you measure your
effectiveness in this area?
3. What would your last boss say about you?
4. Describe how you like to be managed, and the best relationship you’ve had with a
previous boss.
5. What do you do when you know you are right and your boss disagrees with you?  Give
me an example.
6. If your colleagues had an opportunity to tell us your primary strength-what would that
be? And, your primary weakness-what would that be?
7. Describe your experience working with highly confidential information. How would you
handle an employee who requests “confidential” information from you?
8. As a component of this position, you may have to work on a team on certain projects.
Describe when you’ve worked on a team before and what, in your opinion, constitutes
an effective team? What do you expect from others on the team and what do you need
from others on the team?
 9. What do you do when others resist of reject your ideas or actions?
10. Give me an example of a time when you had to deal with a difficult colleague.  How did
you handle this?
11. Explain the phrase “work ethic” and describe yours.
12. What goals did you set for yourself during your last position? Did you achieve your
goals?
13. What methods do you use to make decisions? When do you find it most difficult to
make a decision?
14. Under what kinds of conditions do you learn best?
15. To you, which is more desirable: A business that is run in an efficient business-like
manner OR a business that is run in a personal and friendly way?

Behavioral
1. Describe what you would say if asked to talk about yourself in a group of 15 people.
2. If someone told you that you had made an error, describe how you would react and
what you would say in your defense.
3. If someone asked you for assistance with a matter that is outside the parameters of
your  job description, what would you do?
4. You are a committee member and disagree with a point or decision. How will you
respond?
5. Describe what you would classify as a crisis.
6. You are angry about an unfair decision. How do you react?
7. Suppose you are in a situation where deadlines and priorities change frequently and
rapidly. How would you handle it?
8. How do you know when you are stressed? What do you do to de-stress?
9. Tell me about a time when you were a part of a great team. What was your part in
making the team effective?
10. Give me an example of a time when you had to deal with a difficult co-worker. How did
you handle the situation?
11. How do you think your co-workers would respond if you were absent from work?
12. Can you tell me about a time during your previous employment when you suggested a
better way to perform a process?
13. Tell me about a personal or career goal that you have accomplished and why that was
important to you.
14. Give an example of a time when you were trying to meet a deadline, you were
interrupted, and did not make the deadline. How did you respond?
15. What strengths did you rely on in your last position to make you successful in your
work?
16. What do you do when you know you are right and your boss disagrees with you? Give
me an example of when this has happened in your career.
17. Tell me about a situation you wish that you had handled differently based on the
outcome.  What was the situation?  What would you change (or will you change) when
faced with a similar situation?
18. Suppose your supervisor asked you to get information for them that you know is
confidential and he/she should not have access to. What would you do?
19. Describe a time when you performed a task outside your perceived responsibilities.
What was the task? Why did you perceive it to be outside your responsibilities? What
was the outcome?
20. It’s 4:30 on a Friday afternoon. Your supervisor gives you an assignment that needs to
be finished by 8:00 Monday morning. You have already made plans to be away the
entire weekend. What would you do?
 21. If you observed a co-worker who made inappropriate sexual or racial remarks to
another employee, and it was obvious to you that the situation was creating an
uncomfortable environment, what would you do.

Creative Thinking
1. What’s the best book you’ve read in the last year? Please take a minute and tell us
what you liked about it.
2. What was the most creative thing you did in your last job?
3. What is your interpretation of “success?”
4. Describe an ideal work environment or “the perfect job.”
5. In what way(s) do you express your personality in the workplace?

Leadership
1. How would you describe an ideal supervisor?
2. What strengths did you rely on in your last position to make you successful in your
work?
3. As a supervisor, it is essential to motivate employees in your area.  Sometimes this
must be done using non-monetary means.  Please describe some creative ways you
have motivated and recognized employees in the past non-monetarily.
4. Explain, step by step, how you have coached an employee who had performance
problems.
5. If we were able to interview a few of your past employees, how would they describe
your supervisory style? Explain why.
6. If you had to describe your own leadership style as directive, delegating, or coaching,
which would you choose? Please explain why giving examples.

Functional
The following questions are function-specific.
Customer Service
1. What do you like about being in Customer Service?  What do you find is the most
difficult part of being in Customer Service?
2. What do you think is fundamental to effective Customer Service?
3. Tell me about a time when you went out of your way to give great service to a
customer?
4. Describe a process or system that you improved so customers would be better served.
5. Tell me about a time when you asked for feedback on your customer service skills from
your manager or co-worker and then used that response to improve your work.
6. Tell me about a time when you knew that your customer might not get what he or she
needed on time.  How did you handle this?
7. Tell me about a time when you had to say “No” to a customer because it was against
company policy.
8. Tell me about a time when you had trouble working with a difficult or demanding
customer.  How did you handle this?
Information Technology
1. In your experience, what are the essential elements of an IT disaster recovery plan?
2. Describe the types of network security features you have implemented or maintained in
the past.
3. When you have several users experiencing computer problems, how do you determine
which users get help first?
 4. Describe your decision-making process when selecting which IT certifications to
pursue.
5. Of your certifications, which one(s) have you found most helpful when you encounter
technical problems on the job?
6. In your opinion, how does managing a staff of technical workers differ from managing
other kinds of workers?
7. What brands of hardware do you feel most comfortable dealing with?
8. What software have you had the most success supporting?
9. What characteristics do you feel are necessary for success as a technical support
worker?
10. Describe a past situation in which you provided excellent customer service to a user.

Optional Situational Questions:

Please explain how you would handle the following situations:
1. You observe two of your employees arguing in a central location in the office.
2. One of your employees comes to you complaining about another employee and
insisting they should no longer work together.
3. One of your employees comes to you to complain that he/she has a more demanding
work load than another employee and wants the workload to be shifted.
General
1. Could you share with us a recent accomplishment of which you are most proud?
2. What would you have liked to do more of in your last position? What held you back?
3. Tell us a bit about your work background, and then give us a description of how you
think it relates to our current opening.
4. What are your qualifications in your area of expertise, i.e., what skills do you have that
make you the best candidate for this position? Include any special training you have
had (on-the-job, college, continuing education, seminars, reading, etc.) and related
work experience.
5. Why have you applied for this position?
6. What skill set do you think you would bring to this position?
7. Tell me about your present or last job. Why did you choose it? Why did you/do you
want to leave?
8. What was your primary contribution/achievement? Biggest challenge?
9. What are your short-term and long-term goals?
10. In what areas would you like to develop further? What are your plans to do that?
11. What are some positive aspects of your last employment/employer? What are some
negative aspects?
12. What do you think about SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures)?
13. What are your career path interests?
14. What do you know about our company?
15. Why should we hire YOU?
16. If the position required it, would you be willing to travel?
17. If the position required it, would you be willing to relocate?
18. If you were offered this position, when would you be available to start?
19. After learning about this opportunity, what made you take the next step and apply for
the job?
20. If you are the successful applicant, how would you expect to be different after a year in
this position?
21. Now that you have learned about our company and the position you are applying for,
what hesitation or reluctance would you have in accepting this job if we offer it to you?
22. Tell me anything else you would like us to know about you that will aid us in making our
decision.
23. What questions would you like to ask me?