Crafting Better Interview Questions: A Guide for Hiring Managers

Interviewing possible hires is one of the most important parts of the hiring process. You can learn more about a candidate’s skills, experience, work style, and fit for the role and company as a whole by asking the right questions. However, coming up with great interview questions can be a challenge.

We’ll give you 62 interview questions in this complete guide to help you find top performers and hire the best person for the job.

Why Better Interview Questions Matter

Asking the right interview questions is crucial for several reasons:

• Reveals fit: Beyond assessing hard skills, smart interview questions help hiring managers evaluate soft skills, culture fit, and motivations. This provides a 360-degree view of the candidate.

• Surfaces red flags Probing questions can reveal “wrong answers” that expose poor judgement, lack of ethics inability to work in a team, or other undesirable traits.

• Builds rapport: When done right, the interview is a conversation, with good questions opening up a meaningful dialogue. This creates connection and insight into the candidate.

• Provides legal protection Well-crafted and consistent interview questions help organizations avoid inappropriate or illegal inquiries around race, age, religion, and other protected classes.

62 Smart Interview Questions to Ask Candidates

Here are 69 interview questions to get you started, separated into categories based on their intent:

Open-Ended Questions

• Tell me about yourself.
• List five words that describe your character.
• Why do you want this job?
• What is your biggest strength?
• What is your biggest weakness?
• Describe your goal-setting process.
• What skills do you have that differentiate you from other candidates?

Open-ended questions allow candidates to open up and demonstrate their personality values abilities, and aspirations. Avoid questions with yes/no or one-word answers. Instead, encourage candidates to share stories and give examples.

Culture Fit & Motivations

• Why are you looking to leave your current position?
• What are you passionate about?
• How would your coworkers describe your work style?
• What type of work environment do you thrive in?
• What are three things that are important to you in a company culture?
• How do you handle conflict or disagreements with colleagues?
• What motivates you?

These questions reveal whether a candidate will mesh well with the company values, norms, pace, and team dynamics. Look for self-awareness and emotional intelligence.

Qualifications & Experience

• Walk me through your resume.
• Tell me about your experience with [required skill].
• What achievements are you most proud of in your career thus far?
• How does your past experience make you a great fit for this role?
• How do you stay up-to-date on the latest developments in our field?
• What is the biggest challenge you faced in your last position? How did you handle it?
• Tell me about a time you made a mistake at work. How did you resolve the situation?
• Describe a time you had to rapidly acquire a new skill. How did you do it?

These competency-based questions assess hard skills, knowledge, and previous accomplishments. They also provide insight into learning potential, self-awareness, and problem-solving abilities.

Leadership & Collaboration

• What is your leadership style?
• Tell me about a time you led a successful project. What challenges did you face?
• Give an example of a time you had to coordinate with other teams or departments to achieve a goal.
• How do you motivate team members?
• Describe a time you gave constructive feedback to a direct report. How did you handle it?
• Tell me about a time you disagreed with a supervisor. How did you handle it?
• What is your approach to training and developing team members?

For management roles, leadership and teamwork questions reveal skills in fostering talent, navigating politics, handling conflict, and driving results through others.

Problem-Solving & Analytical Skills

• Describe a time you had to solve a complex problem. What was your process?
• Tell me about a high-pressure situation where you had to analyze information and make a quick decision. What factors did you weigh?
• Walk me through how you would approach [insert business problem].
• What methods do you use to organize large amounts of information?
• How do you prioritize tasks when everything seems high priority?
• When given an assignment, how do you decide where to start?

These behavioral questions test how candidates process information, break down problems, weigh risks, organize work, and handle pressure.

Ownership & Initiative

• Tell me about a time you took ownership of a project, even though it wasn’t officially assigned to you.
• Describe a time when you went above and beyond your job requirements. Why did you take the initiative?
• Give an example of when you spotted an issue and acted quickly to remedy the situation before it became serious.
• What is something you have implemented at your current or previous company?

These questions reveal whether a candidate will take charge without constant oversight and supervision. Listen for how they define going above-and-beyond.

Customer Service & Communication Skills

• How do you handle an angry or dissatisfied customer?
• Tell me about a time you had to explain a complex subject to someone without technical expertise. How did you handle it?
• What strategies do you use to communicate effectively with clients, coworkers, and managers?
• Describe a time you adapted your communication approach to connect better with an audience.
• How do you determine the best way to communicate to different audiences?

For any customer-facing role, be sure to ask about communication abilities, empathy, conflict resolution, and influencing skills.

Best Practices for Interview Questions

Keep these tips in mind as you prepare interview questions:

• Use a consistent structure: Ask the same core questions in the same order for each candidate to allow for fair comparisons.

• Balance broad and specific questions: Include a mix of open-ended behavioral questions as well as tailored questions related to the role.

• Watch for red flags: If you see warning signs on a sensitive topic, politely but firmly probe further with follow-up questions.

• Avoid illegal questions: Do not ask about race, age, religion, family status, disabilities, or other protected classes.

• Take thorough notes: Document responses and impressions immediately after the interview while details are fresh.

• Leave time for candidate questions: Finish several minutes before time is up to allow them to ask thoughtful questions.

Key Takeaways

Crafting the right interview questions is both an art and a science. Following structured, consistent techniques helps surface top candidates that will thrive in your company’s unique environment. Use these 69 example questions across relevant categories to identify candidates with the right hard skills, soft skills, and fit. With preparation and practice, you can master the interview and recruiting process.