201 Job Interview Questions to Ask on Every Occasion14 min read

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A job interview is a great opportunity to truly assess the potential of a candidate who passed the screening stage of the recruitment process. Selecting the right interview questions plays a key factor in hiring the best people, and that’s why we have selected 201 of the most relevant questions to ask in a job interview.

Browse by Category

• Most Common Interview Questions
• Situational Interview Questions
• Leadership Interview Questions
• Behavioural Interview Questions
• Stress Response Interview Questions
• Brain Teaser Interview Questions
• Phone Interview Questions
• Second Interview Questions
• Manager Role Interview Questions
• Communication Skills Interview Questions
• Competency-Based Interview Questions: Decisiveness
• Competency-Based Interview Questions: Delegation
• Competency-Based Interview Questions: Resilience
• Competency-Based Interview Questions: Empathy
• Competency-Based Interview Questions: Teamwork
• Competency-Based Interview Questions: Risk-taking
• Competency-Based Interview Questions: Integrity
• Competency-Based Interview Questions: Influence
• Competency-Based Interview Questions: Independence
• Google Interview Questions

Learn how to assess for past behaviour with Behavioural Interviews.

Most Common Interview Questions

1. What are your biggest strengths?
2. What are your biggest weaknesses?
3. Why did you choose your major?
4. What were your main responsibilities at your previous job?
5. Why are you applying for this job?
6. How many people were on your team at your last job?
7. Why do you want to work for us?
8. What would your previous manager say if I asked where you needed to improve?
9. Why do you want to leave your current company?
10. What was your salary at job x?
11. Why should we hire you?
12. What were your first title and last title at job x?
13. What do you know about our company?
14. What is your desired salary?
15. Tell me about yourself.
16. Where do you see yourself in five years?
17. When did you leave company x?
18. Why do you think you would do well at this job?
19. If you started a company today, what would it be?
20. Tell me about a time you faced a conflict working as part of a team.
21. Tell me about a problem you faced at work and what you did to solve it.
22. What steps would you take to make an important decision on the job?
23. What would you do if you were assigned to work with a difficult colleague?
24. Tell me about a time you had to communicate bad news to a client or colleague.
25. How many other jobs are you applying for?

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Situational Interview Questions

1. What would you do if you disagreed with the way a manager wanted you to handle a situation?
2. How would you handle it if your team resisted a new process you introduced?
3. What would you do if you can’t complete a key project because you’re waiting for input from a colleague?
4. What would you do if the work of an employee you managed didn’t meet expectations?
5. What would you do if an important task was not up to standard, but the deadline to complete it had passed?
6. What steps do you follow before making an important decision on the job?
7. How would you work with a colleague who you are unable to form a positive relationship with?
8. What would you do if suggested something in a meeting, but your colleagues decided against it?
9. What would you do if you were assigned to work with a difficult client?
10. What would you do if a solution you proposed to a problem was criticized by your team?
11. How would you deal with having to work close to a colleague who is very different from you?
12. How would you react if a project you were working was suddenly terminated?
13. You realize that an early mistake in a project is going to put you behind the deadline. What do you do?

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Leadership Interview Questions

1. Can you tell me about a time when you demonstrated leadership skills?
2. How do you monitor the performance of the people that you have to lead?
3. Are you able to delegate responsibilities efficiently?
4. How would you describe your leadership style?
5. What can you do to motivate a team?
6. What values are most important to you as a leader?
7. Describe a situation where you had to drive a team through change. How did you achieve this?
8. How do you handle disagreements with co-workers?
9. Who is your favourite leader? Why?
10. Are you more comfortable with verbal or written communication?
11. How do you respond to criticism?
12. Can you tell me about a time when you solved a problem for your employees/employer?
13. How do you measure your own performance at work?
14. Tell me about a time when you were less successful as a leader than you would have wanted to be.
15. Describe a situation where you needed to inspire a team. What challenges did you meet and how did you achieve your objectives?

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Behavioural Interview Questions

1. Have you ever been in a business situation that was ethically questionable? What did you do?
2. Have you ever gone above and beyond to help a customer? What did you do?
3. Tell me about a time when you had to fight for an idea at work.
4. Talk about a time where you had to make an important decision quickly. What did you decide? What were the results?
5. How have you dealt with an angry or upset customer?
6. Have you ever had a project that had to change drastically while it was in progress? Why? How did you do it?
7. Talk about a time when a co-worker was not doing their share on a project. How did you handle it?
8. Tell me about a time you were dissatisfied in your work. What could have been done to make it better?
9. What have you done when colleagues have been stressed out by a project?
10. Talk about a difficult problem you’ve had to solve. How did you solve it?
11. Describe a time when you saw some problem and took the initiative to correct it.
12. Talk about a time when you’ve had to sell an idea to your colleagues.
13. Tell me about a problem you solved in a creative way.

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Stress Response Interview Questions

1. How do you feel this interview is going?
2. How would you handle undeserved criticism from a superior?
3. How do you prevent a situation from getting too stressful to handle?
4. What would you do if you saw a colleague stealing supplies or equipment?
5. What would you do if you had a boss you didn’t get along with?
6. What would you do if a colleague took credit for your idea, and got a promotion?
7. How stressful was your previous job?
8. If assigned with multiple tasks at the same time, how would you organize your work under tight deadlines?
9. What would you do if a customer verbally insulted you in front of colleagues?
10. How do you ensure that stressful situations in your personal life don’t affect your work performance?
11. What advice would you give to calm down a colleague who’s stressed out about a deadline?
12. What’s the most stressful situation you’ve faced at work so far?

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Brain Teaser Interview Questions

1. How many street lights are there in London?
2. How many gas stations are there in the UK?
3. How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?
4. How much should you charge to wash all the windows in Paris?
5. Why are manhole covers round?
6. How many times a day does a clock’s hands overlap?
7. How would you test a calculator?
8. Describe the internet to someone who just woke up from a 30-year coma.
9. How much does the McDonald’s in Times Square bring in, in annual revenue?
10. Describe the colour yellow to a blind person.
11. How does a plane fly?
12. How would you weigh a bus without using scales?

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Phone Interview Questions

1. Tell me about your background.
2. Why are you leaving your current role?
3. Detail the most successful idea you have you taken from concept to launch.
4. What are your salary expectations?
5. Tell me about a great product or service you’ve encountered recently. Why do you like it?

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Second Interview Questions

1. What do you think your biggest contributions will be in this role?
2. What do you see yourself accomplishing in your first 30 days?
3. What skills do you think are required to perform this job effectively?
4. Are there any unanswered questions from the first interview?
5. What are your career goals?
6. Do you have any questions about your the next steps?
7. What would you like to change about this company?
8. Can you tell me more about your current job?
9. What challenges are you lacking in your current role?
10. Does the discussed salary work for you?

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Manager Role Interview Questions

1. How do you handle colleagues who disagree with your ideas?
2. Have you ever mentored someone? What were the results?
3. How do you prepare for speaking in front of a group of people?
4. Do you have any experience leading meetings and facilitating discussions?
5. What do you find most difficult when you are managing a project?
6. Are you able to delegate, or do you prefer to be involved in every task?
7. How many people did you manage in your past teams?
8. How would you describe your management style?
9. How do you reward people for their hard work?
10. What would you do when an employee makes a mistake?
11. How do you evaluate the success of a team?
12. What leaders do you find inspiring?

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Communication Skills Interview Questions

1. How do you prefer to build rapport with others?
2. Tell me about a time when you were asked to summarise complex points.
3. How would you go about persuading someone to see things your way at work?
4. Describe a situation where you had to explain something complex to a colleague or a client. Which problems did you encounter and how did you deal with them?
5. What would you do if you there was a breakdown in communication at work?
6. Talk about a successful presentation you gave and why you think it did well.
7. How would you explain a complicated technical problem to a colleague with less technical understanding?
8. Do you prefer written or verbal communication?
9. Describe a time when you had to be careful talking about sensitive information. How did you do it?
10. What would you do if you misunderstood an important communication on the job?
11. Describe a situation when you had to communicate a message to someone, knowing that you were right and that they were wrong and reluctant to accept your point of view.
12. Is it more important to be a good listener or a good communicator?
13. Tell me about a situation where your communication skills made a difference in a situation.
14. Rate your communication skills on a scale of 1 to 10. Give examples of experiences that demonstrate the rating is accurate.
15. How have you handled working under someone you felt was not good at communicating?
16. Describe your communication skills.

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Competency-Based Interview Questions: Decisiveness

1. Tell me about a big decision did you make recently. How did you go about it?
2. How did you reach the decision that you wanted to change jobs?
3. Tell me about a time when you had to make a decision without knowledge of the full facts.
4. What is the decision that you have put off the longest? Why?
5. When is the last time that you have refused to make a decision?
6. Have you ever had to make a decision without the input of key players?
7. Give an example of a time when you had to delay a decision.
8. Tell me about a situation where you made a decision that impacted negatively on others. How did you handle its consequences?
9. Tell me about an unpopular decision that you made. How did you handle the decision-making process and how did you manage expectations?
10. Tell me about a situation where you made a decision too quickly and got it wrong. What made you take that decision?

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Competency-Based Interview Questions: Delegation

1. What type of responsibilities do you delegate?
2. What stops you from delegating? Give an example of a project that you felt compelled to complete on your own.
3. Give an example of a situation where you reluctantly delegated to a colleague. How did you feel about it?
4. Have you ever delegated a task to the wrong person? What happened and what did you learn from it?
5. How do you cope with being away from the office for long periods of time, such as holidays?

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Competency-Based Interview Questions: Resilience

1. Tell me about a situation where things deteriorated quickly. How did you react to recover from that situation?
2. Tell me about a project where you achieved success despite the odds being stacked against you. How did you ensure that you pulled through?
3. Tell me about a time when you successfully pushed one of your ideas despite strong opposition.
4. Give me an example of a situation where you worked under pressure.
5. Which recent project or situation has caused you the most stress and how did you deal with it?
6. What’s your biggest pet peeve at work?
7. What has been your greatest failure at work?
8. What is the biggest challenge that you have faced in your career and how did you overcome it?
9. Describe a situation where you knew that a project or task would place you under great pressure.
10. Which projects have you found most difficult? How did you address the challenge?

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Competency-Based Interview Questions: Empathy

1. Tell about a problem that one of your staff or colleagues brought to you recently. How did you handle it?
2. What unpopular decision have you made recently? How did your colleagues react?
3. When was the last time that you had an argument with a colleague?
4. When did you last upset someone?
5. Give an example where you found it hard to adjust to one particular colleague.

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Competency-Based Interview Questions: Teamwork

1. Describe a situation in which you were a member of a team. How did you positively contribute to it?
2. Tell me about a situation where you played an important role in a project as a member of the team.
3. How do you build relationships with other members of your team?
4. Give me an example where you worked in a dysfunctional team. Why was it dysfunctional and how did overcome it?
5. Give an example of a time when you had to deal with a conflict within your team.
6. How do you ensure that every member of the team feels welcome to participate?
7. How do you bring difficult colleagues on board?

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Competency-Based Interview Questions: Risk-taking

1. Tell me about the risks that you have taken in your professional or personal life.
2. What is the biggest risk that you have taken?
3. Describe one of your current or recently completed projects, setting out the risks involved.
4. What risks do you see in taking this job?

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Competency-Based Interview Questions: Integrity

1. Have you ever had to lie to achieve your aims? Why did you do so?
2. Was there any situation where you had to admit your mistakes to your fellow colleagues and coworkers?
3. Tell me about a time when you showed integrity and professionalism.
4. Tell me about a time when someone asked you something that you objected to. How did you handle the situation?
5. Have you experienced any kind of loss for following something right?
6. What would you do if your boss asked you to do something illegal?
7. What kind of methods and tips do you use to earn the belief and trust of others?

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Competency-Based Interview Questions: Influence

1. Describe a situation where you were able to influence others on an important issue.
2. What approach would you use to influence different stakeholders who have different agendas?
3. What would you do if your manager disagreed with you on the best action to take?
4. If you were managing a team, how would you persuade them to accept an unpopular decision?
5. Describe the project that you were most satisfied to sell to your management.
6. Describe a time where you failed to sell an idea that you knew was the right one.

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Competency-Based Interview Questions: Independence

1. Tell me of an instance when you worked independently to accomplish your goal.
2. Which decisions are you capable of making on your own and which do you require senior support to make?
3. Describe a situation where you had a disagreement or an argument with a superior.
4. When do you feel that it is justified for you to go against accepted principles or policy?
5. Have you ever felt that constraints were imposed on you? How do you deal with these?
6. Have you made a decision that wasn’t yours to make?
7. Describe a project or situation where you took a project to completion despite important opposition.
8. When have you gone beyond the limits of your authority in making a decision?

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Google Interview Questions

1. What is your favourite Google product, and how would you improve it?
2. What would you want to do if you didn’t have to work?
3. How would you explain cloud computing to a 6-year-old?
4. What is the number of new book titles published in the U.S. each year?
5. How would you make people in the community feel engaged?
6. How do you retain culture in hyper growth?

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