EMPLOYMENT BACKGROUND CHECKS
Telephone Pre Screen
Conduct a phone interview when you want to narrow your search and limit the number of in person interviews.
Suggested questions:
In your own words, tell me what you think is an ideal employer
Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years?
Give me some of your top duties in your current position.
Why are you looking for a new job?
General Questions
Suggested questions suitable for in person interviews:
Tell me about some recent accomplishments you have done that you are most proud of?
Why did you apply for this job?
What skill sets would you bring to this position if hired?
What career path do you have in mind?
Tell me why you think that this organization should hire YOU?
Are you willing to travel or relocate if the job requires it?
If offered when are you available to start?
Tell me some positive and negative things about your last employer.
Is there anything you would like to add that might help us in making our decision?
Behavioral Questions
Behavioral interviewing can give the hiring supervisor an idea as to how a candidate has previously handled a situation. The assumption is that they will demonstrate similar behavior in the new position.
Suggested questions:
Tell me what you would say about yourself in front of a group of individuals.
Assume that you were given a decision you felt was unfair. How would you handle yourself if given an unfair decision?
What is a career goal you have accomplished and why was it meaningful to you?
In any organization you will have to deal with difficult co worker.
In what ways have you dealt with a difficult co worker?
Have you ever done a task that was not part of your normal responsibilities?
What was the task?
Why did you take on the additional task?
How did it turn out?
How would you handle a situation involving a co worker making unwanted sexual or racial comments to another coworker?
Interpersonal Questions
Interpersonal questions will help give the supervisor insight into how the candidate will interact with coworkers and the supervisor.
Some sample questions are:
Tell me what you consider your strengths.
If I were to ask your previous/current co workers about you, what would they say?
Describe how you like to be managed and the best relationship you’ve had with a boss.
When others do not agree with your ideas, what do you do?
Tell me what you think are the good and bad things about working in a team setting.
What types of people do you find the hardest to work with?
How do you go about making a decision and when do you find it the hardest to make a decision?
Creative Thinking Questions
These questions will allow the candidate to express their creativity while thinking on their feet.
Some sample questions are:
What exactly is your interpretation of the word “success”?
What do you consider the “perfect job”?
How do you express your personality at work?
Managerial Questions
These questions may be used for a higher level managerial type position.
What is your management style?
Could you describe to us your ideal manager/supervisor?
Would you consider being a detail oriented person or a big picture person more important?
Why?
Tell me about any professional organizations to which you belong. What has been your role in these
organizations?
Has there ever been a time where you came across any questionable business practices?
How did you handle the situation?
Tell me in detail how you have handled employee performance problems.
Do you think it is important to have your employees want to gain more knowledge and skills?
How would you go about motivating them in doing this?
Do you have any mentoring experience? If so, what do you think is the appropriate way to mentor someone?
What is the largest number of employees you had reporting to you and what were their job functions?
Do you prefer to handle day to day operations or planning ahead for the future?
Executive Questions
These questions may be used for a high level executive position.
What is your interest in becoming (name of the position)?
How have you helped the organization meet its goals and mission?
Describe your own philosophy of management which you would use?
Describe your experience in fiscal management?
Have you had to deal with any unethical problems where you have worked?
Please describe the experience.
Do you have any experiences in staff development and how would you say our current staff would describe you?
Functional Questions
Questions such as these pertain to specific areas of work such as Accounting, IT, or Marketing etc.
They will need to be developed based on your own departmental needs.
Credit to: oakland.edu/ ManagersToolkit /Interview_Questions