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Skills-based interview questions
Skills-based interview questions focus on a candidate’s past behaviors and experiences to predict future performance in a given role. These questions are designed to uncover specific skills and competencies that are crucial for success in the job. By asking candidates to provide examples of how they have demonstrated certain skills, interviewers can assess their ability to perform similar tasks in the future. The candidate’s response will provide insight into their leadership skills, problem-solving abilities, and how they handle pressure.
Adaptability
- Tell us about a situation in which you had to adjust to changes over which you had no control. How did you handle it?
- How do you respond when priorities change quickly? Give one example of when this happened.
- How have you adjusted your style when it was not meeting given objectives and/or people were not responding appropriately?
- What do you do when you are faced with an obstacle to an important project? Give an example.
- Give an example of a situation when you had to compromise your own goals/objectives for the sake of the team.
- By providing examples, demonstrate that you can adapt to a wide variety of people, situations and/or environments.
- What do you do when priorities change quickly? Give me one example of when this happened.
- Tell me about a specific time when you were given new information that affected a decision that you had already made.
Analytical thinking
- Describe a project or situation which best demonstrates your analytical abilities. What was your role?
- Tell me about a time when you needed to develop and use a detailed procedure to successfully complete a project.
- Give me a specific example of a time when you used good judgment and logic in solving a problem.
- Describe an instance when you had to think quickly to free yourself from a difficult situation. How did you go about making the changes (step by step)?
- Tell me about a time when you had to analyze information and make a recommendation. What kind of thought process did you go through? What was your reason behind your decision?
- Give me a specific example of a time when you used good judgment and logic in solving a problem.
Attention to detail
- Have you ever had an experience in which you were glad you paid attention to a particular detail? Please describe it.
- Have you ever found an error in your own work? How did it happen? What did you do about it?
- Tell me about a job or setting where great attention to detail was required to complete a task. How did you handle that situation?
- Tell me about your experience in past jobs that required you to be especially alert to details while doing the task involved.
- In some aspects of work it is important to be free of error. Can you describe a situation where you have tried to prevent errors? What did you do? What was the outcome?
Change management
- Tell me about a time when you had to adapt to a significant change at work.
- Tell me about a time you effectively communicated a major organizational change.
- Give an example of when you used data analysis to inform change management strategy.
- Have you ever had to introduce a policy change, new idea, or procedure to your work group? How did you do it?
- Have you ever met resistance when implementing a new idea or policy with a work group? How did you deal with it? What happened?
- Describe a time when your team or company was undergoing some change. How did that impact you, and how did you adapt?
Communication skills
- Describe a situation in which you were able to effectively “read” another person and guide your actions by your understanding of their individual needs or values.
- Describe a situation when you were able to strengthen a relationship by communicating effectively. What made your communication effective?
- Describe a situation where you felt you had not communicated well. How did you correct the situation?
- How do you go about explaining a complex technical problem to a person who does not understand technical jargon? What approach do you take in communicating with people?
- What kinds of communication situations present as difficult for you? Give an example.
- Tell me about a time when you and your current or previous supervisor disagreed but you still found a way to get your point across.
- Tell me about a situation in which you had to speak up (be assertive) in order to get a point across that was important to you.
- What challenges have occurred while you were coordinating work with other units, departments, and/or divisions? How did you address these challenges?
- What are the most challenging documents you have created? What kinds of proposals have you written?
- Keeping others informed of your progress/actions helps them feel comfortable. Tell me your methods for keeping your supervisor advised of the status on projects.
Conflict resolution
- Describe a situation where you had to use conflict management skills.
- Give me an example of a time when an organizational policy or action hurt people. What, if anything, did you do to mitigate the negative consequences for people?
- How do you typically deal with conflict? Can you give me an example?
- Describe a time when you had to cope with the resentment or hostility of a subordinate or coworker.
- Tell me about a time you had to handle a conflict in the workplace. What steps did you take to resolve the issue? Looking back, would you have done anything differently? Why?
- Give me an example of when you ‘went to the source’ to address a conflict. Do you feel trust levels were improved as a result?
- Can you explain a time when you had a conflict with a co-worker and how you overcame that conflict?
- Tell me about a time when you had to give the “benefit of the doubt” to a co-worker/supervisor. What was the outcome?
- If you disagreed with something that your boss was doing or has asked you to do, how would you approach the situation?
- Tell me about a time when you had to resolve a difference of opinion with a co-worker/customer/supervisor. How do you feel you showed respect?
- Describe the way you handled a specific problem involving others with differing values, ideas and beliefs in your current/previous job.
Customer service | Client relations
- Give me a specific example of a time when you had to address an angry customer. What was the problem and what was the outcome? How would you assess your role in defusing the situation?
- Give me an example of when you initiated a change in process or operations in response to customer feedback.
- How do you handle problems with clients? Give an example.
- How do you go about establishing rapport with a client? What have you done to gain their confidence?
- What have you done to improve relations with your clients?
- How do you define quality customer service? Give an example of a time you provided that type of service.
- Give an example of one of your customer service success stories.
- How have you handled demanding customers or clients?
- Tell me about a situation in which you had to deal with a customer or client who was upset and/or dissatisfied with your work. How did you handle that situation?
- Tell us about a time when you had to win over an unhappy customer. What did you do? What did you do next? What happened as a result of the steps you took? Would you do anything differently?
Decision making
- Discuss an important decision you made regarding a task or project at work. What factors influenced your decision?
- Tell me about a time when you made a poor decision. What happened? What did you learn?
- Give an example of a time in which you had to be relatively quick in coming to a decision.
- Give an example of a time when there was a decision to be made and procedures were not in place.
- When was the last time you made a key decision in the spur of the moment? What was the reasoning and result?
- How did you go about deciding what strategy to employ when dealing with a difficult client?
- How do you involve your manager and/or others when you make a decision?
- In a current job task, what steps do you go through to ensure your decisions are correct and effective?
- Give me an example of a time when there was a decision to be made and procedures were not in place. How did you handle it? What was the outcome?
- Tell me about a time when you had to defend a decision you made even though other key decision-makers were opposed to your decision.
- What’s the most difficult decision you’ve made in the last two years and how did you come to that decision?
- On many occasions, managers have to make tough decisions. What was the most difficult one you have had to make?
- Tell me about a decision you made while under a lot of pressure.
- Describe a decision you made or a situation that you would have handled differently if you had to do it over again.
- Give me an example of a time when there was a decision to be made and procedures were not in place? What was the outcome?
Delegation
- Do you consider yourself a macro or micro manager? How do you go about delegating work?
- What was the biggest mistake you made when delegating work? The biggest success?
- This roll requires a great deal of delegating. Tell me about times in the past when you have had to use this skill.
- How do you manage cross-functional teams?
Diversity | Inclusion
- Give a specific example of how you helped create an environment where differences are valued, encouraged and supported.
- Tell me about a time that you successfully adapted to a culturally different environment.
- Tell me about a time when you had to adapt to a wide variety of people by accepting and/or understanding their perspective.
- What have you done to further your knowledge and understanding of diversity? How have you demonstrated your learning?
- What measures have you taken to make someone feel comfortable in an uncomfortable or hostile situation?
- Describe a time you had to alter your workstyle to meet a diversity need or diversity challenge. What was the outcome?
- What do you see as the most challenging aspect(s) of building and maintaining a diverse and inclusive organization? Describe the steps you would take to meet the challenge?
- In your opinion, why is having a diverse and inclusive workforce important?
- What is your approach to understanding the perspectives of co-workers from different backgrounds than you?
- How would you advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion among co-workers who do not understand its value?
- Can you tell us your experience working with and serving a diverse population?
Goal setting
- What company or departmental goals have you developed in your past roles? Which ones have you reached? How did you reach them? Which have you missed? Why did you miss them?
- What were your annual performance goals at your most current employer? How did you develop these goals?
- Give me an example of an important goal you set in the past and tell me about your success in reaching it.
Initiative | Innovation
- Give some instances in which you anticipated problems and were able to influence a new direction.
- What changes did you initiate and implement at your most recent place of employment?
- Describe a project or idea that was implemented primarily because of your efforts. What was your role? What was the outcome?
- Tell me about an additional responsibility you decided to take on, even though it was not part of your role (and why?).
- Tell me about a time when you were particularly effective in prioritizing tasks and completing a project on schedule.
- Tell me about the last time that you undertook a project that demanded a large amount of initiative.
- There are times when we work without close supervision or support to get the job done. Tell me about a time when you found yourself in such a situation and how things turned out.
- Give me an example of when you took a risk to achieve a goal. What was the outcome?
- Tell me about a time you took initiative to improve a current process that wasn’t part of your day-to-day duties.
- Describe the most significant or creative presentation/idea that you developed/implemented.
- Describe a time when you came up with a creative solution to a problem in your past work.
- Tell me about a time when you created a new process or program that was considered risky. What was the situation and what did you do?
- Can you give me an example of how you have been creative in completing your responsibilities?
- Give me an example of when you initiated a change in process or operations. What was the result?
- In your last job, what problems did you identify that had previously been overlooked? Were changes made? Who supported the changes as a result of your ideas?
- Describe something you implemented at work. What were the steps you used to implement it?
- Give me an example of a time when there was a decision to be made and procedures were not in place? What was the outcome?
- Tell me about a time when you were asked to complete a difficult assignment even though the odds were against you. What did you learn from that experience?
- Give me an example of a time you were able to be creative with your work. What was exciting or difficult about it?
- Can you give me an example of how you have been creative in completing your responsibilities?
Integrity
- We work with a great deal of confidential information. Describe how you have handled sensitive information in a past work experience. What strategies did you use to maintain confidentiality when pressured by others?
- Give examples of how you have acted with integrity in your job/work relationship. If you can, tell about a time when your trustworthiness was challenged. How did you react and/or respond?
- On occasion, we are confronted by dishonesty in the workplace. Tell me about such an occurrence and how you handled it.
- Tell me about a specific time when you had to handle a tough problem which challenged fairness or ethics.
- Give me examples of how you have acted with integrity in your job/work relationship.
Interpersonal skills
- Tell me about a time when you built rapport quickly with someone under difficult conditions.
- What, in your opinion, are the key ingredients in guiding and maintaining successful working relationships? Give examples of how you made these work for you.
- Please give me an example of working cooperatively as a team member to accomplish an important goal. What was the goal or objective? What was your role in achieving this objective? To what extent did you interact with others on this project?
- Describe a project you were responsible for that required a lot of interaction with people over a long period of time.
- Tell me about a work experience where you had to work closely with others. How did it go? How did you overcome any difficulties?
- Trust requires personal accountability. Can you tell me about a time when you chose to trust someone? What was the outcome?
Leadership
- Tell me about a time when you’ve shown leadership and influenced outcomes even when you had no official authority.
- Give an example of your ability to build motivation in your co-workers, subordinates at work, or peers on a committee.
- Have you ever had difficulty getting others to accept your ideas? What was your approach? Did it work?
- Have you ever been a member of a group where two of the members did not work well together? What did you do to get them to do so?
- What is the toughest group that you have had to get cooperation from? Describe how you handled it. What was the outcome?
- What is your greatest leadership achievement in a professional environment? Talk through the steps you took to reach it.
- As a leader, you must often build support for goals and projects from people who do not report to you and over whom you have no authority. Tell me about a situation in which you demonstrated that you can build the needed support.
- What are the three most important values you demonstrate as a leader? Tell me a story that demonstrates each of these leadership values in practice within your workplace.
Management
- Give an example of a time when you helped a staff member accept change and make the necessary adjustments to move forward. What were the skills that you used?
- How would you go about establishing your credibility quickly with the team?
- How do you handle performance reviews? Tell me about a difficult one.
- Tell us about a specific development plan that you created and carried out with your employees. What was the specific situation? What were the components of the development plan? What was the outcome?
- Tell me about a time when you had to take disciplinary action with someone you supervised.
- Tell me about a time when you had to tell a staff member that you were dissatisfied with his or her work.
- When do you give positive feedback to people? Tell me about the last time you did.
- Give an example of how you handle the need for constructive criticism with a subordinate or peer.
- Have you ever had a subordinate whose performance was consistently marginal? What did you do?
- How do you evaluate the productivity/effectiveness of your subordinates?
- How do you get data for performance reviews?
- How do you keep track of what your subordinates are doing?
Motivating others
- How do you get subordinates to produce at a high level at their peak potential? Give an example.
- Give an example of how you have been successful at empowering either a person or a group of people so that they could accomplish a task.
- How have you recognized and rewarded a team player in the past? What was the situation?
- Setting high expectations implies you believe the employee can deliver. Give me an example of when you’ve done this.
- Give me an example of how you and your staff have celebrated success in the past. What was the occasion?
- Tell me about a time when you were able to provide a co-worker/employee with recognition for the work they performed. What did you do?
- What consistent methods do you use to ensure that staff feels valued for their contributions?
- Tell me about a time when you created a new process or program that was considered risky. (What was the situation, what did you do and how were you able to persuade others it was ultimately a good idea?)
Motivation
- How would you define “success” for someone in your chosen career?
- Tell me about an important goal that you set in the past. Were you successful? Why?
- What have you done to further your own professional development in the past five years?
- What are your career goals? How do you see this role playing into those goals?
- How do you best handle tough deadlines?
Multitasking
- How many projects do you work on at once? Please describe.
- Which of your jobs had the most rapid change? How did you feel about it? How did you adjust?
- What do you do when your schedule is interrupted? How do you handle it?
- Are you better at working on many things at a time, or are you better at working on and getting results on a few specific things? Please give me two examples that illustrate this.
Negotiating
- Describe the most challenging negotiation in which you were involved. What did you do? What were the results for you? What were the results for the other party?
- Describe a situation where you had to negotiate with someone. How did you feel about this? What did you do? How did you prepare for it? How did you present your position? How did you resolve it? What was the most difficult part?
Organization | Planning
- Give me an example of a project that best describes your organizational skills.
- What techniques and tools do you use to keep yourself organized?
- What do you do when your time schedule or project plan is upset by unforeseen circumstances? Give an example.
- If I were to talk with administrative assistants and/or supervisors you have had in the past, how would they describe your strengths and weaker points with respect to personal organization, communications, attention to detail, and planning?
Personal effectiveness | Self-assessment
- Tell me about a recent job or experience that you would describe as a real learning experience.
- Tell me about a time when you took responsibility for an error and were held personally accountable.
- Tell me about a time when your supervisor criticized your work. How did you respond?
- Tell me about a time when you were under extreme pressure on the job and how you handled it.
- When you have been made aware of, or have discovered for yourself, a problem in your work performance, what was your course of action? Can you give an example?
- Can you recall a time when you were less than pleased with your performance?
- If there was one area you’ve always wanted to improve, what would that be?
- In what ways are you trying to improve yourself professionally?
- What has been your major work-related disappointment? What happened and what did you do?
- What do you consider to be your professional strengths? Give me a specific example using this attribute in the workplace.
- What goal have you set for yourself that you have successfully achieved?
- What was the most useful criticism you ever received?
- If I looked at development suggestions from your evaluations at prior employers, what would I find?
- Tell us about the setbacks you’ve faced. How did you deal with them?
- What has your biggest achievement been in your current role? What results are you most proud of?
- If I were to talk to your previous managers, what would they say are the things you are best at? What would they say you need to improve in?
- In the jobs you have held in the past, which aspects have interested you the most?
- What skills from past your past experiences are most transferable/applicable to the role you are seeking?
- What aspects of your current job do you have difficulty with?
- What engages you about your current job?
- What assignment was too difficult for you, and how did you resolve the issue?
- Describe a time at work you made a mistake. How did you handle it?
- What kind of work environment do you like the best?
- Please describe a time your work was criticized harshly. How did you react to this feedback?
- What do you consider your greatest accomplishments in your current/previous position?
- What three adjectives would your co-workers describe you as?
- Tell me about a time when your supervisor/co-workers gave you feedback about your work/actions. What did you learn about yourself?
- Tell me about a job that you had which required you to learn new things.
- Tell me about a recent job or experience that you would describe as a real learning experience. What did you learn from the job or the experience?
- Tell me about a time when your coworkers gave you feedback about your actions. How did you respond? What changes did you make?
- Tell me about a time when you were asked to complete a difficult assignment even though the odds were against you. What did you learn from that experience?
Persuasion
- Describe a situation in which you were able to successfully influence the actions of others in a desired direction.
- Describe a time when you were able to convince a skeptical or resistant client to purchase a project or utilize your services.
- Have you ever had to persuade a peer, manager, or group to accept an idea that you knew they would not like? Describe the resistance you met and how you overcame it. What was the result?
- Tell me about a time when you had to convince someone in a position of authority to accept your ideas. What was the outcome?
- Tell me about a time when you used facts and reason to persuade someone to accept your recommendation.
- Tell me about a time when you used your leadership ability to gain support for what initially faced strong opposition.
Presentation skills
- How do you prepare for a presentation to a group of technical experts in your field?
- How would you describe your presentation style?
- Tell us about the most effective presentation you have made. What was the topic? What made it difficult? How did you handle it?
- What kinds of oral presentations have you made? How did you prepare for them? What challenges did you have?
Problem solving
- Describe a time when you had to solve a problem with limited information.
- Have you ever been caught unaware by a problem or obstacles that you had not foreseen? What happened?
- Give a specific example of a time when you used good judgment and logic in solving a problem.
- Some problems require developing a unique approach. Tell about a time when you were able to develop a different problem-solving approach.
- Tell me about a time when you identified a potential problem and resolved the situation before it became serious.
- When was the last time you were in a work-related crisis? What was the situation? How did you respond?
- Tell me about a problem you had to solve in a previous job? How did you identify the problem? What steps did you take and why did you take them to solve the problem? Looking back, would you have done anything different? Why?
- How do you go about solving problems at work?
- Tell me about a specific time when you eliminated or avoided a potential problem before it happened.
- What types of problems do you most enjoy tackling? Give me some examples of such problems you faced. What did you enjoy about them?
- What types of problems do you least enjoy tackling? Give me some examples of such problems you faced. What was it about the problems that you least enjoyed?
- To whom did you turn for help the last time you had a major problem and why did you choose that person?
Project management
- Can you give an example of a project you managed from start to finish?
- Describe how you develop a project team’s goals and project plan.
- Describe a complex challenge you have had coordinating a project.
- Tell me about a time when you influenced the outcome of a project by taking a leadership role.
- What was the last project you led? What was the outcome?
- Using a specific example of a project, tell how you kept those involved informed of the progress.
- Describe a long-term project that you managed. How did you keep everything moving along in a timely manner?
- What projects were accomplished during your previous job? How were these accomplished? What experiences did you have when meeting deadlines for project completion? Explain.
- Describe a long-term project that you managed. How did you keep everything moving along in a timely manner?
Sound judgment
- Describe a situation when you had to exercise a significant amount of self-control.
- When have you had to produce results without sufficient guidelines? Give an example
Strategic planning
- Describe what steps you followed or methods you used to define a vision for your unit or position.
- How do you see your job relating to the overall goals of the organization?
- In a current or former position, what were your long and short-term goals?
- Tell us about a time when you anticipated the future and made changes to current responsibilities and operations to meet future needs.
Stress management
- How do you react when faced with constant time pressure? Give an example.
- People react differently when job demands are constantly changing. How do you generally react?
- What kind of events cause you stress on the job?
- What was the most stressful situation you have faced? How did you deal with it?
- What has been the most stressful situation you have ever found yourself in at work? How did you handle it?
Supervision
- How would you handle a performance problem with your best employee? Your worst employee?
- What have you done to make your subordinate’s job easier or more rewarding?
- What have you done to make your group work more efficiently?
- Describe a situation in which a subordinate had roles in the decision-making process. How did you make use of their contributions?
- In your mind, what is the greatest thing that distinguishes a superior performance from good performance?
- What factors do you consider most important in judging a subordinate’s performance?
Teamwork
- Describe a situation in which you had to arrive at a compromise or help others to compromise. What was your role? What steps did you take? What was the end result?
- Describe a team experience you found disappointing. What could you have done differently?
- Describe the types of teams you’ve been on. What were your roles?
- Give an example of how you empowered a group of people in accomplishing a task.
- Give an example of how you worked effectively with people to accomplish an important result.
- Have you ever been a project leader? Give examples of problems you experienced and how you reacted.
- Have you ever been in a position where you had to lead a group of peers? How did you handle it?
- Have you ever participated in a taskforce? What was your role? How did you contribute?
- Tell us about a time when you had to work on a team that did not get along. What happened? What role did you take? What was the result?
- Tell us about a difficult challenge you faced in trying to work cooperatively with someone who did not share the same ideas? What was your role in achieving the work objective?
- Tell us about ta difficult situation you leading a team. What happened and what did you do? Was it successful? Emphasize the “single” most important thing you did.
- Tell us about an effective contribution you made as a member of a team.
- Think about a time you led a team. What could you have done to be more effective?
- What is a difficult part of being a member, not leader, of a team? How do you handle this?
- What role have you typically played as a member of a team? How did you interact with other members?
- When working on a team project have you ever had an experience where there was strong disagreement among team members? What did you do?
Time management
- Describe a situation that required you to do a number of things at the same time. How did you handle it? What was the result?
- How do you determine priorities in scheduling your time? Give an example.
- How do you typically plan your day to manage your time effectively?
- Of your current assignments, which do you consider to have required the greatest amount of effort with regard to planning and organization? How have you accomplished this assignment? How would you assess your effectiveness?
- Describe how you would handle a situation if you were required to finish multiple tasks by the end of the day, and there was no conceivable way that you could finish them.