Job interviews are heavily reliant on asking the right questions. Doing so uncovers valuable information about candidates’ skills, experience, and what they can add to the organization’s culture. The best interviews contain a mix of questions designed to gauge experience through examples, hypothetical scenarios, aspirations and motivations.
This article offers 20 of the best interview questions to ask a candidate to ensure a balanced and comprehensive recruitment process. We’ll cover why these questions are an important part of an effective interviewing technique and what you as a hiring manager can learn from the way applicants answer them.
1. “What attracted you to this organization?”
This question is a good way to open up an interview, as it gauges candidates’ attitudes towards the organization and allows you to see how they align with your core values and purpose. The question will also allow you to understand how prepared the candidate is, as well as what research they’ve done about the organization and the role.
If a candidate answers this question by demonstrating organizational knowledge and alignment with your purpose and shows plenty of research, this will affirm to you that they’re very interested in the role — and for the right reasons.
2. “Tell me about yourself.”
This question is useful to understand the candidate’s work biography and give them the chance to bring their résumé to life, and allows you to ask questions to follow up and deep dive into aspects that are aligned with the job.
This question tells you a lot about candidates but is especially useful to see how they can add context to their work history and narrate their biography in a way that demonstrates to you they understand the job description and what you as an interviewer need to hear.
3. “What motivates you?”
Gauging what motivates a job candidate is vital, as it allows you to see if they find motivation in your organizational culture, in terms of how it rewards and recognizes employees. You can also use the question to see if the candidate will be a good fit with their manager and how they like to manage people.
Look out for candidates who explain how they approach self-motivation and how they expect to be motivated by their manager, and see if this is a good fit for how your business operates.
4. “How do you evaluate success?”
This question can give you insights into how candidates approach goal setting, motivate themselves, and lead people or respond to leadership. You can also assess their approach to problem solving, commitment and work ethic.
When candidates answer this question, you’ll be able to pick up insights into how they handle tasks, approach continuing professional development, and their attitude to work–life balance.
5. “How do you handle stress?”
This question aims to assess candidates’ ability to cope with pressure and demands at work; because of this, it’s a great question to ask if the role is especially stressful or intense. The question can also help you gauge candidates’ attitudes to time management and resilience.
The answers to this question will give you information about candidates’ stress management techniques, their attitudes to work–life balance, how they might work on their own or in a team, and their fit for the culture in your organization.
6. “How would your boss describe you?”
This question assesses candidates’ interpersonal skills, their self-awareness of strengths and development areas, their cultural fit to the organization, and their general professional approach in the workplace. It’s a useful question, as it’s a good all-rounder to ask and allows candidates to be a little reflective in their answer.
When candidates answer the question, look for examples or achievements of anything they have raised, and try to glean an understanding of balanced feedback, (eg: if they offer a combination of positive and negative traits).
7. “What are your hobbies and interests?”
This question might not seem too work-related but it, in fact, can tell you a lot about candidates. The answers will help you understand more about the candidate’s personality and cultural fit, as well as their preference for work–life balance and how well-rounded they are as a person.
The question is also useful, as the candidates’ preference for hobbies and interests will also reveal information about what transferable skills they have. Finally, the question can often relax candidates and make a personal connection — vital to the flow of an interview.
8. “How do you handle negative feedback?”
This question can help interviewers assess candidates’ receptiveness to feedback, their attitudes to change management, and the levels of their emotional intelligence. It can also be used to understand their approach to problem solving.
In the candidates’ answers, look for signs regarding how they process feedback, especially through understanding, acknowledging and acting on it. You’ll be able to glean their approach to reflecting on challenges and how they learn from tricky situations.
9. “Why should we hire you?”
This question is a very useful one to ask, as it covers quite a few areas of competency at once. These areas include cultural fit, skills, experiences and motivations.
When the candidates answer this question, you’ll be able to discern information regarding their fit to organizational values, the level of their self-awareness and confidence, motivations, and general enthusiasm about the role.
You should probe for specific achievements and assess how the candidate’s answer aligns with other information about their competencies that you have taken from the interview so far.
10. “What are your greatest strengths?”
This question gives candidates a chance to candidly boast in the interview! It’s useful because it will give you an opportunity to clearly understand the candidate’s strongest areas or key qualities, and how they align with the role they are interviewing for.
When assessing the candidate’s answer, take time to seek contrary evidence (ie: have they spoken about anything in the interview that contradicts these strengths?). Assess their levels of confidence, and how self-aware they are of their competencies. Finally, seek clarification from the candidate on any strengths that you’re not sure would be in alignment with the job description.
11. “How do you manage deadline pressure?”
Another especially useful question for high-pressure environments, this question assesses candidates’ time management skills, their resilience, ability to work to multiple deadlines or under pressure, and organizational ability.
When they answer the question, you will be able to assess how candidates respond to stress and what coping mechanisms they use, how they manage their work, how they solve problems, and also determine their work ethics and reliability. Ensure candidates give examples of these areas when they answer the question.
12. “What are some of your short-term goals?”
This question is a good one to ask, as it gives you insight into candidates’ strategic planning abilities. Candidates can share both their personal and professional objectives, and this gives you insight into how they organize themselves, what they prioritize, and how their approach to planning might align with the role and organization.
When they answer the question, you will be able to assess candidates’ approach to motivation, and how (and where) they take initiative. You’ll also be able to assess how they set goals, which will give you insight into their planning ability and organizational skills.
13. “What do you know about our company?”
This question is a great one to ask, as it gives candidates a chance to demonstrate what research they have done about your organization and, based on this, why they feel they might be a good fit for the company and the role.
When they answer the question, you’ll be able to gauge their level of preparedness for the interview, and whether or not they can use the information they discovered to demonstrate that they fit — and want to fit — into the organizational culture and its purpose. You can also use the answer to assess if the candidate is aware of the organizational changes that might impact the role.
14. “What are your salary expectations?”
This is one of the most important questions to ask in the interview, as it will ensure the candidate and yourself are on the same page when it comes to money and they haven’t been invited to the interview in vain. Asking this question can mean that both parties don't waste their time on a process if the salary can’t be agreed upon.
When asking this question, employers can use the exchange to understand how gaps in salary versus expectation can be bridged, such as seeing if other benefits like healthcare or bonuses can be used to make the role more attractive to the desired candidate.
15. “How do you learn new skills?”
This question gives you insight into how candidates approach continuing professional development. It’s useful because it will help you understand the candidate’s attitude to skill gaps and their awareness of areas they need to develop.
When assessing candidates' answers to this question, consider their learning style and how this aligns with the learning culture of the organization. Take into account their attitude to learning (ie: is it reflective or proactive?) and assess their skill gaps and general level of enthusiasm about doing more than is required.
16. “How would your coworkers describe you?”
This question gives you valuable insight into how candidates work with others. It can demonstrate the levels of candidates’ teamwork skills, and also provides a chance for the candidate to assess their competencies from the opinions of others. Therefore, it’s a powerfully reflective question to get really candidates thinking.
There’s a lot to discern from how candidates answer this question. You’ll be able to see if they would be a good cultural fit for the organization and its people, and how they might get along with their stakeholders. You’ll also get an insight into their competencies, and how these align with the job description.
17. “Describe your ideal work environment.”
This question is crucial to understand how candidates like to work. It will get them to share insights about how they like to work, their perfect organizational culture, how they like to be managed, and what motivates them.
In their answer, you’ll be able to consider whether your organization is the right choice for candidates, based on their responses. You can strike a discussion during this question, informing them about the culture and working environment, and whether this aligns with what they’re seeking.
This allows the candidate to make a decision about whether they proceed with the application or self-select out of the process.
18. “Why do you want this job?”
This question assesses candidates’ motivations for the role, and why they have chosen to apply in the first place. It also encourages the candidate to share what they know about the organization and the role, encouraging them to be honest and sincere.
When you ask this question, ascertain the candidate’s reasons for applying for this job. If they give detailed reasoning, assess its alignment with your organizational values. If they talk a lot about your culture and cite this as a reason for applying, this is also a good sign. Probe into answers that are vague or seem too generic.
19. “How do you define effective teamwork?”
With teamwork being so critical to many roles, this question aims to allow candidates to explain to you how they like to work in a team, their interpersonal skills, and what their expectations are regarding collaborating with others.
The candidates’ answers to this question will enable you to understand how candidates approach teamwork and if this aligns with your organizational culture. You’ll also get an idea of their conflict management skills, and how they might approach leading teams if this is part of the job description.
20. “Have I answered all your questions?”
This question is used at the end of the interview. It’s typically asked to understand if the candidate has any concerns that haven’t been addressed yet, and also to gauge the candidates’ interest in the role. It’s an important question, as it clears the air and closes off the interview naturally.
Use the candidates’ response to clarify any concerns they have and prevent any misunderstandings. You can also assess their engagement in the interview so far and get a feel for their enthusiasm for the role.
Final thoughts
Using these top interview questions will ensure that you create a balanced and detailed interview experience that will get the best out of every candidate. Remember to probe into candidates’ answers and use your interviewing skills to extract the best answers from candidates who might be nervous or unsure of the best way to answer questions.
Using a mix of questions like the ones we have provided will ensure that you discover every dimension of the candidate, helping you make a balanced and fair assessment that will ultimately result in making great hiring decisions.
Which are your go-to questions when interviewing candidates? Let us know in the comments section below.
This article is a complete update of an earlier version originally published on March 14, 2019.