| TYPES OF QUESTIONS |
| 1. Close-ended questions. These questions may sometimes be helpful when an interviewer(s) wants to know certain information at the onset or needs to determine specific kinds of knowledge. Example: "Could you name the five specific applications involved in...?" |
| 2. Probing questions. These questions allow the interviewer(s) to delve deeper for needed information. Example: "Why?", "What caused that to happen?", or "Under what circumstances did that occur?" |
| 3. Hypothetical questions. Hypothetical situations based on specific job-related facts are presented to the applicant for solutions. Example: "What would you do if..", "How would you handle..." |
| 4. Loaded questions. These questions force an applicant to choose between two undesirable alternatives. The most effective way to employ a loaded question is to recall a real-life situation where two divergent approaches were both carefully considered, then frame the situation as a question starting with, "What would be your approach to a situation where...". |
| 5. Leading questions. The interviewer(s) sets up the question so that the applicant provides the desired response. When leading questions are asked, the interviewer cannot hope to learn anything about the applicant. |
| 6. Open-ended questions. These are the most effective questions, yield the greatest amount of information, and allow the applicant latitude in responding. Example: "What did you like about your last job?" |
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| Examples of open-ended effective probing: |
| 1. What are/were the three main responsibilities in your current/last position? Which responsibilities do/did you enjoy the most? Why? |
| 2. Of the three main responsibilities, which do/did you enjoy the least? Why? |
| 3. Describe your supervisor's management style. Did/Do you like his or her style of management? Why or why not? |
| 4. Describe your particular style of management, or the style of management you would choose if you were a manager. |
| 5. In the past have you worked in a team environment or independently? Which did you prefer and why? |
| 6. What amount of hours do you/ did you put in at your current/last position? How did you feel about working those hours? |
| 7. What are three of your strongest work related qualities and how were you able to demonstrate these on your job? |
| 8. What are three areas, with regard to your work, that you would like the opportunity to develop? |
| 9. Why did you/are you leave/leaving your last/present position? |
| 10. Of all the jobs you've held, which one did you like the most and why? |
| 11. What major problems have you encountered so far in your professional life and how did you deal with them? |
| 12. What have you learned from your mistakes? |
| 13. How do you react to pressure? |
| 14. What types of decisions are most difficult for you? |
| 15. How have your prior experiences and education prepared you for this job? |
| 16. What has been your biggest work-related frustration to date? How did you handle the situation? |
| 17. Have you ever supervised anyone in a work setting? Have you ever hired or fired anyone? |
| 18. What experience do you have in this field? How have you prepared yourself to switch fields? |
| 19. How have you influenced productivity and results in your previous work experiences? |
| 20. How have you prepared yourself to assume the challenges of this position? |
| 21. How do your current skills apply to this position? |
| 22. In what ways do you expect your relationships with current peers to change? How will you manage this shift? |
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| Repeated Questions break rehearsed answers |
| 1. What did you like about your previous job/manager? |
| 2. What else did you like about your previous job/manager? |