893 Interview Questions for Your Job Search

A Tip to a Good Interview: Knowing the Questions

893 Behavioral Questions you need to master before your next interview.

Looking for a job? Want to make that new career change and switch to a position that really rings true with your inner awesomeness?

You need to practice your interviewing skills!

This is the grandaddy of all Interview Questions Lists (with a behavioral tint). We’re talking a full on 893 questions – that’s 27 pages – of “you WILL be prepared for ANYTHING!” interview practice questions.

Click Here to Learn How to Answer These Questions and More

893 Job Interview Questions

…and if your computer can handle it… the complete list is below… :D

A full PDF of the questions is included later on in the post.

Interview Questions (Behavioral) – You Make the Answers!

1) Describe a major change that occurred in a job that you held. How did you adapt to this change? 2) Describe a situation when you had to give feedback to someone who was not accepting of others. 3) Describe a situation where you, at first, resisted a change at work and later accepted it. What specifically changed your mind? 4) Describe a time a change effort you were involved in was not as successful as you or the company would have liked. 5) Describe a time when you changed your behavior to fit a specific situation. (NOTE: Make sure you find out, at minimum, what the situation was, what the specific behavior was prior to and after the change, why the behavior change was made, and whether the behavior change was appropriate in retrospect.) 6) Describe a time when you felt that a planned change was inappropriate. What did you do? What were the results? 7) Describe a time when you made a major sacrifice to achieve an important goal. 8) Describe a time when you were instructed to modify or change your actions to respond to the needs of another person. Do you feel that the demand was fair? Why or why not? 9) Describe a time you had to separate the person from the issue when working to resolve differences.

=====================================================

10) Describe a time you were able to make your voice heard in a predominantly opposite-sex-dominated environment. 11) Describe an instance when you had to think on your feet to extricate yourself from a difficult situation. 12) Give me an example of a time that your priorities were changed quickly. What did you do? What was the result? 13) Give me an example of a time when a person’s cultural background affected your approach to a work situation. 14) Give me an example of a time when you helped a direct report or other person in the organization accept change and make the necessary adjustments to move forward. What were the change/transition skills that you used? 15) Give me an example of a time when you missed the early signs of employee resistance to an organizational change? 16) Give me an example of a time when your tightly scheduled day was interrupted and thrown way of schedule. 17) Give me an example of a time when your values and beliefs impacted your relationship with a peer, co-worker, supervisor, or customer. 18) Give me an example of time you had to adjust quickly to changes over which you had no control. What was the impact of the change on you? 19) Have you ever been caught unaware by a problem or obstacles that you had not foreseen? What happened?

=====================================================

20) Most organizations today make ongoing changes in policies and procedures. Tell me about a time you had difficulty in dealing with one of these changes. What about the change made it difficult? How did you deal with the situation? 21) Problems occur in almost all work relationships. Describe a time when you had to cope with the resentment or hostility of a subordinate or co-worker. 22) Tell me about a situation in which you have had to adjust to changes over which you had no control. 23) Tell me about a time when you changed or modified your priorities to meet another person’s or group’s expectations. 24) Tell me about a time when you had to adapt to an uncomfortable situation.

25) Tell me about a time when you had to adjust to another person’s working style in order to complete a project/task/goal. 26) Tell me about a time when you had to change your point of view or your plans to take in account new information or a change in priorities. 27) Tell me about a time when you had to stop working on a project/idea/assignment and start working on a completely different one. What did you do? How did that work out? 28) Tell me about a time you adapted your style in order to work effectively with those who were different from you. 29) Tell me about a time you avoided forming an opinion of someone based on his outward appearance.

=====================================================

30) Tell me about a time you had to adapt to a wide variety of people by accepting or understanding their perspectives. 31) Tell me about a time you led a change effort. 32) Tell me about a time you uncovered new information that affected a decision that you had previously made. 33) Tell me about a time you were able to become more comfortable in an environment that you were originally uncomfortable in. 34) Tell me about the most difficult challenge you have faced in working cooperatively with someone who did not share your ideas, values, or beliefs. (NOTE: Make sure you understand what the differences were.) What was the impact on your ability to get things done? What was the impact on the other person’s ability to get things done? 35) Tell me about the most difficult change you have had to make in your professional career. How did you manage the change? 36) Tell me the steps you have taken to create a work environment where differences are valued, encouraged, and supported. 37) Tell us about a situation in which you had to adjust to changes over which you had no control. How did you handle it? 38) Tell us about a time that you had to adapt to a difficult situation. 39) Tell us about a time when you built rapport quickly with someone under difficult conditions

=====================================================

40) Tell us about a time when you did something completely different from the plan and/or assignment. Why? What happened? 41) Think about a time when you were involved in a group project or activity where the others involved were difficult to get along with. What did you do about it? 42) What do you do when priorities change quickly? Give one example of when this happened. 43) What do you do when you are faced with an obstacle to an important project? Give an example. 44) What do you do when your schedule is suddenly interrupted? Give an example. 45) What do you do when your time schedule or project plan is upset by unforeseen circumstances? Give an example. 46) What is the most competitive work situation you have experienced? How did you handle it? What was the result? 47) When was the last time something came up in a meeting that was not covered in the plan? What did you do? What were the results of your judgment? 48) Describe a situation where you didn’t pay as close attention to the details as you should have. 49) Describe a situation where you had the option to leave the details to others or you could take care of them yourself.

=====================================================

50) Describe the most creative work-related project which you have carried out. 51) Do you prefer to work with the “big picture” or the “details” of a situation? Give me an example of an experience that illustrates your preference. 52) Give me an example of a time where your attention to detail helped you avoid making a mistake. 53) Have the jobs you held in the past required little attention, moderate attention, or a great deal of attention to detail? Give me an example of a situation that illustrates this requirement. 54) Tell me about a suggestion you made to improve the processes or operations in your position or within your team. 55) Tell me about a suggestion you made to improve the way job processes/operations worked. 56) Tell me about a time when you caught an error that others had missed. 57) Tell me about a time when you paid too much attention to the details and not enough to the big picture. 58) Tell me about a time you had to pay close attention to the tiny details in order to be successful. 59) Tell us about a difficult experience you had in working with details.

=====================================================

60) Tell us about a situation where attention to detail was either important or unimportant in accomplishing an assigned task. 61) Give me an example of a time when you had to talk to a direct report about his/her performance and were able to turn that employee around. 62) Give me an example of a time you were responsible for hiring and orienting a new employee. What did you do to help him learn the new job? What did you do to help him learn about the company? 63) How do you coach a subordinate to develop a new skill? 64) Tell me about a time one of your direct reports was not meeting expectations. 65) Tell me about a time when you demonstrated to a direct report that you were concerned about a work or non-work related problem he was experiencing. 66) Tell me about a time your boss coached you to improve your performance or to learn something new. 67) 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. 68) Describe a situation in which you were able to effectively “read” another person and guide your actions by your understanding of their needs and values. 69) Describe a situation when you were able to strengthen a relationship by communicating effectively. What made your communication effective?

=====================================================

70) Describe a situation where you distrusted a coworker/supervisor, resulting in tension between you. What steps did you take to improve the relationship? 71) Describe a situation where you felt you had not communicated well. How did you correct the situation? 72) Describe a situation where you had to collect information by asking many people a lot of questions. 73) Describe a situation where you used humor to ease tensions. 74) Describe a situation where, after a presentation, you were faced with a hostile questioner. What did you do? What was the result? 75) Describe a situation where, because you were aware of the nonverbal dynamics of a person or group, you adapted your communication and turned the situation around. 76) Describe a situation you observed or were a part of where communication was handled particularly well by someone else. What did they do? Why do you think it was effective? 77) Describe a time that you were successful primarily because of your ability to communicate orally. 78) Describe a time when an employee came to you with a personal pain he was experiencing. 79) Describe a time when you had difficulty communicating your thoughts clearly to another person or group. What message were you trying to convey? Where did the difficulty in communicating lie? How did you end up getting your point across?

=====================================================

80) Describe a time when you went out of your way to put someone at ease. 81) Describe a time when you were able to effectively communicate a difficult or unpleasant idea to a superior. 82) Describe a time you failed to communicate important information to your boss. 83) Describe a time you had to give candid feedback to one of your peers. 84) Describe a time you used verbal communication to get across a point that was important to you. Were you successful/unsuccessful? 85) Describe a time you were able to provide a higher level management person with recognition for the work she performed. 86) Describe a time you wrote a report that was well received by others. 87) Describe a work situation that required you to really listen to and display compassion for a co-worker/employee who was telling you about a personal or sensitive issue. 88) Describe for me a time when you might have been more successful at something had you taken the time to clarify the expectations in a working relationship. 89) Describe for me a time you let a problem with an employee get out of hand.

=====================================================

90) 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? 91) Describe the most creative oral presentation you have had to make. 92) Describe the most significant or creative written presentation you had to complete. 93) Describe the most significant presentation you have had to complete. 94) Describe the most significant written document, report or presentation which you had to complete. 95) Give an example of a time when you made a mistake because you did not listen well to what someone had to say. 96) Give me an example of a complex political situation you were able to handle effectively and quietly; which, had you not handled it well, could have blown up. 97) Give me an example of a particularly difficult or awkward conversation you needed to have with someone. 98) Give me an example of a presentation you did for a small group that resulted in the group agreeing to do what you wanted. 99) Give me an example of a situation where you misread another person and ended up making the situation worse instead of better, at least initially.

=====================================================

100) Give me an example of a time on the job when you disagreed with your boss or a higher level manager. What were your options for settling the conflict? Why did you choose the option you did? Were you able to get your point across? How successful were you in settling the conflict? 101) Give me an example of a time when a presentation you were making wasn’t working and you were able to switch tactics to make it work. How did you know the presentation wasn?t working? 102) Give me an example of a time when you had a disagreement with one of your peers, but were able to find common ground and solve the problem. 103) Give me an example of a time when you were able to successfully communicate with a person you personally did not like. 104) Give me an example of a time when you were able to successfully communicate with another person even when that individual personally may not have liked you. 105) Give me an example of a time when you were able to successfully communicate with another person even when you felt the individual did not value your perspective. 106) Give me an example of a time when you were able to successfully communicate with another person, even when that individual may not have personally liked you, or vice versa. 107) Give me an example of a time when your ability to employ a sense of humor made you more successful than if you had not used it. 108) Give me an example of a time where, by speaking management’s language, you were able to convince them to do something that they might not have done otherwise. 109) Give me an example of a time where, despite being tense or nervous, you were able to make a successful presentation to a higher level management group.

=====================================================

110) Give me an example of a time where, in retrospect, if you had used your sense of humor, something at work would most likely have worked out better. 111) Give me an example of a time you failed to keep your boss informed of your actions or progress on a task or project. 112) Give me an example of a time you had to be excellent at multidirectional communication in order to be successful at something. 113) Give me an example of a time you used written communication to share information that, in hindsight, you realize should have been shared verbally. 114) Give me an example of a time you were particularly perceptive regarding a person’s or group’s feelings and needs. 115) Give me an example of an important report you have written. 116) Give me an example of the kind of writing you do best. 117) Have you ever had difficulty getting others to accept your ideas? What was your approach? Did it work? 118) Have you ever had to introduce a policy change to your work group? How did you do it? 119) Have you ever met resistance when implementing a new idea or policy to a work group? How did you deal with it? What happened?

=====================================================

120) How do you keep subordinates informed about information that affects their jobs? 121) How do you keep your manager informed about what is being done in your work area? 122) How do you prepare for a presentation to a group of technical experts in your field? 123) How have you persuaded people through a document you prepared? 124) How would you describe your presentation style? 125) In selling an idea, it is sometimes useful to use metaphors, analogies, or stories to make your point. Give a recent example of when you were able to successfully do that. 126) It is very important to build good relationships at work but sometimes it doesn’t always work. If you can, tell me about a time when you were not able to build a successful relationship with a difficult person. 127) Sometimes people hear but don’t listen. Tell me about a time when you misunderstood someone. Why to you think you misunderstood? How did you resolve the misunderstanding? 128) Tell me about a disagreement that you found difficult to handle. Why was it difficult? What did you do? How did it work out? 129) Tell me about a job experience in which you had to speak up in order to be sure that other people knew what you thought or felt.

=====================================================

130) Tell me about a presentation you made to a large audience. What was the purpose? How did you prepare it? 131) Tell me about a presentation you made to upper management. What was it about? How did you feel about making the presentation? How did it go? 132) Tell me about a sensitive or volatile situation that required very careful communication. 133) Tell me about a situation when you had to speak up (be assertive) in order to get a point across that was important to you. 134) Tell me about a situation where you had to work closely with a difficult coworker in order for you to successfully accomplish something. Did you make it work? How (or why not)? 135) Tell me about a time in which you had to use your written communication skills in order to get an important point across. 136) Tell me about a time in which you had to use your written communication skills in order to get an important point across. 137) Tell me about a time when someone misunderstood something you said. How did you determine that you had been misunderstood? How did you make yourself clear? What did you learn from this situation that you have used to improve your communication skills? 138) Tell me about a time when someone misunderstood something you wrote. How did you determine that you had been misunderstood? How did you make yourself clear? 139) Tell me about a time when you and your previous supervisor disagreed but you still found a way to get your point across.

=====================================================

140) Tell me about a time when you needed to give feedback to an emotional or sensitive employee. 141) Tell me about a time when you used your written communication skills to convey an important message. 142) Tell me about a time when your dislike for an individual had a negative impact on your ability to communicate effectively with this person. 143) Tell me about a time when your failure to show compassion to someone at work was a costly oversight on your part. 144) Tell me about a time where you didn’t document something that you wish you would have. 145) Tell me about a time where you used humor that backfired on you. 146) Tell me about a time where your active listening skills really paid off for you. 147) Tell me about a time you failed to communicate effectively with your direct reports/client/customer. How did you find out you had failed to communicate effectively? What was the implication of this failure? What did you do about the situation? What did you learn from this? 148) Tell me about a time you had to deal with a coworker who was very upset. 149) Tell me about a time you had to handle a highly emotional person.

=====================================================

150) Tell me about a time you had to use your presentation skills to influence someone’s opinion. 151) Tell me about a time you might have been more successful in your communication of an idea, had you taken time to think about how a higher level management person or group liked to receive information. If you had it to do over again, what would you do differently? 152) Tell me about a time you mistrusted another employee, resulting in tension between the two of you. What did you do to improve the relationship? Were you successful in improving it? 153) Tell me about a time you used your sense of humor to diffuse a potential problem. 154) Tell me about a time you were able to establish a rapport with a person that others referred to as “difficult”. 155) Tell me about a work-related decision you made or a situation you handled where, if you had it to do over again, you would do something different. 156) Tell me about an oral presentation you made to a group within the last year. What was the most difficult aspect of the presentation? 157) Tell me about the most difficult or complex idea, situation, or process you have ever had to explain to someone. How did you explain it? Were you successful? 158) Tell us about a recent success you had with an especially difficult employee/co-worker. 159) Tell us about a recent successful experience in making a speech or presentation. How did you prepare? What obstacles did you face? How did you handle them?

=====================================================

160) Tell us about a time when you and your current/previous supervisor disagreed but you still found a way to get your point across. 161) Tell us about a time when you had to present complex information. How did you ensure that the other person understood? 162) Tell us about a time when you had to use your verbal communication skills in order to get a point across that was important to you. 163) Tell us about a time when you were particularly effective in a talk you gave or a seminar you taught. 164) Tell us about an experience in which you had to speak up in order to be sure that other people knew what you thought or felt. 165) Tell us about the last time you had to negotiate with someone. 166) Tell us about the most effective presentation you have made. What was the topic? What made it difficult? How did you handle it? 167) There are always times when we disagree with others. Some people are congenial when we disagree with them, but that’s not true of others. Tell me about a time when you had the courage to express your opposing opinion to someone who generally does not take well to opposing viewpoints. What working relationship did you have with this person – peer, supervisor, etc.? Why did you decide to speak up? 168) Thinking of the most difficult person you have had to deal with, describe an interaction that illustrates that difficulty. Tell me about the last time you dealt with this individual. How did you handle the situation? 169) What are the most challenging documents you have prepared? Have you written proposals?

=====================================================

170) What challenges have occurred while you were coordinating work with other units, departments, and/or divisions? 171) What kind of writing have you done? How do you prepare written communications? 172) What kinds of communication situations cause you difficulty? Give an example. 173) What kinds of oral presentations have you made? How did you prepare for them? What challenges did you have? 174) What would your co-workers (or staff) say is the most frustrating thing about your communications with them? 175) When you disagree with your manager, what do you do? Give an example. 176) When you have difficulty persuading someone to your point of view, what do you do? Give an example. 177) At times, we are all required to deal with difficult people. An even more demanding factor is to be of service to a difficult person. Describe a time you were successful dealing with a difficult customer. 178) Building a rapport with some people can be challenging. Give an example of a time when you were able to build rapport quickly with someone in your organization, even though the situation was a difficult one. 179) Describe a time you exceeded the expectations of a client/customer/stakeholder.

=====================================================

180) Describe a time you heard someone out, even though you initially disagreed with the person, only to change your mind in the end. 181) Describe a time you were not able to deliver a product or service to your customer on time. 182) Describe for me a situation when you had to build and maintain a new relationship in order to accomplish a business goal. 183) Describe for me something you did to establish a “customer first” mentality in your department or team. 184) Describe for me something you were involved with in the community through which both the community and businesses located in the community benefited. 185) Describe the process or method you used in a particular situation to develop an understanding of your internal/external customer’s viewpoints and needs. 186) Everyone has said something to a customer that they wished they hadn’t. Tell me about a time you did this. What did you do to correct the situation? 187) Give 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 asses your role in diffusing the situation? 188) Give an example of a time when you went above and beyond the call of duty. 189) Give me an example of a situation you handled where even your enemies would have to say that you demonstrated outstanding customer service.

=====================================================

190) Give me an example of a time when you acted as an advocate for a client or customer in the face of resistance from a person or the organization as a whole. 191) Give me an example of a time when you were a good listener.

Click Here to Learn How to Answer These Questions and More

192) Give me an example of a time you effectively used your people skills to solve a customer problem. 193) Give me an example of something you have done to either develop or strengthen customer relationships. 194) Give me an example of when you initiated a change in process, procedure, or operations in response to customer feedback. 195) Give me an example of when you wish you would have spent some time looking for common ground with stakeholders before you took a particular action. 196) How do you go about establishing rapport with a customer? What have you done to gain their confidence? Give an example. 197) How do you handle problems with customers? Give an example. 198) Sooner or later we all have to deal with a customer who makes unreasonable demands. Think about a time when you had to handle unreasonable requests. What did you do? 199) Tell me about a customer who has stuck with you over the years. What did you do to make this happen?

=====================================================

200) Tell me about a customer whose needs you spent considerable time learning about. What was the result of the time investment? 201) Tell me about a situation in which a customer was so difficult that you just gave up trying (or were unable) to satisfy her. 202) Tell me about a time when you did your best to resolve a customer or client concern and the individual was still not satisfied. 203) Tell me about a time when you encountered a customer who was complaining of poor service. What did you do? 204) Tell me about a time you wished you would have handled an unhappy, angry, or irate customer in a different way. 205) What have you done to improve relations with your customers? 206) What, in your opinion, are the key ingredients in guiding and maintaining successful business relationships? Give examples of how you made these work for you. 207) When is listening important on your job? When is listening difficult? 208) Describe a time when, even though it was difficult, you kept quiet and let a team resolve problems on its own rather than prescribing a solution for them. 209) Describe a time you had to delegate parts of a large project or assignment to some of your direct reports. How did you decide what tasks to delegate to which people? What problems occurred?

=====================================================

210) Describe for me a time when you provided your direct reports with the freedom to determine their work process, within the parameters of the task/project, even though you would have preferred that they do it another way. 211) Do you consider yourself a macro or micro manager? How do you delegate? 212) Give me a specific example of how you have empowered your staff to make independent decisions. 213) Give me an example of a major project or task you delegated to one of your employees. How did you monitor the project or task? 214) Give me an example of a time that you should have delegated a task/project, but chose not to. 215) Give me an example of a time you did a poor job of delegating a task or project. 216) Give me an example of a time you encouraged a direct report to make a decision within her area of responsibility that did not work out well. What happened? What did you do? What was the final end result? 217) Give me an example of when you assigned an employee to make a decision or carry out a major task or responsibility. 218) How did you keep track of delegated assignments? 219) How do you make the decision to delegate work?

=====================================================

220) Tell me about a task or project that you unsuccessfully delegated. What happened? What did you learn? How did you apply what you learned to other situations? 221) Tell me about a time when you chose to trust a direct report or peer with key project deliverables. Did the individual perform as you expected? 222) Tell me about a time you encouraged a direct report to make decisions within his area of responsibility that worked out better than you expected. 223) Tell me about a time you encouraged your direct reports to be actively involved in solving problems related to their position rather than coming to you for the answers. 224) Tell me about the kinds of work assignments you give to your direct reports. What assignments do you not give to your direct reports? 225) Tell us how you go about delegating work? 226) What was the biggest mistake you have had when delegating work? The biggest success? 227) By way of example, convince me that you can get more done in less time than others. 228) Describe a time when you were not very satisfied or pleased with your performance. What did you do about it? 229) Describe a time you caught an error that someone else made that could have affected the outcome of a project (or affected a customer).

=====================================================

230) Describe a time you were able to provide a peer or higher-level management person with recognition for the work she performed. 231) Describe for me the process and steps you went through to develop one of your most difficult employees. Was it successful? Why or why not? 232) Describe what steps you have taken in your current or previous positions to define and communicate performance expectations to your employees. 233) Describe your procedures for evaluating direct reports. 234) Give me an example of a time you helped one of your direct reports develop or improve his (communication, negotiation, sales, etc.) skills. How did you determine that this was a developmental need? 235) Give me an example of a time you improved the use of or return on a resource, where the positive impact was broader than just your team/department. 236) Give me an example of a time you were unwilling or unable to make the necessary sacrifice to achieve a goal. 237) Have you ever had a subordinate whose performance was consistently marginal? What did you do? 238) How do you manage cross-functional teams? 239) Many of us have had to deal with a situation where an employee was a good performer for a period of time, but whose performance has started slipping. Tell me about a time you had to deal with this kind of situation.

=====================================================

240) Tell me about a major project you managed. How did you assign tasks to your direct reports? How did you monitor progress? How did you measure success along the way and in the end? 241) Tell me about a specific developmental plan that you created and carried out with one or more of your direct reports who was not performing up to expectations. What were the components of the developmental plan? What was the timeframe? What was the outcome? 242) Tell me about a time when you had to tell a staff member that you were dissatisfied with his work. 243) Tell me about a time when you provided your direct reports or a team with the things they needed to motivate themselves to an extraordinary accomplishment. 244) Tell me about a time when you were able to provide a direct report with recognition for the work she performed. What did you do? 245) Tell me about a time where you were not as effective as you would have liked to have been in managing an employee’s or a team’s work. 246) Tell me about a time you coached or mentored someone to a higher level of performance or a higher level position. 247) Tell me about a time you failed to develop someone to adequately prepare her for a task, project, or responsibility. 248) Tell me about a time you had to provide constructive feedback to an employee who was not meeting performance expectations. Why was the employee not meeting expectations? (NOTE: Listen for whether the person accepts responsibility for developing employees or places the blame solely on the employees.) 249) Tell me about a time you needed to implement a new (or significantly raise an existing) performance standard for your team. What was the standard? Why did you need to raise it? How did you communicate the change? How did the affected employees respond when they were told? Were people able to meet the new performance standard? If not, why not?

=====================================================

250) Tell me about something specific you did to develop yourself that distinguished you from others. 251) Tell us about a time when a job had to be completed and you were able to focus your attention and efforts to get it done. 252) What have you done to further your own professional development in the past 5 years? 253) Describe your procedures for keeping track of what is going on in your department. 254) Managers quite often delegate major projects to their direct reports. Tell me about a time when you did that and how you kept informed about the status of the project. 255) Tell me about the methods you use to keep informed of your employees’ activities, achievements, progress toward objectives, etc. 256) Give me some examples of when someone remembered you after only a brief introduction. Why do you think they remembered you? 257) Most things we do have impact on others–whether we realize it or not. Tell me about a time you realized that what you would be working on could have a far-reaching impact, and you sought out relevant/appropriate people to gather their concerns and perspective before you proceeded with the task. 258) Tell me about a time you went the “extra mile” for a boss. Why did you do it? 259) Tell me about something you did in your (last/current) position of which you are particularly proud.

=====================================================

260) What impact did you have in your last job? 261) Describe a situation where you delayed providing others with information that would have been valuable to them. 262) Describe a time where your patience in gathering information paid off. 263) Give an example of a time where, because you didn’t have enough information, you felt it was wise not to voice your opinion on something. 264) Give me an example of a time when you were slow to share information with your direct reports or team members and this had a negative impact on one or more or them. 265) Give me an example of a time where you felt you did an outstanding job of sharing information with another person. 266) Give me an example of a time you provided a direct report with information that helped her make a good decision. 267) How do you get data for performance reviews? 268) Tell me about a situation where you dealt effectively with another person’s inappropriate use of humor. 269) Tell me about a situation where, because you had a strong network, you were able to gather information that others were not able to secure.

=====================================================

270) Tell me about a time when you failed to give your team or member of your team the information needed to do the job you asked of them. 271) Tell me about a time when your ability to explore “what if” scenarios enabled you to address a significant/major problem from occurring. 272) Tell me about a time where your ability to (think globally/broadly/strategically, or look at the big picture) stopped you or someone else from doing something that would have been a mistake. 273) Tell me about a time where your failure to gather sufficient information resulted in your making a decision or action that you probably should not have done. 274) Tell me about the most difficult time you have had in the last couple of years gathering the information you needed for a task or project. 275) Using a specific example of a project, tell how you kept those involved informed of the progress. 276) Describe a project or idea that was implemented primarily because of your efforts. What was your role? What was the outcome? 277) Describe a significant project idea you initiated in the last year. How did you know it was needed? Was it used? How did it work? 278) Describe a situation in which you recognized a potential problem as an opportunity. 279) Describe a situation when you demonstrated initiative and took action without waiting for direction. What was the outcome?

=====================================================

280) Describe a situation where you responded proactively. 281) Describe a time when you took the initiative to do something that needed to be done, even though it wasn’t really your responsibility. What circumstances prompted you to act? 282) Describe a time where you took the initiative to act rather than waiting to be told what to do. 283) Describe for me how you have “made your own luck”. 284) Give an example of an important goal that you set in the past. Tell about your success in reaching it. 285) Give me an example of a project or task that you had to accomplish without sufficient information, guidelines, or direction. 286) Give me an example of a project where you came up with the idea and managed the process start to finish. 287) Give me an example of a time you knew you had outgrown a position and it was time to move on. 288) Give me an example of a time you went above or beyond the call of duty in order to get a job done. 289) Give me an example of an idea you tried to sell to management that was not adopted. Why do you think it wasn’t adopted? If you had it to do over again, what would you do differently?

=====================================================

290) Give me an example of an important goal you have had and tell me about your success in achieving it. 291) Give me an example of how you have taken control of your career. 292) Give me an example of something that you have done to make your job easier or more interesting. 293) Give me an example when you initiated a change in a process or operations. 294) Give me examples of projects/tasks you started on your own. 295) Give me some examples of you doing more than what was expected of you in your job. 296) Give two examples of things you’ve done in previous jobs that demonstrate your willingness to work hard. 297) How did you get work assignments at your most recent employer? 298) In your last or current job, what problems did you identify that had previously been overlooked? Were changes made? Who supported the changes as a result of your ideas? 299) Tell me about a project or idea–not necessarily your own–that was implemented successfully primarily because of your efforts.

=====================================================

300) Tell me about a time when you demonstrated too much initiative? 301) Tell me about a time when you pushed yourself to do more than what was necessary. 302) Tell me about a time when you turned down a good job. 303) Tell me about a time you felt “off track” in your career progress. 304) Tell me about a time you found and took advantage of an opportunity to make an improvement in your position or department/team/group. 305) Tell me about a time you reached out for additional responsibilities. 306) Tell me about one of your workplace improvements that another department now uses. 307) Tell me about something new or different that you did in your department that improved customer service, productivity, quality, teamwork, or performance. 308) Tell me about your career plan and what you have done so far to accomplish it? 309) Tell me about your greatest career achievements. Why did you pick those examples?

=====================================================

310) Tell us about a time when you had to go above and beyond the call of duty in order to get a job done. 311) Tell us about the last time that you undertook a project that demanded a lot of initiative. 312) We all have periods of downtime at work. Tell me about a downtime you had, why you had it, and what you did with that time. 313) What changes did you develop at your most recent employer? 314) What projects have you started on your own recently? What prompted you to get started? 315) What sorts of projects did you generate that required you to go beyond your job description? 316) A lot of times we use tried-and-true solutions to solve problems and it works. Tell me about a time when the tried-and-true solution did not work. Were you able to solve the problem? How? In what ways was that solution different from the tried-and-true solution? 317) Can you think of a situation where innovation was required at work? What did you do in this situation? 318) Creativity often means stepping back from standard ways of thinking. Give me an example of a time when you were able to break out of a structured mindset and explore new or different concepts and ideas. 319) Describe a time when you came up with a creative solution/idea/project/report to a work problem you had been dealing with for some time.

=====================================================

320) Describe a time when you facilitated a creative solution to a problem between employees. 321) Describe a time when you made a suggestion to improve the work in your organization. 322) Describe the most creative oral presentation you have ever made. 323) Describe the most creative thing you have done in a past job. 324) Describe the most creative work project you’ve ever accomplished. 325) Describe the most significant plan or program that you ever developed or implemented. 326) Give me an example of a time when you didn’t bend on a policy, procedure, or operation, and later wished you had. 327) Give me an example of how you have been creative in completing your responsibilities. 328) Give me an example of when someone brought you a new idea that was unique or unusual. What did you do? 329) Sometimes it is essential that we break out of the routine, standardized way of doing things in order to complete the task. Give an example of when you were able to successfully develop such a new approach.

=====================================================

330) Tell me about a problem that you’ve solved in a unique or unusual way. Were you happy with the outcome? 331) Tell me about a situation when you have had to come up with several new ideas in a hurry. Were they accepted? Were they successful? 332) Tell me about a time when you created a new process or program that was considered risky. 333) Tell me about a time you had tunnel vision when looking at a project, issue, or problem. 334) Tell me about the last time you thought “outside the box”. (NOTE: Make sure they explain both why and how they did it.) 335) Tell us about a problem that you solved in a unique or unusual way. What was the outcome? Were you satisfied with it? 336) Tell us about a suggestion you made to improve the way job processes/operations worked. What was the result? 337) There are many jobs in which well-established methods are typically followed. Give a specific example of a time when you tried some other method to do the job. 338) There are many jobs that require creative or innovative thinking. Give an example of when you had such a job and how you handled it. 339) What have been some of your most creative ideas?

=====================================================

340) What innovative procedures have you developed? How did you develop them? Who was involved? Where did the ideas come from? 341) What new or unusual ideas have you developed on your job? How did you develop them? What was the result? Did you implement them? 342) What was the best idea that you came up with in your career? How did you apply it? 343) When is the last time you had to introduce a new idea or procedure to people on the job? How did you do it? 344) When was the last time that you thought “outside of the box” and how did you do it? 345) At times we are all faced with the situation of having to tell a customer, employee, boss, or someone else “No” because we don’t believe that “Yes” would be the right answer–even though it would be the easy answer. Tell me about a time you faced this kind of situation. 346) Describe a time when you took personal accountability for a conflict and initiated contact with the individual(s) involved to explain your actions. 347) Describe a time when you were asked to keep information confidential. 348) Describe an occasion when you bent one of your core values or beliefs during a bad time. 349) Describe for me a time when you had to–tactfully but forcefully–say things that another person or group did not want to hear.

=====================================================

350) Discuss a time when your integrity was challenged. 351) Give examples of how you have acted with integrity in your job/work relationship. 352) Give me an example of a specific occasion in which you conformed to a policy with which you did not agree. 353) Give me an example of a time that you failed to walk-the-talk at work. 354) Give me an example of a time when you were able to keep a confidence, even when you were tempted to break it or it would have been easier to break it. 355) Give me an example of a time you had to present difficult information to someone, but were able to do it in a positive and helpful manner. 356) Give me examples of how you acted with integrity (walked your talk) in your job/work relationships. 357) If you can, tell me about a time when your trustworthiness was challenged. How did you react/respond? 358) Keeping information confidential is very important. Describe the last time someone asked you for information that they should not have access to. What did you do? 359) Others’ work ethics are sometimes in conflict with your own. Describe a time this happened to you. Were you able to work it out? How (or why not)? What did you learn form this experience? How have you applied that learning?

=====================================================

360) Sometimes it is important to disagree with others in order to keep a mistake from being made. Tell me about a time when you were willing to disagree with another person in order to build a positive outcome. (NOTE: Make sure you find out who the person was they disagreed with, what the outcome was, and whether the outcome was positive–or if not, what happened to keep it from being a positive outcome.) 361) Tell me about a business situation when you felt honesty was inappropriate. Why? 362) Tell me about a recent success you had with an especially difficult employee or coworker. 363) Tell me about a specific time when you had to handle a tough problem that challenged fairness or ethical issues. 364) Tell me about a time when one of your weaknesses got the better of you. 365) Tell me about a time when you gave the benefit of the doubt to someone and were glad you did. 366) Tell me about a time when you had to resolve a difference of opinion with a coworker/customer/supervisor. How do you feel you showed respect for that person? 367) Tell me about a time when you took responsibility for a mistake before anyone else even knew that you had made a mistake. 368) Tell me about a time when your trustworthiness was challenged. How did you react/respond? 369) Tell me about a time where you didn’t practice what you preach.

=====================================================

370) Tell me about a time you saw someone at work stretch or bend the rules beyond what you felt was acceptable. What did you do? Why did you take that action? 371) Tell me about at time when you experienced a loss for doing what is right. 372) Tell me the one thing about you as an employee that you hope your current or last boss doesn’t tell me during a reference call. 373) Tell us about a specific time when you had to handle a tough problem which challenged fairness or ethnical issues. 374) Tell us about a time when you took responsibility for an error and were held personally accountable. 375) We are all faced with having to make a choice between two seemingly opposing things, both of which seem like the right decision. Tell me about a time you were in this situation. What did you do? Why did you choose that “right” action? 376) We have all done things that we regretted after the fact. Give me an example of a time this happened to you. If you had it to do over again, what would you do differently? 377) Describe a situation in which you were able to positively influence the actions of others in a desired direction. 378) Describe a situation in which you were able to use persuasion to successfully convince someone to see/do things your way. (NOTE: Make sure you find out what level the person was whom they convinced.) 379) Describe a situation in which you were unable to use persuasion to successfully convince someone to see/do things your way.

=====================================================

380) Describe a situation where you were able to use persuasion to successfully convince someone to see things your way. 381) Describe a time when you facilitated a creative solution to a problem between two employees. 382) Describe a time when you had to influence a number of different people/groups coming from different perspectives to support you in what you wanted or needed to do. What kind of influencing techniques did you use? How were the techniques you used different from one group/person to another? 383) Describe a time when you were able to “read” another person effectively and, as a result, were able to adjust your actions to meet this person’s needs or values. 384) Describe a time when you were able to convince a skeptical or resistant customer to purchase a project or utilize your services. 385) Describe a time you were unable to sell your idea to a key person. 386) Describe for me a situation where two individuals or parties were at odd, and you helped negotiate a win-win solution. 387) Give an example of how you have been successful at empowering either a person or a group of people into accomplishing a task. 388) Give an example of your ability to build motivation in your co-workers, classmates, and even if on a volunteer committee. 389) Give me an example of a time that your ability to notice another person’s feelings or concerns enabled you to proactively address an issue.

=====================================================

390) Give me an example of a time when you persuaded someone to do something that the person did not, initially, want to do. 391) Give me an example of a time when, because you failed to detect a person’s feelings or concerns, you–at least initially–mishandled the situation. 392) Give me an example of a time you had to convince others to conform to a policy, practice, or procedure you didn’t believe in. 393) Give me an example of a time you were unhappy with the results of a negotiation you were involved in. 394) Give me an example of an approach you used to sell an idea to an employee, peer, or someone higher in management. 395) Give some instances in which you anticipated problems and were able to influence a new direction. 396) Have you ever been in a situation where you had to bargain with someone? How did you feel about this? What did you do? Give an example. 397) Have you ever had to ?sell? an idea to your co-workers or group? How did you do it? Did they “buy” it? 398) Have you ever had to persuade a group to accept a proposal or idea? How did you go about doing it? What was the result? 399) Have you ever had to persuade a peer or manager to accept an idea that you knew they would not like? Describe the resistance you met and how you overcame it.

=====================================================

400) Have you had to “sell” an idea to your co-workers, classmates or group? How did you do it? Did they “buy” it? 401) How do you get a peer or colleague to accept one of your ideas? 402) 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. 403) Some people are more difficult than others to get along with. Tell me about your least successful working relationship. Why do you think it was not a successful relationship? 404) Sometimes the only way to resolve a defense or conflict is through negotiation and compromise. Tell about a time when you were able to resolve a difficult situation by finding some common ground. 405) Tell me about a situation where you had to persuade someone to accept your idea or proposal. 406) Tell me about a specific experience of yours that illustrates your ability to influence another person verbally. Use an example that involves ___ (e.g., changing an attitude, selling an idea, changing a process/procedure). 407) Tell me about a time that your ability to appropriately use empathy turned a situation around. 408) Tell me about a time when you anticipated a problem and were able to use your influence or persuasiveness to change the direction of the situation positively. 409) Tell me about a time when you gained acceptance of an idea or project from your boss. How did you get this acceptance?

=====================================================

410) Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a (rude, sarcastic, know-it-all, gossipy, negative, uncooperative, or finger-pointing) person. How did you handle the situation? Were you able to get along? How (or why not)? 411) Tell me about a time where you lost your patience listening to someone who you believed did not know what she was talking about. 412) Tell me about a time you feel you mismanaged an emotionally charged situation. 413) Tell me about a time you needed to get cooperation from someone in another department for you to be successful on a task or project. 414) Tell me about a time you were unsuccessful in a negotiation because you chose not to back off of something that was part of the negotiation. 415) Tell me about a time you won (lost) an important contract. 416) Tell me about the best idea you ever sold to a peer, employee, or higher level management. What was your approach? Why do you think you succeeded? 417) Tell me about the most important negotiation you have handled in the last couple of years. 418) Tell me how you persuaded someone to support an unpopular project or idea. 419) Tell us about a time when you had to convince someone in authority about your ideas. How did it work out?

=====================================================

420) Tell us about a time when you used facts and reason to persuade someone to accept your recommendation. 421) Tell us about a time when you used your leadership ability to gain support for what initially had strong opposition. 422) Tell us about a time when you were able to successfully influence another person. 423) Tell us about the most difficult or frustrating individual that you?ve ever had to work with, and how you managed to work with them. 424) What do you do to show people that you are listing to them? 425) Describe a leadership situation you would handle differently if you could do it over again. 426) Describe a situation when you were able to have a positive influence on the actions of others. 427) Describe a time when one of your direct reports was under a great deal of pressure or stress. What did you do in the situation? What was the outcome? 428) Describe a time when you utilized your leadership ability to gain support for something that was initially strongly opposed by others. 429) Describe a time where, had you been able to predict a business/industry occurrence, you would have been able to make adjustments so that your company/department/team did not suffer from it.

=====================================================

430) Describe a time you established a vision for your department/unit. What process was used? Were others involved in setting the vision and, if so, how? How did the vision contribute to the functioning of the department/unit? 431) Describe a time you had to make a decision that you knew would be unpopular. 432) Describe a time you were able to provide your boss with recognition for the work he performed. 433) Describe the most unpopular stand you have taken in your job. 434) Give me an example of a strategy you developed to achieve a long or short-term business need, goal, or objective. 435) Give me an example of a time of low morale where you were able to motivate another person or group to achieve something that they weren’t really motivated to achieve. 436) Give me an example of a time when you were able to foresee an inappropriate course of action a team was moving in and help steer them in the right direction. 437) Give me an example of a time where you were able to propose a variety of future scenarios to ensure that the proper course of action was taken. 438) Give me an example of a time you needed to give constructive feedback to one of your peers or someone higher in the organization about his behavior. 439) Give me an example of an important goal that you had set for your team and the team’s success in reaching it.

=====================================================

440) Give me an example of how you have celebrated an individual’s or your team’s success in the past. What was the occasion? 441) Give me an example of something you did that helped build enthusiasm in your staff. 442) Give me an example of when your staff reached a goal because they willingly followed your suggestions. 443) Have you ever had a subordinate whose work was always marginal? How did you deal with that person? What happened? 444) How would you define “success” for someone in your chosen career? 445) Relate a scenario where you were responsible for motivating others. Were you able to do it? How? 446) Summarize a situation where you took the initiative to get others going on an important issue, and what you did in a leading role to achieve the needed results. 447) Tell me about a situation when you stood up for a decision you made even though it was unpopular. 448) Tell me about a strategic initiative or opportunity you identified and pursued. 449) Tell me about a time that you sensed that something was wrong with one of your direct reports and talked to him about it. What was the result?

=====================================================

450) Tell me about a time when you anticipated the future and made changes to meet these future needs. Did the anticipated future occur? 451) Tell me about a time when you had to convince your team to do something they didn’t want to do. How did you do it? 452) Tell me about a time when you had to take charge and start the ball rolling to get a job done. What were the ramifications if the job didn’t get done? What did you do? How did it turn out? 453) Tell me about a time when you needed to give feedback to an employee with emotional or sensitive problems. 454) Tell me about a time when you were able to give an employee what she needed to maintain or regain her motivation. 455) Tell me about a time when your department was going through long-term changes or working on a long-term project. What did you do to keep your staff focused? 456) Tell me about a time where your ability to keep your eyes on the future proved to be a benefit to your organization/department/team. 457) Tell me about a time where your vision of the future was so inspiring that you were able to convert nay-sayers into followers. 458) Tell me about a time you felt you needed to be assertive in order to get what you felt you or your team deserved or needed. 459) Tell me about a time you found it necessary to tactfully, but forcefully, say things that others did not want to hear.

=====================================================

460) Tell me about a time you gave someone or a group what they needed even though they didn’t yet know it was needed. 461) Tell me about a time you had to handle a tough morale problem. 462) Tell me about a time you had to have a candid discussion with one of your direct reports regarding a work-related issue. 463) Tell me about a time you had to motivate a group of people. 464) Tell me about a time you lost track of the vision/mission/purpose of your team/department/organization and it turned out to have repercussions. 465) Tell me about a time you missed an opportunity to provide a direct report with recognition for a significant accomplishment. Why did you miss it? What did you do when you realized you missed it? 466) Tell me about a time you refrained from saying something that you felt needed to be said. Do you regret your decision? Why or why not?

Click Here to Learn How to Answer These Questions and More

467) Tell me about a time you were highly motivated and your example inspired others. 468) Tell me about the relationship of your goals in your current position to the organization as a whole. 469) Tell me how you have developed trust and loyalty between you and your direct reports.

=====================================================

470) Tell me what you have done on a consistent basis to ensure that your direct reports feel valued for their contributions? 471) Tell us about a time when you influenced the outcome of a project by taking a leadership role. 472) Think about a time when setting a positive example had a highly beneficial impact on people you worked with. How did you determine that a strong example was needed? What did you do? What was the effect on the people? 473) What have you done to develop the skills of your staff? 474) What was your most difficult decision in the last 6 months? What made it difficult? 475) Every now and then there is a position that is hard to fill. Tell me about the last time you had to deal with that. Why was the position hard to fill? How did you overcome that obstacle? 476) Give an example of a time in which you felt you were able to build motivation in your co-workers or subordinates at work. 477) 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 change/transition skills that you used? 478) Give me an example of a situation where you improved a work process. 479) Give me an example of a time you had to deal with a highly emotional direct report.

=====================================================

480) Give me an example of a time you had to take disciplinary action with a direct report. 481) Give me an example of a time you had to tell a direct report that you were dissatisfied with his work. 482) How do you deal with people whose work exceeds your expectations? 483) How do you evaluate the productivity/effectiveness of your subordinates? 484) How do you get subordinates to produce at a high level? Give an example. 485) How do you get subordinates to work at their peak potential? Give an example. 486) How do you handle a subordinate whose work is not up to expectations? 487) How do you handle performance reviews? Tell me about a difficult one. 488) How often do you discuss a subordinate’s performance with him/her? Give an example. 489) On occasion we are confronted by dishonesty in the workplace. Tell me about such an occurrence and how you handled it.

=====================================================

490) Some people are more difficult to work with than others. Give me an example of how you have worked with the most difficult direct report and how that differed from how you worked with the most accommodating direct report. 491) Tell me about a confrontation you’ve had with a direct report. 492) Tell me about a time you discovered raw talent within your organization and recruited that person. How did it work out? 493) Tell me about a time you had to confront and handle the negative behavior of someone who reports to you. What was the situation? What did you do? What was the outcome? 494) Tell me about a time you had to take disciplinary action with one of your direct reports. What led to that action? How did you handle it? What was the outcome? 495) Tell me about the best hire you ever made. 496) Tell me about the worst hire you ever made. 497) Tell us about a situation in which you had to separate the person from the issue when working to resolve issues. 498) Tell us about a time when you had to inform a direct report that you were dissatisfied with his or her work. 499) Tell us about a time when you had to reprimand an employee you supervised.

=====================================================

500) Tell us about a time when you had to use your authority to complete a task. Were there any negative consequences? 501) Walk me through the process you used to fill the last position you filled. 502) What is the toughest group that you have had to get cooperation from? Describe how you handled it. What was the outcome? 503) What kinds of decisions are most difficult for you? Describe one? 504) 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. 505) Describe a politically sensitive situation that you were in and how you handled it. 506) Describe a time when politics at work affected your job. How did you deal with it? 507) Describe a time when politics at work affected your job. How did you handle the situation? Were you successful? 508) Describe a time where your ability to understand an organization’s culture helped you develop the relationships and partnerships you needed to accomplish something that had to be done. 509) Describe for me a time you were able to transform your anxiety or negative emotions into positive emotions and actions.

=====================================================

510) Describe how your position contributes to your organization’s/unit’s goals. What are the unit’s goals/mission? 511) Describe your organization’s culture and how that culture made it challenging for you to achieve one of your goals. 512) Give me an example of a decision that was made in your area that had an adverse impact on another area or department. 513) Give me an example of a project that best describes your organizational skills. 514) Give me an example of a time when a company policy or action hurt people. What, if anything, did you do to mitigate the negative consequences to people? 515) Give me an example of a time when your ability to read an organization’s culture enabled you to be successful at something. 516) Give me an example of a time when, if you had taken more time to understand how your organization worked, you might have been more successful. 517) Give me an example of a time where your understanding of your organization enabled you to get something you needed that, had you lacked the understanding, you probably would not have gotten. 518) Give me an example of a time where your understanding of your own emotions–and of the triggers that set off emotional responses in you–saved you from doing or saying something in a business setting that you might have regretted. 519) Give me an example of a time where, had you understood the reasoning behind the key policy, practice, or procedure you would have done something differently.

=====================================================

520) Give me an example of a time where–even though it was difficult–you were able to control and filter you emotions in a constructive way. 521) Give me an example of a time you failed to align the strategic priorities of your department/team with the strategic priorities of the organization. 522) Give me an example of a time you solved a problem in ways that addressed total system needs rather than just your immediate situation. 523) Give me an example of a time you used your political savvy to push something through for approval. 524) Give me some examples of how people in other parts of the organization use your department or group as a resource. 525) How have you adjusted your style when it was not meeting the objectives and/or people were not responding correctly? 526) How have you gone about making important decisions? 527) Tell me about a decision you made that had an unexpected positive impact on another area or department. 528) Tell me about a time that you consciously chose not to play corporate politics. 529) Tell me about a time that you unknowingly stepped on a political landmine. What contributed to this misstep? Was it resolved effectively? How?

=====================================================

530) Tell me about a time when you misread an organization’s culture. 531) Tell me about a time when you needed to accomplish something through an informal network. 532) Tell me about a time when your ability to find relationships between things inside and/or outside the organization helped you be more effective. 533) Tell me about a time where you were able to successfully navigate through a tough political situation. 534) Tell me about a time you felt your team was under too much pressure. What did you do about it? 535) Tell me about a time you recognized a problem before your boss or others in the organization. What was the problem? What was the result? 536) Tell me about a time you were able to accomplish something that was important to you through the use of your informal network. 537) Tell me about a time your willingness to play politics made you successful. 538) Tell me about a way that you have championed the concept of corporate citizenship/stewardship within your team/department/organization. 539) Tell me about the organizational climate at your current (or most recent) employer and give me an example of how that climate made it difficult for you to successfully accomplish a goal or project.

=====================================================

540) Tell me how you went about learning how your current organization works? 541) Tell us about a politically complex work situation in which you worked. 542) What have you done in order to be effective with your organization and planning? 543) Describe a situation where, due to time and resource constraints, you submitted a report or completed a project where the quality was compromised. 544) Describe a time when you had to make a difficult choice between your personal and professional life. 545) Describe a time when you set a goal for yourself and did not achieve it because it was too high. What was the standard? Why was it too high? What were the ramifications of your failure to achieve this goal? 546) Describe a time when you set a goal for yourself that was too low. 547) Describe a time when your plan didn’t work out. Why didn’t it work? What did you do to recover? Were you successful then? If you had to do it over again, what would you do differently? What did you learn from this? How have you applied what you learned? 548) Describe a time when your plans didn’t work out. What did you do to recover? 549) Describe a time you had to deal with a particularly difficult resource management issue regarding people/material/assets.

=====================================================

550) Describe a time you had to manage a project where the acquisition, storage, and use of materials were critical factors (e.g., the product has a short shelf life). 551) Describe how you develop a project team’s goals and project plan? 552) Describe how you have improved the organization of a system, process, or task in your current position. 553) Describe how you set your goals for last year and how you measured your work. Did you achieve your goals? If not, why not? 554) Developing and using a detailed procedure is often very important in a job. Tell about a time when you needed to develop and use a detailed procedure to successfully complete a project. 555) Give me a specific example of a time when you did not meet a deadline. How did you handle this? 556) Give me an example of a change you saw coming and how you planned for that change. 557) Give me an example of a stretch goal you set for a direct report. Why was this a stretch goal? Was the direct report able to accomplish the goal? What did you do to contribute to her success? 558) Give me an example of a time that you realized that one of your direct reports was overburdened with work. What did you do? How did your action affect the situation? 559) Give me an example of a time when you failed to set clear directions for one of your direct reports or your team.

=====================================================

560) Give me an example of a time when you had to juggle several important activities and projects in a limited amount of time. Did you stay on top of all of them? How? 561) Give me an example of a time when you set a goal and were able to meet or achieve it. 562) Give me an example of a time when you used a systematic process to define your objectives even though you were not prompted or directed to do so. What type of system did you use? What payoff did you get from using the process? 563) Give me an example of a time when you were effective in doing away with the “constant emergencies” and “surprises” in your work environment. 564) Give me an example of a time when your schedule was suddenly interrupted and your plans for the day completely changed. 565) Give me an example of a time where you underestimated a resource you needed to get a task or project done, but managed to overcome the shortage and be successful. 566) Give me an example of a time you had a lot of tasks put on your plate all at once. How did you decide what tasks to do and when to do them? 567) Give me an example of a time you had to put a critical task or project you were working on aside to attend to the needs of a direct report. 568) Give me an example of a time you saw an opportunity to integrate two or more processes or procedures to make a more efficient and effective single process or procedure. 569) Give me an example of a time you were unable to complete a project on schedule despite your best efforts.

=====================================================

570) Give me an example of a time you were unable to complete a project on time. 571) Give me an example of an important goal you had to set and how you accomplished that goal. 572) Give me some examples of how you determine priorities in scheduling your time. 573) How do you decide what gets top priority when scheduling your time? 574) How do you schedule your time? Set priorities? How do you handle doing twenty things at once? 575) How many hours a day do you put into your work? What were your study patterns at school? 576) In some aspects of work, it is important to be error free. Describe a situation where you tried to prevent errors. 577) Relate a specific instance when you found it necessary to be precise in order to complete the job. 578) Some people consider themselves to be ?big picture people? and others are ?detail oriented?. Which are you? Give an example of a time when you displayed this. 579) Tell me about a big project you had to plan work for. How were you able to manage your time and the work load?

=====================================================

580) Tell me about a major project you recently finished. Specifically, how did you set the goals and monitor your progress? 581) Tell me about a significant project that you managed, focusing on how you made sure that everything was getting done correctly and properly. 582) Tell me about a situation when it was important for you to pay attention to details. How did you handle it? 583) Tell me about a time when you failed to gather sufficient information before acting. 584) Tell me about a time when you had to sacrifice quality to meet a deadline. How did you handle it? 585) Tell me about a time when you wasted the time of someone else working on something that was unimportant to the organization, but important to you. 586) Tell me about a time where you did not achieve the results you should have or in the required timeframe. 587) Tell me about a time where you were off-target on assessing the human resources you needed for a project. Why were you off-target? 588) Tell me about a time you achieved a great deal in a short amount of time. 589) Tell me about a time you got bogged down in the details of a project.

=====================================================

590) Tell me about a time you had multiple tasks or projects given to you at the same time and how you decided what to do when. 591) Tell me about a time you had to complete multiple tasks/projects in a tight timeframe. 592) Tell me about a time you had to handle multiple responsibilities. How did you organize the work you needed to do? 593) Tell me about a time you were faced with conflicting priorities. How did you resolve the conflict? Was it effective? Why or why not? 594) Tell me about a time you were particularly effective in prioritizing tasks and completing a project on schedule. 595) Tell me about an important goal you failed to achieve. 596) Tell me about at time when you had too many things to do and you were required to prioritize your tasks. 597) Tell me about one of your best accomplishments, including where the assignment came from, your plans in carrying it out, how you eventually did carry it out, and any obstacles you overcame. 598) Tell me about the last time you missed a deadline because you were not well organized. 599) Tell me about the most significant project you have worked on in which it was crucial to keep track of details while still managing the “big picture”. How did you make sure the work got done? How did you keep focused on the overall goal while still managing all of the specific parts?

=====================================================

Click Here to Learn How to Answer These Questions and More

600) Tell me about the process you used to set goals for your department and your direct reports last year. 601) Tell me about your current top priorities. How did you determine that they should be your top priorities? 602) Tell me about your system for controlling errors in your work. 603) Tell me the process you used last year (or this year) to set your department goals. Were the goals accomplished? 604) Tell us about a job or setting where great precision to detail was required to complete a task. How did you handle that situation? 605) Tell us about a specific development plan that you created and carried out with one or more of your employees. What was the specific situation? What were the components of the development plan? What was the outcome? 606) Tell us about a time when you were particularly effective on prioritizing tasks and completing a project on schedule. 607) Tell us about your experience in past jobs that required you to be especially alert to details while doing the task involved. 608) There are times when we work without close supervision or support to get the job done. Tell us about a time when you found yourself in such a situation and how things turned out. 609) Think about the assignments you completed over the past few months. Tell me about the one that required the greatest amount of effort with regard to planning and organizing.

=====================================================

610) Walk me through a recent project or assignment you completed and tell me the process you used to ensure it was complete and accurate. 611) We all have more on our plate than we have time to get done. Tell me about a time where your ability to accurately scope out time requirements for tasks and projects made you successful. 612) We have all faced situations where the resources we needed to be successful were not within our span of control. Tell me about a project or goal where this was true for you. 613) With fax machines, e-mail, and other technology speeding up processes, time seems to be something we are always running low on. Describe some things you have done to organize your work in the past to meet the various time demands. 614) At some point, everyone gets in over his head. Tell me about a time this happened to you. 615) Describe a situation where your professional/technical expertise made a significant difference. 616) Describe a time for me when you were able to solve a business problem or challenge by applying something that you learned through a personal or business interest of yours. 617) Describe a time when you had to learn something quickly to solve a problem. 618) Describe a work situation that brought out the worst in you. Why did it bring out the worst in you? What did you learn? 619) Give me an example of a situation at one of your previous employers when others knew more than you did. How did you close the gap?

=====================================================

620) Give me an example of a situation when others knew more than you did. How did you close the gap? 621) Give me an example of a time that you failed at something and learned. What did you learn? How did you apply that learning? How did it change your work style or approach? 622) Give me an example of a time you took the initiative to find out about a new or upcoming product/service change. 623) Give me an example of how you acquired a technical skill and converted it into practical application. 624) Give me an example of something difficult you had to learn that you did end up learning. 625) Give me an example of something that you have done in the past to improve yourself. 626) Give me an example of where your understanding of your job contributed to solving a larger problem in the organization. 627) In your current (most recent) position, tell me how you developed an appropriate depth of knowledge and skill about the company’s procedures/services. 628) Tell me about a job that you had that required you to learn new things. 629) Tell me about a situation in which you had to apply some newly acquired knowledge or skill. What was the knowledge or skill?

=====================================================

630) Tell me about a time when you had to learn something new in a short amount of time. What created the situation? What did you have to learn? How did you learn it? 631) Tell me about a time when you had to learn something new or difficult in a short amount of time. What created the situation? What did you have to learn? How did you learn it? 632) Tell me about a time when you were able to treat a negative experience as a learning opportunity. 633) Tell me about a time where your industry knowledge enabled you to identify a potential problem and develop a strategy to address it. What in your knowledge base enabled you to detect the potential problem? 634) Tell me about a time you anticipated the need to improve a technical/functional skill and took action proactively. 635) Tell me about a time you had to do an unfamiliar task. 636) Tell me about a time you needed to learn something quickly for a new task or project. How did you go about it? 637) Tell me about a time you were unable to overcome a (technical/functional/job skill) problem? Why do you think you were unsuccessful? What did you learn from that situation? 638) Tell me about the changes or issues that are being discussed or taking place in your area of expertise. How are these issues or changes affecting the way you do your job? 639) Tell me about your greatest success in using logic to solve a (technical/functional/job skill) problem. Why do you think you were successful?

=====================================================

640) Tell me how you keep abreast of the professional/technical aspects of your position. 641) Tell us about a recent job or experience that you would describe as a real learning experience? What did you learn from the job or experience? 642) Through a real-life story, convince me that you are able to apply specific product/service knowledge to solve an internal or external problem. 643) Walk me through the actions that you have taken to further your own professional development over the last (six months/year/five years). 644) We all have disappointing business experiences. Tell me about one you had and what you learned from it. 645) Describe a problem situation where you had to seek out relevant information, define key issues, and decide on which steps to take to get the desired results. 646) Describe a situation where you had a conflict with another individual, and how you dealt with it. What was the outcome? How do you feel about it? 647) Describe a situation where you had to use conflict management skills. 648) Describe a situation where you had to use confrontation skills. 649) Describe a time when you were able to anticipate a land mine and plan your upcoming actions accordingly.

=====================================================

650) Describe a time where your logical analysis was seen as illogical or flawed by someone else. 651) Describe a time you failed to anticipate a potential problem and develop preventative measures. 652) Describe for me a time when you were disappointed in your performance. 653) Describe the project or situation which best demonstrates your analytical abilities. What was your role? 654) Give a specific example of a time when you used good judgment and logic in solving a problem. 655) Give an example of a problem which you faced on any job that you have had and tell how you went about solving it. 656) Give an example of when you “went to the source” to address a conflict. Do you feel trust levels were improved as a result? 657) Give me an example of a difficult problem someone recently needed your help to solve. 658) Give me an example of a disappointment you had to handle in the past year. How did you cope with it? 659) Give me an example of a time an employee came to you and was anxious about something. How did you handle the situation? What was the result?

=====================================================

660) Give me an example of a time that you were provided with information that enabled you to stop a potential problem from occurring. 661) Give me an example of a time when you caught a discrepancy or inconsistency in the available information that might have caused significant problems if you had missed it. 662) Give me an example of a time when you used your fact-finding skills to solve a problem. 663) Give me an example of a time where you felt that a process was getting in your way of getting something done. 664) Give me an example of a time you identified a potential problem and resolved the situation before it became serious. 665) Give me an example of how your understanding of a community issue helped you address a business problem, issue, or concern. 666) Give me an example of the most creative solution to a difficult problem you have ever come up with. 667) Give me an example when your ability to look at problems and issues from a big picture approach served you well. 668) Have you ever been in a situation where you had to settle an argument between two friends (or people you knew)? What did you do? What was the result? 669) Have you ever had a situation where you had a number of alternatives to choose from? How did you go about choosing one? How did you assemble the information? How did you review the information? What process did you follow to reach a conclusion?

=====================================================

670) Have you ever had to settle conflict between two people on the job? What was the situation and what did you do? 671) How do you typically deal with conflict? Can you give me an example? 672) In a current job task, what steps do you go through to ensure your decisions are correct/effective? 673) Some problems require developing a unique approach. Tell me about a time when you were able to develop a different problem-solving approach. 674) Sometimes even though we study the data from all sides, we make errors in interpretation of the data. Tell me about a time that happened to you. 675) Tell me about a difficult problem you solved that had a significant positive impact on all or part of the organization. 676) Tell me about a problem that got out of control before you discovered it and you began working on a solution. 677) Tell me about a project that best demonstrates your analytical abilities. 678) Tell me about a situation where the analysis that you performed was incorrect. If you had to do it over again, what would you do differently? 679) Tell me about a stubborn or recurring problem you are facing in your current position. What have you done to solve it?

=====================================================

680) Tell me about a time when one of your weaknesses got the better of you. 681) Tell me about a time when someone came to you with a problem. What did you do? 682) Tell me about a time when you felt that a coworker or manager made you look bad. 683) Tell me about a time you did not properly handle a disagreement with a coworker. 684) Tell me about a time you had to give the benefit of the doubt to someone at work. 685) Tell me about a time you helped resolve a group problem. What caused the problem? 686) Tell me about a time you missed an obvious solution to a problem. 687) Tell me about the most complex or difficult information you have had to analyze. 688) Tell me about the most difficult problem you’ve ever had to solve. What steps did you take to tackle it? 689) Tell me about the task or project that you were responsible for that best demonstrates your ability to analyze information.

=====================================================

690) Tell us 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 reasoning behind your decision? 691) Tell us about a time when you had to help two peers settle a dispute. How did you go about identifying the issues? What did you do? What was the result? 692) There are times where there is an incredible amount of data and information to be analyzed. Tell me about a time you faced this situation and exactly what you did to boil everything down to what was most important. 693) We all have particular problems we enjoy/dislike solving. Tell me about a problem that you enjoyed solving (or disliked having to solve). What, in particular, do you enjoy/dislike about solving this kind of problem? 694) We all have weaknesses that can interfere with our success. Tell me about one of yours and how you overcame it to be successful on a specific task or project. 695) We can sometimes identify a small problem and fix it before it becomes a major problem. Give me an example of how you have done this. 696) What are some of the problems you have faced; such as between business development and project leaders, between one department and another, between you and your peers? How did you recognize that they were there? 697) Describe a recent unpopular decision you made and what the result was. 698) Describe a time when you came up with a creative solution/idea/project/report to a problem in your past work. 699) Describe a time when you had to make a decision that you knew would be unpopular.

=====================================================

700) Describe a time you had to make a quick decision with incomplete information. 701) Describe for me your biggest error in judgment or failure in your (current or last) position. Why did you make it? How did you correct the problem? 702) Describe the way you handled a specific problem involving others with differing values, ideas, and beliefs in your current/previous job. 703) Discuss an important decision you have made regarding a task or project at work. What factors influenced your decision? 704) Everyone has made some poor decisions or has done something that just did not turn out right. Has this happened to you? What happened? 705) Give an example of a time in which you had to keep from speaking or not finish a task because you did not have enough information to come to a good decision. How did you go about deciding what strategy to employ when dealing with a difficult customer? 706) Give an example of a time when there was a decision to be made and procedures were not in place? 707) Give me a specific example of a time when you used good judgment and logic in solving a problem. 708) Give me an example of a decision that you made rapidly and one you took more time to make. 709) Give me an example of a difficult decision that you made where there were no supporting facts to guide you either way.

=====================================================

710) Give me an example of a situation when, by recognizing and considering the financial implications of a decision, you decided to do something different from what you originally planned. 711) Give me an example of a situation where you had difficulties with a team member. What, if anything, did you do to resolve the difficulties? 712) Give me an example of a time that you misjudged a person or data. 713) Give me an example of a time when you had to make a decision and policies/procedures were not in place. 714) Give me an example of a time you had to make a decision where you needed to carefully consider a great deal of conflicting, as well as supporting, information, opinions, and data. 715) Give me an example of a time you had to make an important business decision that still affects you today. 716) Give me an example of a time you used a contractor or consultant for something that, in hindsight, should have been done internally.

Click Here to Learn How to Answer These Questions and More

717) Give me some examples of the kinds of things you have talked to your boss about rather than handling them yourself. 718) How do you involve your manager and/or others when you make a decision? 719) How often do you have to rely on information you have gathered from others when talking to them? What kinds of problems have you had? What happened?

=====================================================

720) How quickly do you make decisions? Give an example. 721) Solving a problem often necessitates evaluation of alternate solutions. Give me an example of a time when you actively defined several solutions to a single problem. (NOTE: Make sure they talk about the tools used–e.g., research, brainstorming–as well as how and why they used the tools.) 722) Tell me about a situation that, if you had not acted immediately, could have turned into a major problem. 723) Tell me about a time when you took a public stance on an issue and then had to change your position. 724) Tell me about a time you had to defend a decision you made. 725) Tell me about one of the most difficult (or one of the best) decisions you made in the last year/six months. What made it so difficult? What process did you use to make the decision? 726) Tell me about one of the most important decisions you have made when the information for that decision was based on the questions you asked. 727) Tell me about the worst on-the-job decision you’ve ever made. 728) Tell us about a time when you identified a potential problem and resolved the situation before it became serious. 729) Tell us about a time when you were forced to make an unpopular decision.

=====================================================

730) There is more than one way to solve a problem. Give an example from your recent work experience that would illustrate this. 731) We all make decisions that turn out to be mistakes. Describe a decision you made at work that you wish you could do over. What would you do differently if you could do it over again? 732) What kinds of challenges did you face on your last job? Give an example of how you handled them. 733) What type of decisions do you make rapidly? What type of decisions take more time? Please provide examples. 734) Describe a time when you applied a new piece of technology to an existing task or project. What benefits resulted from the technological application? How did you determine there would be a benefit? 735) Describe examples of required administrative paperwork/forms you have utilized in the past. Did you find the procedures useful? Why/why not? 736) Describe something that you have implemented at work. What were the steps used to implement this? 737) Do you have any future plans of attending training classes, etc. to enhance your knowledge and skills? 738) Give me an example of a time when you picked up on a business or industry trend or change and made appropriate changes within your company/department/team to respond to or take advantage of the opportunity. 739) Give me an example of a time when you were responsible for selecting a new or improved technology.

=====================================================

740) Give me an example of a time where you prevented, identified, or solved a problem with a piece of equipment. 741) Give me an example of a time where, by using your understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors, you were able to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. 742) Give me an example of something that you learned from your boss that has helped you in your career. 743) 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? 744) Tell me about a system you designed or improved. Why did you do it? What benefit resulted? Who was impacted by the design/improvement? How did they react? 745) Tell me about a time when you took a complicated, technical process and explained it to people who were not familiar with the process. 746) Tell me about a time when your industry knowledge alerted you to an upcoming challenge or opportunity, and where you were able to develop a proactive strategy to deal with it. 747) Tell me about a time where you prepared a budget larger than any you had ever prepared before. Did you meet the budget? What was the variance? Did the budget need to be altered (if so, how and why)? 748) Tell me about a time where your understanding of a (social/organizational/technological) system helped you be more successful than you would have been otherwise. 749) Tell me about a time you applied technology to improve a service, process, or productivity.

=====================================================

750) Tell us about a training program that you have developed or enhanced. 751) Tell us how you keep your job knowledge current with the on going changes in the industry. 752) What kinds of problems have you had coordinating technical projects? How did you solve them? 753) What sorts of things have you done to become better qualified for your career? 754) What was the most difficult part of obtaining your certification? 755) When you have to make a highly technical decision, how do you go about doing it? 756) Describe a situation in which you received constructive feedback about your work. What was the feedback about? What was your assessment of the feedback? What did you do with the information you received? What changes did you make? 757) Tell me about a time when your work or an idea of yours was criticized. 758) Tell me about the worst boss you’ve had. What made her the worst boss? How were you able to work with this person? 759) Tell us about a time when you had to defend a decision you made even though other colleagues were opposed to your decision.

=====================================================

760) Describe a work-related risk you took, that in hindsight, you wish you had not taken. 761) Describe for me the riskiest business decision you have ever made. Why did you make the decision? Were you successful and why or why not? 762) Give me an example of a time when there was a decision to be made and procedures or policies were not in place. What was the outcome? 763) Give me an example of a time you felt that it was necessary to circumvent company policy to meet a customer’s needs. 764) Give me an example of when you took a risk to achieve a goal. What was the outcome? 765) 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? 766) Tell me about a time where, with an internal or external customer, you had to try something you’ve never done before. 767) Tell me about a time you had a chance to take a risk, but decided that the risk was too high. 768) Tell me about a time you took a risk and failed. 769) Tell me about a time you took action based on your own convictions rather than giving in to the contrary pressures of other’s opinions.

=====================================================

770) Tell me about the greatest business risk you have taken. 771) What is the riskiest decision you have made? What was the situation? What happened? 772) Describe a time when you identified a potential safety issue and addressed it before a problem occurred. 773) In many situations, employees are required to wear protective equipment, and may find it uncomfortable, cumbersome, or inconvenient to wear. Tell me about a time this was true for you. (NOTE: Make sure you find out what equipment it was, why the person did or didn’t wear the equipment, and the factors that contributed to the decision.) 774) Safety is not a one-person job. Give me an example of a time you were able to improve safety because you chose to involve others in making the improvement. 775) Tell me about the most challenging safety issue you have had to deal with. What, specifically, made it challenging? 776) Describe a situation or time when someone or something really got under your skin. 777) Describe a time in which you were faced with problems or stresses which tested your coping skills. What did you do? 778) Describe a time where you were faced with problems or stressful situations that tested your coping skills. What did you do? 779) Describe for me a time when your team was under a fair amount of stress. What did you do to help them through this? Were you successful?

=====================================================

780) Describe the worst on-the-job crisis you had to solve. How did you manage to maintain your composure? 781) Give an example of a situation where others were intense but you were able to maintain your composure. 782) Give an example of a time in which you had to be relatively quick in coming to a decision. 783) Give me an example of a situation you have faced when the “pressure was on.” What happened? How did you handle it? 784) Give me an example of a time that you did something so silly that you had to laugh at yourself. 785) Give me an example of a time when you could not participate in a discussion or could not finish a task because you did not have enough information. 786) Give me an example of a time you had to juggle a number of projects and priorities. What were they? How did you manage to juggle them? 787) Give me an example of a time you had to think quickly on your feet to extricate yourself from a difficult situation. 788) Give me an example of a time you worked particularly well under a great deal of pressure. How did you handle the situation? 789) Have you ever worked in a situation where the rules and guidelines were not clear? Tell me about it. How did you feel about it? How did you react?

=====================================================

790) It is important to maintain a positive attitude at work when you have other things on your mind. Give a specific example of when you were able to do that. 791) Sometimes we need to remain calm on the outside when we are really upset on the inside. Give an example of a time that this happened to you. 792) Tell me about a project that required you to work well under pressure. 793) Tell me about a time a deadline was moved up on you and how you handled it. Did you accomplish the task on time? How (or why not)? 794) Tell me about a time when ambiguity was an obstacle to you getting a task or project completed. What was ambiguous? How long was it ambiguous? 795) Tell me about a time when you had to complete a project/task on a strict deadline with little or no direction. 796) Tell me about a time you did not handle a stressful situation well. 797) Tell me about a time you had to work with conflicting, delayed, or ambiguous information. What did you do to make the most of the situation? 798) Tell me about a time you lost your temper/cool/composure. 799) Tell me about a time you were faced with stressors at work that tested your coping skills.

=====================================================

800) Tell me about a time you were knocked off balance on a project you were working on due to unexpected information or an unexpected event. 801) Tell us about a time when your supervisor criticized your work. How did you respond? 802) Tell us about some demanding situations in which you managed to remain calm and composed. 803) There are times we each feel overwhelmed with a task or project. Tell me about a time this happened to you. 804) There are times when we are placed under extreme pressure on the job. Tell me about a time when you were under such pressure and how you handled it. 805) Think about a time when you felt overwhelmed or stressed out. How did you handle it? 806) We have all been asked on occasion to perform a task or accomplish a goal where the instructions we received were ambiguous. Tell me about a time when this happened to you and specifically what you did. 807) When you have a lot of work to do, how do you get it all done? Give an example? 808) At times, we must all deal with difficult people. This can be a challenge when it is someone with whom we need to develop a cooperative relationship. Tell me about a time you were successful in developing a cooperative relationship with a difficult person at work. 809) Describe a project you were responsible for that required a lot of interaction with people over a long period of time.

=====================================================

810) Describe a team experience you found disappointing. What specifically made it disappointing? What could you have done to change it from a disappointing to rewarding experience? 811) Describe a time when one of the members on your team did not complete (or wasn’t doing) her fair share of the work. 812) Describe a time when you agreed to implement someone else’s idea over your own. How did you approach the situation? How did you feel about it? Was it a successful implementation? Why/why not? 813) Describe a time when you had to have coworkers with different work styles or ideas work together on a project. What specifically did you do to pull them together? 814) Describe a time when you had to resolve a conflict between two employees or two people on a team. 815) Describe a time when you were able to build team spirit in an environment of low morale. 816) Describe a time when your ability to pick up on the intentions or needs of a group resulted in you changing your course of action. 817) Describe a time where, had you not been able to get another person’s or group’s cooperation, you probably would not have been successful. 818) Describe a time you led a team of people who didn’t always see eye to eye. What did you do? Why did you choose to do that? How did it work out? 819) Describe for me a time when you saw a situation very differently from someone else and disagreed strongly with him, but still respected his viewpoint.

=====================================================

820) Describe for me a time you developed and maintained (or strengthened) a relationship with a person or group inside/outside your organization. Why did you develop the relationship? How did you develop it? What did you do to maintain/strengthen it? 821) Describe the most difficult working relationship you’ve had with an individual. What specific actions did you take to improve the relationship? What was the outcome? 822) Gaining the cooperation of others can be difficult. Give a specific example of when you had to do that, and what challenges you faced. What was the outcome? What was the long-term impact on your ability to work with this person? 823) Give me an example of a time that you used one of your strengths to help another person or team succeed. 824) Give me an example of a time that you used one of your strengths to help another person or team succeed. 825) Give me an example of a time that your leadership transformed a group of people into an effective, healthy, productive team. 826) Give me an example of a time when others with whom you were working on a project disagreed with your idea. 827) Give me an example of a time when you disagreed with the views of your direct reports. 828) Give me an example of a time when you were less successful as a team leader than you would like to have been. 829) Give me an example of a time when you were not an effective team member.

=====================================================

830) Give me an example of a time where you needed to get people who have very different work styles to work cooperatively on a project. Were you successful? Why/why not? 831) Give me an example of a time where you were willing to compromise on something relatively important to you in order for the team you were a member of to proceed with a project. 832) Give me an example of a time you successfully built a project team from scratch. What was the project? How did you go about selecting team members? How did you get these individuals to work as a team? What was the hardest part of getting them to work as a team? Was the team successful on the project? 833) Give me an example of a time you were a team player in a project with your peers. 834) Give me an example of when you worked 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 the project? 835) Give me an example to convince me that you understand why groups do what they do. 836) 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? 837) Provide an example of a time when it was critical that you establish an effective working relationship with an individual or group outside your department to complete an assignment or deliver a service. 838) Sometimes the only way people or departments can accomplish their individual goals is to form a partnership. Tell me about a time where, had you not partnered, your individual goals might not have been achieved. 839) Tell me about a collaborative effort you headed (were involved in) between your organization and the community.

=====================================================

840) Tell me about a time that you cooperated with someone when you really would rather have not cooperated. 841) Tell me about a time when you helped others compromise for the good of the team. What was your role? What steps did you take? 842) Tell me about a time when you were able to provide your team with recognition for the work they performed. 843) Tell me about a time where your understanding of what a group valued helped you work effectively with them. 844) Tell me about a time where, because you didn’t effectively build your team, you were not able to accomplish a task/project within specifications. What happened? What did you learn? What would you do differently if you had it to do over again? 845) Tell me about a time where, if it hadn’t been for teamwork, your goal might not have been achieved. 846) Tell me about a time you got involved in a cross-functional activity simply to develop a better working relationship with those involved in the activity. 847) Tell me about a time you needed to gain the trust and support of one of your peers in order to be successful on something. 848) Tell me about a time you needed to get two groups or people to work together effectively, who historically had never done so. 849) Tell me about a time you needed to lead an intact project or ad hoc team toward a goal that you, personally, did not completely support or believe in.

=====================================================

850) Tell me about a time you recognized a team member for having made a valuable contribution to the team. 851) Tell me about a time you were able to gain commitment from others to really work as a team. 852) Tell me about a time you were recognized and rewarded for being a valuable team member. 853) Tell me about a time you worked as a team member on a team that had one or more unproductive members. What did you do? Why did you choose to do that? How did it work out? 854) Tell me about at time when you were part of a team that did not get along or did not work well together. What happened? 855) There are times when people need extra help. Give an example of when you were able to provide that support to a person with whom you worked. 856) We’ve all been part of a work team or project team where there is one person who just rubs us the wrong way. Tell me about a time this happened to you. What did you do? 857) What have you done in past situations to contribute toward a teamwork environment? 858) What is the toughest group/team/department from which you have had to get cooperation? What were the obstacles? Why was it a tough group? What were the reactions of the group members? 859) All jobs have unpleasant tasks. Tell me about the most unpleasant tasks you were required to do at work. Why or why weren’t you successful in getting it done?

=====================================================

860) Describe a situation when you had to get a job done in spite of an unforeseen problem. 861) Describe a time when you were asked to complete a difficult task or project where the odds were against you. Were you successful? What did you learn from the experience? 862) Describe a time when, against all odds, you were able to get a project or task completed within the defined parameters. 863) Describe your most challenging project or situation and how you overcame the obstacles. 864) Give me an example of a time that you gave up on something before you finished. Why did you give up? 865) Give me an example of a time when you tried to accomplish something and failed. Why did you fail? If you had it to do over again, what would you do differently? 866) Give me an example of a time you made a major sacrifice to achieve an important goal. 867) Give me an example of when you had to go above and beyond the call of duty in order to get a job done. 868) Tell me about a really tough day that you had recently and what you did to get through it. 869) Tell me about a time when you had to finish a job even though everyone else had given up.

=====================================================

870) Tell me about a time when you stayed with an idea or project for longer than anyone expected you to. 871) Tell me about a time when you were asked to complete a difficult assignment and the odds were against you. What did you learn form the experience? 872) Tell me about a time when you were unable initially to sell an idea to your boss, an employee, or a peer, and so you tried again. What did you do differently the second or third time? 873) Tell me about a time when you were unwilling or unable to make the sacrifice necessary to achieve a goal. 874) Tell me about a time you encountered significant resistance or a major setback on a project you were working on, but managed to work through it anyway. 875) Tell me about a time you were given a goal by someone else that you believed would be impossible to attain. 876) Tell me about some of the obstacles you have had to overcome to reach your present position. 877) Being successful takes more than luck–it also takes hard work. Tell me about a time when you had to work very hard and make personal sacrifices to help your organization/department/team reach its goals. 878) Describe a challenging project that you’ve worked on. 879) Describe a process or procedure that guides your actions, but for which you have little patience.

=====================================================

880) Give me an example of a specific occasion when you conformed to a policy with which you did not agree. Why did you comply? What would have been the consequences of noncompliance? 881) Give me an example of a time that you had to act with very little planning. 882) Give me an example of a time you had to work on a project/task that you were absolutely dreading. 883) Give me an example of something you’ve done in previous jobs that demonstrates your willingness to work hard. 884) Sometimes people will drag their feet in taking action on something, losing precious time. Tell me about a time you saw that other people in the organization were not acting quickly on something and you took it upon yourself to lead the effort. 885) Tell me about a time that you willingly took on more work even though you were already busy. How were you able to get everything done? 886) 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? 887) Tell me about a time when you were not pleased with (or were disappointed in ) your performance. What did you do about it? 888) Tell me about a time you got enjoyment out of working hard on something. 889) Tell me about an important goal that you set in the past. Were you successful? Why?

=====================================================

890) Tell me about the biggest error in judgment you made in your current position. Why did you make the error? How did you correct it? 891) We all feel that we are unique in our accomplishments. Tell me an accomplishment you have had that you feel is unique. 892) We all get assignments we really don’t want to do. Give me an example of a time that happened to you and tell me how you motivated yourself to get it done. 893) 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?

=====================================================

Thank you for making it this far!

Click Here for the full PDF of these questions.

How will your next interview go?

Click Here to Learn How to Answer These Questions and More