Structured interview questions can be used to identify the most qualified candidate for recruitment or promotion to a particular post. Guiding principles of structured interview questions are:
- The objective of the interview is to enable the candidates to prove and demonstrate their capabilities, through their answers
- The best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour
- Candidates should be asked to describe situations they have faced and how they handled them
- Questions should be kept open-ended, to avoid yes/no answers
- Use follow-up questions to dig deeper – do not take information at face value
- What was the situation? What did they do specifically? What was the outcome?
- Statements of attitude and philosophies are poor predictors of people’s actual behaviour– get them to give specific examples.
The example includes a mix of questions: some are designed to obtain information about the candidate’s actual past behaviour in a range of situations; others are designed to test the candidate’s likely behaviour in a hypothetical situation. Preference should be given to the factual rather than hypothetical questions wherever possible.
The optimum number should be between six and ten questions for a one-hour interview to allow the candidate to answer fully, and to permit follow-up questions where necessary.
It is, therefore, essential to prepare for the interview by carefully drafting the questions in advance, using the process described below:
Step 1 – Review the job description of the position being applied for. The questions should be specific to the competency and seniority requirements outlined in the job description.
Step 2 – Agree which questions are most appropriate in the given circumstances and develop new ones as needed.
Step 3 – Determine who should sit on the interview panel and who will ask which questions.
Step 4 – Ask all shortlisted candidates the same questions and score their answers.
Step 5 – Compare the answers of all the candidates to determine the best candidate.
Example Structured Interview Questions
Competency: EMPOWERMENT
- Describe a situation when youhelped someone recognise that he/she had several choices inhow to handle a difficult problem. What was the situation, what did you do, and what happened as a result?
- A junior officer has recently told you he/she thinks there might be a way of improving a current process in the department. What steps would you take toencouragehim/her to share his/her ideas and show initiative?
- Describe a situation where you have encouraged someone to promote themselves to others?
- You and a junior officer attend a meeting in another ministry. When the meeting starts, the junior officer is ignored. As the senior officer what would you do?
- Describe a situation in which you helped a person set a goal and then supported the person to achievethat goal. What was the goal and how did you help?
- One of your colleagues is quiet and avoids talking to people as much as he/she can. He/she is not involved in any activitiesand has no personal relationships in the office. He/she seems unhappy. How might you assist his/her self-development?
Competency: COMMUNICATION
- Describe a situation in which your attempts to communicate with someone were ineffective. Whatwas the situation, what did you do, and what happened as a result?
- Describe ways in which you have communicated with a person who is not good at face-to-face communication?
- Your new co-worker is Muslim. During the month of Ramadan he/she is fasting during the day,and has asked you to swap duties with him/her so he/she will not have to attend meetings on Fridaylunchtime/afternoon. You already have a number of other meetings to attend on Fridays. How doyou respond?
- Your co-worker has a habit of interrupting you at staff meetings. In the past you have waited forhim/her tofinish and bring up your point again, only to have him/her interrupt once more. As a result, you often leavestaff meetings feeling frustrated because your issues were not addressed. How do you deal with this?
- Describe the worst misunderstanding you were involved in at your last job. What was the situation,what did you do, and what happened as a result?
- Think about the last time you started a new job or joined a new social group. What strategies did you use to engage with others and integrate yourself into this new team or group?
- When working with people from different backgrounds, religions and ethnicity, what do you think is critical for establishing asolid working relationship?
Competency: ASSESSMENT
- Describe a situation in the past where you have participated in a team assessment process. What wasyour role?
- Tell me about the last time you solved a problem where you had to do a lot of hard thinking andanalysis.What difficulties did you encounter, how did you overcome them, and what was the result?
- You have noticed that one of your senior managers speaks to one of his/her junior officers in a harsh manner and you suspect the two are not getting on.How might you share your assessment of the situation with the two officers?
- Tell us about a time when someone was injured and you had to make an immediate judgement on whatneeded to be done to help the person. Describe the injury and your steps in making the assessment
- Please describean occasion when you have had to share resources amongst a group of people. How did you decide how the resources should be allocated?
- Describe an embarrassing situation you have experienced. What was the situation, what did you do, and what happened as a result? What, if anything, wouldyou do differently if you experienced a similar circumstance in the future?
Competency: PROFESSIONALISM
- Tell me about a time when you had to practise professional confidentiality. What was the situation,what did you do, andwhat happened as a result?
- Describe a situation in which you or someone you know came to you for advice or help in dealing with a sensitive or confidential situation. What was the situation, what did you do, and what happened as aresult?
- Describe the types of work you enjoydoing and the types of work you donot like doing. What strategies do you use to ensure that all duties are completed?
- What actions would you take if you saw that a colleague needed immediate assistance or was unsure what to do?
- Your new manager says he/she wants to stamp his/her mark on the ministry and look at new ways of working.How might you respond to this situation?
- Describe a time when you were required to make an unpopular decision. What was the situation, what did you do, and what happened as a result?
Competency: EDUCATION, TRAINING, AND SELF-DEVELOPMENT
- How have you kept up on relevant resources and information about a topic of interest to you?
- What else besides your education and job experience qualifies you for this job?
- Describe the last thing you did for self-improvement?
- Tell me about the best class, conference, training course you have ever taken. What was the class? Why was it good?
- What is the next thing you want to learn how to do, or how to do better? What is your plan foraccomplishing this?
- Describe a time when you have supported another person withhis/her career development?
- Describe the things you have done in the last couple of years to advance your career. What supportdid you receive? What was the most helpful assistance you got?
Competency: CONFLICT RESOLUTION
- Describe the most difficult person you remember ever dealing with at work or school. How did he/she react to you? Howdid you deal with the situation? Did you ever discuss your differences with this person? If not, why not? If yes, what happened?
- Describe the last time you became involved in a conflict. What was the situation,what did you do, andhow well did it work? What would you have done to prevent the situation fromoccurring?
- One of your senior colleagues is unhappy about a report that has recently been submitted. As the officer responsible for the unit your senior colleague calls you to express his/her displeasure. How would you handle thissituation?
- Describe a situation in which you had a conflict with a co-worker. What was the issue, what did youdo, and what happened as a result??
- Describe a situation in which you had a conflict with your supervisor. What was the issue, what didyou do, and what happened as a result??
Competency: ORGANISATIONAL PARTICIPATION AND TEAMWORK
- Tell me about the mission of the last organisation you worked for, or university you attended. Did you agree or disagree with thatmission, why?
- Describe a situation where you played a role in making a change within your last place of employment(or church, community centre or club). What was the situation, what did you do, and what happened as a result?
- What was the best experience you have ever had as a member of a team? What was your role on theteam? What made it a good experience?
- Tell me about the last time you found yourself trying to do too many different things at the same time.How did you handle the situation?
- Describe the co-worker that you most appreciate? What characteristics or qualities of that person doyou most appreciate?
- What behaviours do you think are most important/most valued by team members or co-workers in theworkplace? Of the behaviour you just listed, please do a self-evaluation and tell me which is yourstrongest positive co-worker behaviour? Which might be a possible improvement area for you?
- What does teamwork mean to you? Give some examples of things you have done to be a good teammember, or to improve teamwork.
Competency: DOCUMENTATION
- Tell me some of the reasons you feel documentation is important
- Describe a situation in which you were asked to document an event. Describe what occurred, whatinformation was documented, and the reasons behind your documentation
- What was the best thing you ever wrote? What was the topic? What made this the best thing you everwrote?
- Describe the most difficult writing assignment you have ever had. What was the assignment?How didyou handle it?
- Describe the last paper or writing assignment you completed at work (or in school). What was theassignment, what did you do, and what was the outcome of the assignment?
Experience, Credentials and Self-Evaluation/Opinion Questions
- Describe a typical day in your most recent job
- Describe any classes, experiences or training you have received that prepared you for this job
- Most of us have more than one reason for leaving a job. What are some of yours, from past or presentexperience?
- What one or two words would most of your previous supervisors use to describeyou?
- What part(s) of your last/present position did you like least? What did you do to try to overcome thesituation? What would you think if you knew in advance that this situation would be present in your newjob?
- Under what circumstances might you seek out a co-worker or peer for advice or suggestions? Provideexamples of times you did that in the past
- Describe your ideal job. Discuss the amount and type of supervision you prefer, contact and kinds ofrelationships with co-workers, job tasks, and freedom to work or to make decisions
- If you had the authority or power, what one thing would you change about your current/last position?
- Other than money, what rewards, benefits or work situations are most important for you?
- How much time did you miss from work last year? The year before?
- What suggestions has your supervisor given you for performance improvement or development?
- We have all made mistakes in our job, some bigger than others. Tell me about the biggest workplacemistake you ever made. What were the circumstances, and how did you deal with it? What did you learnfrom the experience?
- If you were offered this position and you accepted, what one or two major contributions do you thinkyou would make, in the short term (in the first few weeks) and in the long term (after a year or so)?
1 3H Structured Interview Guidance and Sample Questions