Practice Interview Questions

Here are some practice interview questions for you to implement BEFORE your interview! Practice with a mentor, your friend, and of course, your coach! 😉 Practice regularly so you’ll be a PRO when you GO!

Good Luck!

Personal Motivation and Traits

• How do you feel about your present workload?
• What motivates you to do your best work?
• How can we best help you get your job done?
• Tell me about a time you went “out on a limb” to get the job done?
• What are the disadvantages of this line of work?
• What do you find most frustrating at work?
• Tell me about a project that got you really excited?
• How do you define doing a good job?
• What makes a job enjoyable for you?
• Under what conditions do you work best?
• What is your greatest strength/weakness or deficiency?
• Tell me about a work task you enjoy.

Goals

• What are your 5-year goals?
• Tell me what “success” means to you.
• What does “failure” mean to you?
• Do you consider yourself successful?
• Do you set goals for yourself and how do you do that?

Communication

• Tell me about a work situation you had that required excellent communication skills.
• Do you prefer to speak directly with someone or send a memo?
• How would you grade your ability to communicate with upper-level management, customers, and peers?
• What was more important on your job, written or oral communication?

Flexibility

• Tell me about the last change which occurred in your office. How did you handle it?
• I’m interested in hearing about the last time you took a risk. What was it and in retrospect, was it the right decision?
• How important is communication and interaction with others on your job? How many departments did you deal with? What problems occurred?
• Tell me about a time when a work emergency caused you to reschedule your work/projects.
• Give me an example of the last time you went above and beyond the call of duty to get the job done
• In what areas do you typically have the least amount of patience at work?

Stress

• Tell me about a deadline you had to meet. How much advance notice did you have?
• You have worked in a fast paced environment. How did you like the environment?
• What kinds of decisions are most difficult for you?
• What is the most difficult work situation you have faced?
• What types of jobs do you have the most difficulty with?
• What do you do when you’re having trouble with your job?
• What do you do when you have a great deal of work to accomplish in a short period of time?

Manageability

• What do you do when you’re having trouble with a boss?
• If your boss knew you were interviewing, what would he say?
• What do you feel an employer owes an employee?
• Your supervisor tells you do to something in a way you know is dead wrong. What do you do?
• If your supervisor unfairly criticized you, what would you do?
• Would you like to have your boss’s job? Why or why not?
• Tell me about a time when your manager was in a rush and didn’t give you enough attention.
• What are some of the things about which you and your boss disagree?
• What are some of the things your boss did that you disliked?
• In what areas could your boss have done a better job?
• I would be interested to hear about an occasion when your work or an idea was criticized, what was criticized, who criticized you, and how did you handle it?
• Describe the best manager you ever had. The worst. What qualities did each of them have?