14 1/2 Situational Interview Questions

Discussion should give you a hint about how the candidate will fit your culture 

By Daniel Abramson, HR Source

Asking situational interview questions is the best way to determine which candidate is the best fit for the culture of your appliance or furniture store. 

Situational interview questions are hypothetical questions that can help you assess prospective candidates’ critical thinking skills and creativity, as well as how they might respond to potential challenges at work. These questions usually begin with, “How would you handle XYZ if you…?” or “What would you do if…?”

Here are 14 ½ interview questions I like: 

  1. What do you know about our company? (For example, years in business, product offerings, number of stores, generation ownership, etc.)
  2. If I were to call your boss and ask for three adjectives to describe you, what kind of words would they use?
  3. Speaking of adjectives, what words would you use to describe the company culture at your last job?
  4. What’s your impression or how you would describe our company’s culture in three to four words?  (This ties back to No. 1 above.) 
  5. Tell me about your proudest professional accomplishment and why this is significant to you.
  6. Give me the example of your dream job. (Is this realistic considering candidate’s career so far?) 
  7. What’s one thing you’ve done in your professional career that you wish you could do over?
  8. Tell me about a time you failed. How did you handle that situation?
  9. Can you tell me about a time when a team member wasn’t pulling their weight on a project and how you handled it?
  10. Give me an example of a time when you had a difficult conversation with a frustrated customer.  What was the outcome?
  11. What is one of your biggest pet peeves? What are your strongest qualities or traits? (Do these things match up and make sense?) 
  12. What’s the biggest misconception your coworkers have about you and why do they think that?
  13. Give me an example of a time in which you had to bend or break the rules to get something done. (Does the candidate work the edges or go out of bounds regarding judgement and decision making? The candidate’s answers should tell you something about their principles and values.
  14. Why should we hire you vs. the other three candidates we’ve interviewed?

14 ½.   Finally, do you have any questions for me? (This question is important — it helps you determine a candidate’s engagement and intuition, or ability to make good decisions with incomplete information.)

Have questions or need a second opinion? Call me any time. 

Daniel Abramson is managing lead of HRSource, a comprehensive collection of customized employment tools and turnkey solutions exclusive to BrandSource members. For more information, contact Daniel at (540) 535-8484 or daniel@staffdynamics.biz.

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