150 Questions Every Hiring Manager Should Consider Asking

As a hiring manager, you are staffed with the very difficult responsibility of bringing the right talent into your company. Often times, using an online recruitment system is not enough to weed out the bad candidates.

While there are many ways to recruit, interview, and compare candidates, you realize that making a final decision is often easier said than done.

Depending on the position you are hiring for and number of qualified candidates, you may not have much time to spend with each one. For this reason, you need to implement a structured interview process that leaves no room for error.

One of the best things you can do is make a list of interview questions to ask each candidate. When you ask each person the same questions, it is easier to make a side-by-side comparison.

But here is the real question: which questions bring the most value to the interview process?

It’s likely that you don’t have enough time to ask each candidate 100+ questions. What you can do, however, is select the best questions from a long list. Did you know that the hiring process is a whole lot easier, and cheaper, with an easy-to-use online recruitment system? Keep reading to see how Recruiteze can help your hiring team for free!

Questions Hiring Managers Should Consider Asking

Here are 150 questions every hiring manager should consider. Once you read through these, choose the ones that best suit your style and process:

1. Can you explain your responsibilities at your last job?
2. What are your strengths?
3. What are your weaknesses?
4. Why did you leave your last position? Was it voluntary?
5. How would your former managers describe you as an employee?
6. Why are you interested in working for our company?
7. What can you offer us that someone else cannot?
8. What would you hope to accomplish during the first month and year on the job?
9. Can you tell me about a work accomplishment you are most proud of?
10. What’s your availability?
11. What is your biggest work failure?
12. How did you hear about this position?
13. What is your dream job?
14. What are your salary requirements?
15. Who are our primary competitors?
16. What are three things your former manager would like you to improve on?
17. If I were your supervisor and asked you to do something that you disagreed with, what would you do?
18. What are you looking for in terms of career development?
19. How do you want to improve yourself in the next year?
20. What are your hobbies?
21. What are your lifelong dreams?
22. What are you most proud of?
23. How would you go about establishing your credibility quickly with the team?
24. What do you consider your most desirable traits as an employee?
25. What were your bosses’ strengths/weaknesses?
26. Have you ever run into a situation in which you did not get along with a coworker?
27. If you found out your company was doing something against the law, what would you do?
28. What kind of goals would you have in mind if you got this job?
29. What do you like the most and least about working in this industry?
30. How would you best describe your communication skills?
31. What techniques and tools do you use to keep yourself organized?
32. What do you look for in terms of culture — structured or entrepreneurial?
33. What are some of your leadership experiences?
34. What’s the most important thing you learned in school?
35. What will you miss most about your last job?
36. What is your biggest regret and why?
37. What is your greatest achievement outside of work?
38. What are the top qualities in a good leader? How about a bad leader?
39. What is your personal mission statement?
40. If selected for this position, can you describe your strategy for the first 90 days?
41. How do you feel about taking no for an answer?
42. What do you think are the main issues facing this company at the moment?
43. How would you feel about working for someone who knows less than you?
44. What is your greatest fear?
45. What are you most proud of?
46. How have you changed as a business professional over the years?
47. What three character traits would your friends use to describe you?
48. What are your thoughts on time management?
49. Are you confident in your abilities to get the job done?
50. Are you willing to take on extra work if available?
51. What are your ideal work hours?
52. Are you looking for a job that offers flexibility, or are you okay with a strict schedule?
53. What do you consider your biggest asset?
54. How have you grown as an employee?
55. What is one thing that you would like to change about yourself?
56. How do your colleagues know they can rely on you?
57. Do you consider yourself a creative person?
58. When did you last need to influence your boss to make a decision?
59. How do you deal with upset clients?
60. What is the difference between a manager and leader?
61. What would you do if a coworker talked about you behind your back?
62. How does this position stack up to those you have held in the past?
63. What is the one thing you would change about the position you are interviewing for?
64. Do you have great attention to detail?
65. Have you ever come up with an idea to solve a long-term problem?
66. What are your thoughts on ongoing education?
67. How does your boss get the best out of you?
68. What personal characteristics does it take to succeed?
69. What do you think you can contribute?
70. How long would you stay with this company?
71. What do you do if everyone disagrees with you?
72. Why do you want to leave your current job?
73. Why would you leave your current job for this one?
74. Why have you applied for this job?
75. Can you give me three reasons why you should get this job?
76. If you were an animal, which one would you want to be?
77. What drives you to achieve your goals in the workplace?
78. How do you deal with stress in the workplace?
79. Have you ever gone above and beyond to help a coworker who was struggling with a project?
80. Are you comfortable communicating in a variety of ways, such as email, phone, and in person?
81. Why did you take a job that seems to be out of your career path?
82. Can you explain the gap in your employment history?
83. What would your manager say is the area you most need development in?
84. How do you handle constructive criticism?
85. What type of company culture are you looking for?
86. What quality or attribute do you feel will contribute most to your career success?
87. How do you stay current in the industry?
88. What was the most creative or innovative project you have worked on?
89. What have you been doing since you were laid off?
90. What are your workplace values?
91. What would you do if you knew your boss was wrong about something?
92. How do you motivate others to do their best work?
93. Are you effective at meeting deadlines?
94. Can we contact all of your references?
95. Are you willing to work long hours and weekends if necessary for the job?
96. If you had two job offers, what are the top factors you would use to evaluate which is a better opportunity?
97. If you had to describe yourself in only one word, what would it be?
98. How do you go about prioritizing your customers’ needs?
99. What would your direct reports say about you?
100. Do you have any ideas on how to solve or address some of the issues our organization may face?
101. Can you tell me about a time when you had to analyze information and make a recommendation?
102. Can you tell me about a time when you would have done something differently in regards to a problem?
103. What process do you use to check that you have the right details from a customer?
104. When have you ever gone out on a limb to defend a customer?
105. What has had the most impact on your academic or professional interests?
106. Have you ever had to “sell” an idea to your co-workers?
107. What obstacles or difficulties have you ever faced in communicating your ideas to a manager?
108. When was the last time you thought “outside the box” and what was the result?
109. Can you tell me about a problem that you’ve solved in a unique or unusual way?
110. Can you tell me about a successful experience in making a presentation?
111. When have you brought an innovative idea into your team?
112. Do you do any charity work outside of work?
113. What is the toughest group that you have ever had to lead?
114. What has been the best idea you have come up with during your professional career?
115. What is the most difficult decision you’ve ever had to make at work?
116. How do you prioritize projects and tasks when scheduling your time?
117. What was the biggest mistake you have made when delegating work as part of a team project?
118. What have you found to be the challenging part of being a member, not leader, of a team?
119. When have you ever found yourself in a competitive situation professionally?
120. What was the most stressful negotiation you have been involved in?
121. What’s your favorite part of your current job?
122. What is your preferred work style?
123. Can you tell me about a meaningful experience serving a cause?
124. What’s the toughest feedback you’ve been given, and how did you learn from it?
125. What’s a problem you’ve encountered and then solved?
126. When have you been asked to do too much, and how did you respond?
127. What are people likely to misunderstand about you?
128. How do you feel about working alone?
129. How do you feel about working as part of a large team?
130. Are you comfortable with the idea of holding regular meetings with your supervisors, team members, and coworkers?
131. What would you say to a coworker who asks you for help, despite the fact that it’s not your responsibility to provide assistance?
132. If you were hiring someone for this position, what would you be looking for?
133. What happened the last time you let someone down? Were you able to make up for it?
134. Have you ever run into a problem you could not solve? What did you do next? What was the final result?
135. What was your first impression upon entering our office? Were you comfortable or did your stress level rise?
136. What was your first impression of our company?
137. What training and development have you done recently?
138. What do you think of our company website?
139. What is the best work/project you’ve ever done?
140. What questions haven’t I asked you?
141. What is the worst job you’ve ever had?
142. Can you describe a typical day?
143. Can you tell me about a challenge in the workplace and what skills you needed?
144. Can you tell me something about yourself that you wouldn’t want others to necessarily hear?
145. How do you think I rate as an interviewer?
146. Can you describe a time when your work was criticized by others? How did you deal with this?
147. Can you give me an example of a time that you felt you went above and beyond the call of duty at work.?
148. How would you go about firing somebody who is not working out?
149. What is your favorite website?
150. What types of questions do you have for me?

What do you think of these 150 interview questions? Which ones are your favorites? Would you add any others to the list?

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4. Unique interview questions
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6. Help candidates prepare for an interview
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8. Rules to follow during phone and video interviews
9. Executive interview questions
10. Pros and cons of group interviews