55 Questions to Ask During a Job Interview

With more than five million open jobs in the United States, it goes without saying that recruiters and hiring managers will remain busy. While every company has its own interview process, some take a better approach than others. If you are looking for ways to improve, if you are seeking a strategy that will allow you to hire the best talent, it is time to focus on the questions you ask during an interview.

Every company, for the most part, asks the same basic questions. Things such as:

How much experience do you have? What makes you the right first for the position? Where do you see yourself in five years?

These are important questions, however, you don’t want to stop there. You want to dig deeper.

Below are 55 questions to ask during a job interview:

1. If you had only one word to describe yourself, what would it be?

2. What qualities in your co-workers bother you most?

3. What’s the most difficult decision you’ve made in the last two years and how did you come to that decision?

4. What salary are you seeking?

5. What are you looking for in terms of career development? 

6. Do you think a leader should be feared or liked?    

7. There’s no right or wrong answer, but if you could go anywhere on vacation, where would it be? 

8. If I were to ask your current boss what your greatest strength is, what would he or she tell me?

9. What’s the last book you read?  

10. What’s the last movie you saw?

11. What is your favorite television show?

12. What kind of goals would you have in mind if you got this job? 

13. What magazines do you subscribe to? 

14. What did you like or dislike about your previous job?

15. What is the difference, in your mind, between working for a small company and big company?

16. Why do you want this job?

17. If you were an animal, which one would you want to be?

18. What is the primary reason we should hire you?

19. What is your favorite animal?

20. If you had this job and were loving it (and making enough money) what is something that could happen that would make you leave?

21. What do you bring to the table that no other candidate does?

22. What is your most unique personality trait?

23. What do you do in your spare time? 

24. How would you deal with an angry client or coworker?

25. What was your starting and final compensation at your last job?

26. What is your strongest professional skill?

27. Do you excel in one area that others often times struggle?

28. What was your first thought when you came across the opening for this position?

29. Can you explain the workplace culture at your former company?

30. How do you handle stress?

31. Are you comfortable working alone as well as in a group?

32. From the outside looking in, what is one thing you would change about our company?

33. What are you passionate about outside of the workplace?

34. What is your favorite memory from childhood? 

35. What was your biggest accomplishment at your last job?

36. What was your biggest failure at your last job?

37. If you could choose one superhero power, what would it be and why? 

38. What are your goals for the future?

39. What advice would you give somebody who wants to become part of our industry?

40. How would you go about establishing your credibility quickly with the team?

41. Why are you leaving your former job and what kind of notice are you going to give them if you hire you for this position?

42. What type of relationship did you have with your former supervisor and coworkers?

43. If selected for this position, can you describe your strategy for the first 90 days?

44. How long will it take for you to make a significant contribution?

45. What techniques and tools do you use to keep yourself organized?   

46. If you get the job, how could you lose money for me?

47. What do you think of your previous supervisor?

48. How do you evaluate success?

49. What is your personal mission statement?   

50. What would you do if management made a decision you didn’t agree with?

51. What assignment was too difficult for you, and how did you resolve the issue? 

52. What irritates you about other people, and how do you deal with it? 

53. What was the most difficult period in your life, and how did you deal with it? 

54. What will make you love coming to work here everyday?

55. Is there any question I haven’t asked you that I should?