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If you're in charge of hiring new employees, writing an article or just want to learn more about a person you admire, you'll probably find yourself in a position where you will be tasked with interviewing people. Being prepared for the interview with several well-crafted questions is important and will help you get what you need out of the interview. To write interview questions, understand or discover the purpose of the interview, who you are interviewing, and what you need from this person.

1. Start with an open-ended question. An open-ended question cannot be answered by "yes" or "no" and it usually does not have right or wrong answers.

An open ended question is a good way to put the candidate at ease. You want your candidates to feel comfortable. And if a candidate feels comfortable that person is more likely to engage.

Open-ended questions are also a good way for you to find out some basic qualifications of the candidate, and to get some cues as to what to ask next.

Try for questions like: "Tell me about the relationships you've had with the people you've worked with. How would you describe the best ones? The worst?" This question will immediately give you a good idea of well the candidate might fit on a team in your workplace. Candidates typically don't like to speak badly about coworkers or bosses, especially in an interview. This question lets you see how this person navigates those waters.

2. Formulate questions that force your interviewee to express a knowledge of your company. You want to make sure that your interviewee did homework and learned about your company. And you should want to find out if this person just learned facts, or really understands you.

Questions that ask the candidate to visualize being in the role of an existing employee will quickly show you how well this person knows your company.

You might ask "Pitch [name of your company] to me as if I were buying your product or service." This question will immediately show you how well this candidate knows what you do and if this person has the ability to speak with the company's voice.

Depending on the position you're hiring for, be lenient on how well the candidate pitches your company. If you're hiring for an internal, non sales position, all you want to know is if your candidate did the homework.

You could also ask "If we were to sit down a year from now, reflecting on your year with the company, what would you like to have achieved?" A question like this will allow you to gauge how well the candidate sees the bigger picture of the work you do, and that this person has not only done the homework, but is committed to being a part of the company. A question like this will help weed out candidates who just read the job description.

3. Ask conversational and open ended questions. Test soft skills. You'll want to know about a candidate's personality, dedication, loyalty, communication skills, etc. These are the so called "soft skills" for the job.

When writing interview questions, you'll want to create your questions so that there's an ebb and flow to the interview. Your first questions are meant to ease the candidate into the interview and allow you to gain knowledge on this person's history. Then you want to have questions that tell you about a candidate's actual skill level for the job. Now you'll want to ease back up. write down a few questions to pick from during the interview that allows you to see this person's personality.

Feel free to have a list of questions to pick from that don't even have much to do with the actual job. You could ask "Who is the smartest person you know personally? Why?" A question like this will test the candidate's values and aspirations. Having the candidate explain why the person is so smart will give you an idea of how this person perceives others.

Ask the candidate "What is something you'd be happy doing every day for the rest of your career?" This will let you find out what makes this person happy at work. If the answer is boilerplate you know that this person isn't going to be very happy. If the answer is thought out and applies to the job, you know you could have someone who would be loyal to you.

Consider asking "If you worked with us, were paid the salary you wanted, and loved everything about your job, what kind of offer from another company would you consider?" This question will give you insight into what the candidate values. Depending on the answer you'll know if the candidate can be bought. Or if this person values loving the work and the company.

4. Conclude the interview. When writing interview questions, plan to leave time at the end to let the interviewee ask questions.

The questions a candidate asks will be very valuable. These questions will show you how much this person has prepared and how this person views the role of the job.

During the actual interview always make sure to thank the interviewee. Then explain your next steps and when you'll be in touch.

1. Lead with a "softball question". When writing out your questions, you want to create ones that allow the conversation or interview to flow naturally.

A "softball question" will help the interviewee become relaxed and open up. This type of question should be simple and not controversial in any way. This question shouldn't be challenging and let the person brag a little about the work.

Throw it away. Your first question should be something that you can throw away and not have it affect the information you need from your interview.

2. Ask questions that elicit an emotional response. Just like open ended questions, you'll want to come up with a few that will get you an emotional response.

When writing your interview questions, see if you can find anything about your subject that you can use to get a feeling-based response. Did this person publish a book that didn't sell well? Did your subject face constant rejection and setbacks before succeeding?

If you can't find anything, be prepared to formulate a question on the spot during the interview. Use what's been discussed in the interview and write down this new question quickly so you don't forget. Make sure to ask "why" and "how".

"Why did you feel like you would never reach your goal?" "What motivated you to keep trying when you hit speed bumps?" "How do you feel about that experience now?"

Create open-ended questions. Go through the questions you've written down and make sure that you've created questions that can't be answered by a "yes" or "no".

Ask open-ended questions. You're interviewing a person to gain knowledge of a subject and to be more like this person. Have a conversation.

You can ask questions like "What was your favorite part of ..." asking what this person liked or didn't like about the subject you're interviewing for will give you much more insightful information to go on.

When writing your questions, put yourself in your role model's shoes. Imagine yourself being interviewed by someone who looks up to you in the future. Think about what kinds of topics you would want to talk about. What would you want to share and what kinds of stories and advice would you provide?

Once you've thought about how you would be in an interview as the role model and what you would say, write down some questions that you can ask to get similar answers and responses.

Examples of Job Interview Questions

Add New Question

What interview writing style should be used for school students?

Make sure that the writing style is formal and proper when writing an interview. That way, you sound more professional, and would probably end up getting more serious/reliable answers for your interview.

What interview questions can I ask when interviewing a teacher for research purposes?

That depends on the specific topic you are researching. Ask about how the teacher's work relates to your topic.

How should I answer when asked if I'd be a good fit for the position?

To begin with, talk about your strengths and what you will bring to the company.

See more answers
↑ Shannon O'Brien, MA, EdM. Life & Career Coach. Expert Interview. 25 May 2021.

This article was co-authored by Shannon O'Brien, MA, EdM. Shannon O'Brien is the Founder and Principal Advisor of Whole U. (a career and life strategy consultancy based in Boston, MA). Through advising, workshops and e-learning Whole U. empowers people to pursue their life's work and live a balanced, purposeful life. Shannon has been ranked as the #1 Career Coach and #1 Life Coach in Boston, MA by Yelp reviewers. She has been featured on Boston.com, Boldfacers, and the UR Business Network. She received a Master's of Technology, Innovation, & Education from Harvard University. This article has been viewed 468,835 times.

To interview someone for a job, design challenging questions that a smart, capable person can answer. Start with an open-ended question, like, "Tell me about the relationships you've had with former employers." This is a good way to see if they know how to discuss workplace issues professionally. You should also ask questions that invite your interviewee to show their knowledge of your company so you can tell how invested they really are. For more interviewing tips, like how to get information from someone for an article, keep reading!

Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 468,835 times.

"Effective communication is the glue that helps you deepen your connections to something. For example, "If you think that's bad, let me tell you what happened to me..."" ..." more

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4 Ways to Write Interview Questions - wikiHow

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If you're in charge of hiring new employees, writing an article or just want to learn more about a person you admire, you'll probably find yourself in a position where you will be tasked with interviewing people. Being prepared for the...

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