Interview Questions to Ask Candidates

By Don Georgevich

Phase Three of the Scientific Hiring Method: Discovery

The right interview questions do not reveal a candidate’s true personality. They produce evidence about whether the person can succeed in the role.

Employers often search for the best interview questions as though a great list can work for every job.

It cannot. A useful question must connect to something the person will be expected to accomplish, decide, or handle after hire. The same question may be valuable for one role and nearly useless for another.

Begin with what the job requires

Use the Job Scorecard and Hiring Criteria. Select the outcomes and capabilities this interview needs to examine.

OPM recommends tying structured interview questions to competencies identified through job analysis. Questions should be job-related, open-ended, clear, concise, and written so candidates understand what is being asked. See OPM’s question-development guidance.

The questions below are starting points. Adapt them to the work and define the evidence before using them.

Question 1: Tell me about the most relevant result you have produced

Example: “We need this person to reduce repeated customer handoff failures. Tell me about the most relevant result you have produced in a similar situation.”

Why ask it: This lets the candidate choose the strongest comparable evidence rather than forcing a broad career summary.

Probe: “What makes that example comparable to this role?”

Question 2: What was the condition before you became involved?

Why ask it: Results mean little without a starting point. The question reveals the size, complexity, and condition of the problem.

Probe: “What evidence showed that the situation needed to change?”

Question 3: What part did you personally own?

Why ask it: Candidates often describe team results. This question separates personal contribution from support, authority, and work performed by others.

Probe: “Which decision would not have happened without you?”

Question 4: What alternatives did you consider?

Why ask it: Good judgment is easier to see when the candidate explains the options that were rejected and why.

Probe: “What was the strongest argument for the option you did not choose?”

Question 5: What made the work difficult?

Why ask it: The obstacle reveals whether the result required persistence, influence, technical depth, prioritization, or another capability.

Probe: “What did you try first that did not work?”

Question 6: Who disagreed with your approach?

Why ask it: Agreement tells little about influence. Disagreement shows how the candidate listens, adapts, uses authority, and handles competing interests.

Probe: “What changed their position, if anything?”

Question 7: How did you know the result improved?

Why ask it: Accomplishment claims become more credible when the candidate can explain the measure, time period, and source.

Probe: “What result remained after you were no longer closely involved?”

Question 8: What would you do differently now?

Why ask it: Reflection reveals whether experience changed the candidate’s later judgment.

Probe: “Where have you used that lesson since then?”

Question 9: Tell me about an important decision you got wrong

Why ask it: The purpose is not to reward confession. It is to understand the original reasoning, warning signs, ownership, consequences, and change in behavior.

Probe: “At what point should you have recognized the decision was wrong?”

Question 10: Tell me about a time priorities changed after work had begun

Why ask it: This examines adaptability without reducing it to whether the candidate likes change.

Probe: “What did you stop doing, and how did you explain that decision?”

Question 11: Tell me about a time you had too little information

Why ask it: Many roles require decisions before certainty is available.

Probe: “Which assumption created the greatest risk?”

Question 12: Tell me about the hardest person you needed to influence

Why ask it: The answer may reveal listening, stakeholder judgment, adaptation, authority, and persistence.

Probe: “What did you misunderstand about that person at first?”

Question 13: Tell me about a performance problem you managed

Why ask it: For managers, the question reveals how they separate unclear expectations, weak skill, low motivation, limited capacity, and poor role fit.

Probe: “What evidence led you to the cause?”

Question 14: When did you need to deliver an unpopular message?

Why ask it: This examines clarity, courage, audience judgment, and follow-through.

Probe: “What did you avoid saying, and why?”

Question 15: What kind of work brings out your best judgment?

Why ask it: This can reveal where the candidate’s strengths fit the role, but the answer should be tested with examples.

Probe: “Give me a recent example that proves it.”

Question 16: What conditions make your performance weaker?

Why ask it: Every employee has conditions that affect performance. The answer can expose a mismatch between the candidate and the real environment.

Probe: “What have you learned to do when those conditions cannot be changed?”

Question 17: What should your next manager understand about working with you?

Why ask it: This can surface needs related to clarity, autonomy, feedback, pace, resources, or communication.

Probe: “What happened when a previous manager did not understand that?”

Question 18: What would make this role a bad decision for you?

Why ask it: The employer is not the only party evaluating risk. This helps candidates identify conditions that may make the role unsuitable.

Probe: “Which part of the role would you need to examine most carefully?”

Question 19: What have you learned about the role that changed your interest?

Why ask it: This reveals whether the candidate has updated their view as realistic information was provided.

Probe: “What still concerns you?”

Question 20: What important question have we not asked?

Why ask it: The candidate may possess relevant evidence that the interview design failed to invite.

Probe: “Why does that information matter to your ability to succeed here?”

Ten questions are usually enough

Do not ask all twenty questions in one interview.

A practical question set might include:

1. One question about the most important role outcome
2. Two questions about critical capabilities
3. One question about judgment or failure
4. One question about influence or collaboration
5. One question about changing priorities or uncertainty
6. One question about the environment in which the candidate performs best
7. One question about conditions that weaken performance
8. One question testing whether the role remains attractive
9. Time for the candidate’s questions

Most of the evidence will come from the probes. Ten shallow questions are weaker than four questions examined carefully.

Turn a generic question into a job-related question

Generic: “Tell me about a time you showed leadership.”

Job-related: “This role must establish one weekly operating rhythm across managers who currently use different systems. Tell me about the most difficult time you created a shared process across people you did not directly manage.”

The second question explains the kind of evidence that matters without telling the candidate what answer to give.

Questions that sound useful but usually are not

“Where do you see yourself in five years?”

The answer often measures whether the candidate prepared a career statement. Ask instead what kind of work, responsibility, or growth the candidate wants next and whether the role can provide it.

“What is your greatest weakness?”

The question often produces a rehearsed answer. Ask for a condition that weakens performance, a decision the candidate got wrong, or feedback that changed later behavior.

“Why should we hire you?”

This asks the candidate to make the company’s decision with incomplete information. Ask for the evidence most relevant to the role outcome.

“Would you describe yourself as a team player?”

The preferred answer is obvious. Ask about a time the candidate supported a team decision they initially opposed.

Do not ask questions that invite protected information

Limit the interview to information needed to determine whether the person can perform the job.

The EEOC states that information requested before employment should generally be limited to what is essential for determining qualifications. Questions that reveal race, sex, national origin, age, religion, disability, or other protected information should generally be avoided when unrelated to a lawful business purpose. See the EEOC’s pre-employment inquiry guidance.

Do not ask about pregnancy, children, childcare, marital status, medical history, disability, religion, age, or citizenship when the information is not lawfully required. Ask every candidate whether they can meet the legitimate job condition instead.

This page is educational and is not legal advice.

Write the scoring standard before asking the question

A question is not truly structured when every candidate receives it but interviewers judge the answers by instinct.

Use the Interview Rubric to define what weak, acceptable, and strong evidence looks like. Record the result on the Interview Scorecard before the group discussion.

Use Structured Interview Questions for the question-development process, Behavioral Interview Questions for deeper past-behavior examples, and How to Conduct a Job Interview for the full interview flow.

Return to Discover What a Candidate Can Really Do for the complete Phase Three path.

See the Scientific Hiring Method.