As an employer, who you hire into the organisation is one of the key determinants of business success. Interview processes only offer a limited time to ascertain if the individual has the requisite skills to perform the role, and whether or not they will fit into the company culture. Cultural fit and one’s ability to get on well with colleagues and clients will be predominantly driven by their emotional intelligence. Whilst emotional intelligence is a crucial ingredient, it is notoriously hard to test during an interview.
1. During a period of organisational change, where the strategy is changing, and so are individual objectives – how would you realign?
2. What inspires you and why?
3. What quality do you value most in a manager you work for?
4. Do you maintain friendships from places you have worked previously?
5. Can you think of something complex that you do in your job role and explain that as you would to a student intern?
6. What has frustrated you most thus far in your career?
7. What skill/expertise do you feel you want to work on in the short term?
8. What one thing has provided you with the most career success thus far?
9. If you had a new team member who was a peer and you noticed that they were doing things incorrectly, what would you do?
10. On a day in the past when you woke up not feeling like you could face work – what made you feel like that and how did you address it?
11. What motivates you at work?
12. Describe a time when you had to complete multiple work assignments at once. How did you handle it?
13. How would you handle a situation whereby you and a colleague disagreed on something?
14. How do you approach collaboration during team meetings?
15. How would you deal with receiving feedback that you do not agree with?
16. Tell me about a mistake you have made in the workplace and how you dealt with it
17. What is something you have said/ done which had a positive impact on a teammate or customer?
18. How would you approach a teammate who is having a bad day?
19. How do you form new relationships with colleagues?
20. Tell me about a time where you have had to deliver difficult feedback
21. How do you de-stress after work?
22. What kind of behaviour makes you angry?
23. How would your closest friend describe you?
24. How do you recover from failure?
25. How would you respond to a co-worker challenging you?
