Decision Making Interview Questions

Decision Making Interview Questions

Think about a time when you had a number of different choices or directions you could choose for a project, to solve a problem, or to hold an event. Walk us through the process you followed to make your decision about the appropriate direction to choose that had the best chance of a positive outcome.

Describe the process you typically follow to make a decision about a plan of action.

Think about an occasion when you needed to choose between two or three seemingly equally viable paths to accomplish a goal. How dd you make your decision about the path to follow?

Think about a time when you had several options from which to choose, but none of them were sufficient to meet your goal. How did you decide which option to follow?

Faced with a choice between qualified candidates for a promotion, a lateral move, a project leader, or a new hire, describe how you made your choice.

Describe the process you followed to pick the college you attended.

How will you decide whether to accept a job offer should an employer offer you a job that you think is a good match for your skills and preferred workplace?

When you are working with a coworker or reporting staff member, how do you decide upon and communicate the points at which you need feedback and progress reports?

Do you have a process or a methodology that you use when you are making decisions?

IV) Help us better understand you Some interview questions that relate to individuals competencies or preferences can be improved by requiring the candidate to rank their answers from most important to least important. In order to ensure that you successfully sell a top candidate, the most valuable question covers the decision factors that they will use to accept this job. Other questions where ranked answers are superior in revealing their preferences involve their motivators, their strengths, and the best ways to manage them.

1. List and rank your job acceptance factors We know that you have choices, so if we make you an offer, we obviously want it to meet your needs. And that requires knowing what factors that you will use (i.e. pay, job duties, fit with your manager, levels of responsibility, etc.) to determine if our job is the right job for you. So if you had a choice between two offers for your next job, please list the top five factors that you would use to evaluate and accept the superior job opportunity. Please list them in their descending order of importance to you.

2. List and rank your job motivators We want to ensure that we provide every employee with the right set of motivators. So please list the top five factors that you have found that best motivate you on the job. Please list them in their descending order of importance to you.

3. Tell us the most effective approaches for managing you We want to ensure that every new employee has the best chance of succeeding. You can help us to reach that goal by highlighting the most effective ways to manage you. For each of these how to manage you factors (i.e. feedback, rewards, closeness of supervision, communications approach, and leadership style preference), please explain to us the most effective approach for optimizing your performance.

4. List and rank the capabilities that you bring to this job Its important to fully understand the strengths of each new hire and how they match the requirements for the job. So, given the four important categories of knowledge, experience, education, and skills, can you please list in descending order what you have found to be your strongest five capabilities that will make you a top performer in the job? (As an option, if you are concerned about weaknesses, you can also add this question: Based on past manager assessments, 360s, and appraisals, what is the top job-related area where you need to improve the most, and what actions are you taking to improve in that area?)

Actual Tough/Unusual Job Interview Questions

Sarikas suggests using a couple of the following job interview questions during an interview to assess your candidate's skills and cultural fit.

If you could be any character in fiction, whom would you be?

If Hollywood made a movie about your life, whom would you like to see play the lead role as you?

If you could be a super hero, what would you want your superpowers to be?

If someone wrote a biography about you, what do you think the title should be?

If you had to be shipwrecked on a deserted island, but all your human needs -- such as food and water -- were taken care of, what two items would you want to have with you?

If you had six months with no obligations or financial constraints, what would you do with the time?

If you had only six months left to live, what would you do with the time?

If you could have dinner with anyone from history, who would it be and why?

If you could compare yourself with any animal, which would it be and why?

If you were a type of food, what type of food would you be?

If you won $20 million in the lottery, what would you do with the money?

If you were a salad, what kind of dressing would you be?

How do I rate as an interviewer?

If you were a car, what type would you be?

Who do you admire most and why?

In the news story of your life, what would the headline say?

Behavioral Job Interview Questions

Simply, behavioral interview questions ask how the candidate handled similar situations in the past. They don't ask a candidate to look into a crystal ball and predict their future behavior. Sarikas suggests the following questions as general, basic behavioral job interview questions. (My suggested behavioral job interview questions follow.)

Describe a situation when you took a risk professionally. What was the outcome?

Tell me about a time others disagreed with your recommended course of action. How did you persuade them to your plans and what were the results?

Describe a situation where you worked effectively as part of a team to accomplish a goal on time and within budget. What was your role? What did you learn?

Describe a situation in which you worked as part of a team but your team failed to accomplish the goal on time and within budget. What was your role? What did you learn?

How would your current boss or a team member describe you? What would he/she say are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?

Describe a complex problem you had to solve and walk me through your thinking as your solved it.

Tell me about a creative solution you developed for a challenging situation or problem.

Describe a situation working in a group or team where there was interpersonal conflict. Describe how you approached the conflict. What worked and what didn't? How did you manage the outcome?

Describe a situation you feel you should have handled differently.

Describe a situation in which you aspired to reach a goal. What obstacles did you confront along the way? What did you do to overcome them?

What is the most stressful situation you have handled and what was the outcome?

Tell me about a time when you had to win someone over to your way of thinking. How did you accomplish this? What was the outcome?