Questions to consider asking prospective employees
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Past Jobs

  • How did you get your last job?
  • What were your specific responsibilities?
  • What did you like about the job?
  • What did you dislike about the job?
  • What did you learn from the job?
  • Did you run into any difficult situations? How did you handle them?
  • Tell me about the types of interaction you had with other workers.
  • Tell me of an accomplishment you are particularly proud of and what you did.
  • What kind of supervision of other workers have you had?
  • Do you have persons from your former job who would provide a professional reference?
  • Why did you leave your past jobs?
  • Why do you want to leave your current job?
  • What is the compensation at your current job? What is your salary expectation for this position?
  • Describe a typical day in your current job.
  • If you are accepted for this position, do you plan on keeping two jobs?
  • Name 1 person whose career you have fundamentally improved. Explain how.

The New Job

  • What would be your specific goals for this job?
  • What experience do you have that you think will be helpful for this job?
  • This job will require a lot of [describe]. Will that be a problem for you?
  • This job will require interacting with [describe the types of people]. What experience do you have working with such people?
  • What would you like to get from this new job?
  • One requirement of this job is writing various types of reports — e.g., weekly, monthly, projections, goals, employee evaluation, etc. What relevant experience have you had on your previous job? Do you have any writing samples you could provide us with?
  • This job will require a certain amount of new client development. Have you had much experience? Tell me how you have gone about this?

Education

  • What subjects did you do well in school?
  • What was your major?
  • Where did you attend high school, college or post-graduate school?
  • Did you work at an outside job while going to school? Describe the job.
  • Are you interested in continuing your education?
  • Did you have any school honors?

General Information

  • What do you consider your strong points?
  • What do you consider your weak points?
  • What specific kind of work do you particularly enjoy doing?
  • What is your long term career objective?

Physical Condition

  • Do you think you will be able to handle the physical aspects of this job?
  • Do you currently use any illegal drugs?
  • If offered a job, will you submit to a medical examination?
  • This job requires annual medical evaluation which includes urinalysis for drug testing, etc. Do you have any objection to this?

Experience and Skills

  • What special skills do you have?
  • How proficient are you in using PCs?
  • Are there software applications you are particularly familiar with?

Outside Activities

  • What kind of job-related organizations or professional societies do you belong to (you may omit those that indicate your race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex or age)?
  • How will your involvement in these activities affect your job here?

Nepotism Information

  • Do you have any relatives already employed by our company? If so, who are they and what is their relationship to you?
  • Do you have any relatives employed by a competitor of this company? If so, who are they and what is there relationship to you?