behavioral/situational interview question bank table of … · · 2014-10-26building strategic...
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Behavioral/Situational Interview Question Bank
Table of Contents SKILL/COMPETENCY PAGE ILLEGAL/LEGAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ............................................................... 1
ADAPTABILITY ............................................................................................................... 2
ALIGNING PERFORMANCE FOR SUCCESS ............................................................... 4
APPLIED LEARNING ....................................................................................................... 6
BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL TEAM ............................................................................... 7
BUILDING CUSTOMER LOYALTY............................................................................... 9
BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS ......................................................................................... 10
BUILDING STRATEGIC WORKING RELATIONSHIPS ............................................ 12
BUILDING TRUST.......................................................................................................... 14
COACHING ..................................................................................................................... 15
COMMUNICATION ........................................................................................................ 17
CONTINUOUS LEARNING ........................................................................................... 18
CONTRIBUTING TO TEAM SUCCESS........................................................................ 19
CUSTOMER FOCUS ....................................................................................................... 21
DECISION MAKING ...................................................................................................... 22
DELEGATING RESPONSIBILITY ................................................................................ 24
DEVELOPING OTHERS ................................................................................................. 26
RESPECTING DIVERSITY ............................................................................................ 27
ENERGY .......................................................................................................................... 28
FACILITATING CHANGE ............................................................................................. 29
FOLLOW-UP ................................................................................................................... 31
FORMAL PRESENTATION ........................................................................................... 33
GAINING COMMITMENT ............................................................................................. 34
INFORMATION MONITORING .................................................................................... 37
INITIATING ACTION ..................................................................................................... 38
INNOVATION ................................................................................................................. 40
JOB FIT ............................................................................................................................ 41
LEADING THROUGH VISION AND VALUES ........................................................... 48
MANAGING CONFLICT ................................................................................................ 49
MANAGING WORK (Includes Time Management)....................................................... 51
MEETING LEADERSHIP ............................................................................................... 53
MEETING PARTICIPATION ......................................................................................... 54
NEGOTIATION ............................................................................................................... 56
ORGANIZATION FIT ..................................................................................................... 58
PLANNING AND ORGANIZING .................................................................................. 64
QUALITY ORIENTATION ............................................................................................. 66
RESEARCH/SCHOLARSHIP: ........................................................................................ 67
RISK TAKING ................................................................................................................. 68
SAFETY AWARENESS .................................................................................................. 70
STRATEGIC DECISION MAKING ............................................................................... 71
STRESS TOLERANCE.................................................................................................... 73
TEACHING ...................................................................................................................... 74
TECHNICAL/PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS ................................... 76
WORK STANDARDS ..................................................................................................... 78
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ILLEGAL/LEGAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS The following are some illegal interview questions along with related questions that are legal.
National Origin/Citizenship
• Illegal: Are you a U.S. citizen? You sound like you have an accent, where are you from? Where were your parents born? What is your native language? When did you arrive in the U.S.? What was your port of entry? Are you native-born or naturalized? Questions which identify customs or denomination. Any other inquiry into national origin (for applicant or his or her spouse or parents; maiden name of wife or mother).
• Legal: Are you authorized to work in the U.S.? What foreign language skills do you have (reading, speaking, and/or writing) if relevant to the job? After employment, can you submit a birth certificate or other proof of U.S. citizenship or other proof of the right to remain in or work in the U.S.
Marital/Family Status
• Illegal: Are you married? Do you have children? If so, what do you do for child care? Are you planning to have children soon? Have you ever been divorced?
• Legal: Are you willing and able to put in the amount of overtime and/or travel the position requires? Are you willing to relocate if necessary? Do you have responsibilities or commitments that will prevent you from meeting specified work schedules? Do you anticipate any absences from work on a regular basis? If so, please explain the circumstances.
Age
• Illegal: How old are you? When were you born? When did you graduate from college? When is your birthday?
• Legal: Do you have any concerns about handling the long hours and extensive travel that this job entails?
Disability Status
• Illegal: Do you have any disabilities or medical conditions? If so, how serious? How is your health? Do you take any prescription drugs? Have you been diagnosed with a mental illness? Have you ever been an alcoholic? Have you ever been in rehab? How is your family’s health?
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• Legal: Are you able to perform the essential functions of this job with or without reasonable accommodation? Do you have any conditions that would keep you from performing this job? Do you take illegal drugs?
Religion
• Illegal: What is your religion? Are you practicing? • Legal: Advise candidate about normal hours and days of work required by
the job to avoid possible conflict with religions or other personal convictions. Does your religious affiliation, if any, interfere with your working in this position?
Arrest Record
• Illegal: Have you ever been arrested?
• Legal: Have you ever been convicted of any crime other than a traffic violation?
Military Service
• Illegal: What type of discharge did you receive?
• Legal: In what branch of the Armed Forces did you serve? What type of training or education did you receive in the military?
Race/Color
• Illegal: All related questions are illegal.
• Legal: Have you ever been convicted of any crime other than a traffic violation?
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS BASED ON SKILL/COMPENENCY
ADAPTABILITY Maintaining effectiveness when experiencing major changes in work tasks or the work environment; adjusting effectively to work within new work structures, processes, requirements, or cultures. Key Actions:
Tries to understand changes – Tries to understand changes in work tasks, situations, and environments as well as the logic or basis for change; actively seeks information about new work situations.
Approaches change or newness positively – Treats change and new situations as opportunities for learning or growth;
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focuses on the beneficial aspects of change; speaks positively about the change to others.
Adjusts behavior – Quickly modifies behavior to deal effectively with changes in the work environment; readily tries new approaches appropriate for new or changed situations; does not persist with ineffective behaviors.
Questions:
1. Tell me about a situation in which you had to adjust quickly to a significant change in organization, department, or team priorities. How did the change affect you? What did you do?
2. Working with people from diverse backgrounds can be
challenging. Tell me about a time when you faced a significant challenge working with people from different organizations. What did you do? What was the result?
3. New processes and procedures can be disruptive. What
actions have you taken when you've been asked to significantly change a work process or procedure? What were the results?
4. Going from ____ department to ____ department must have
been difficult. Describe the adjustments you made during the transition.
5. Your assignment as ____ is certainly very different from
what you were doing before. Can you compare and contrast the assignments? How long did it take you to feel comfortable doing the new work?
6. Tell me about a time when you were faced with an
unexpected policy change. How did it affect you? What did you do?
7. Tell me about the most challenging change you’ve faced at
work. What did you do? What were the results? 8. Sometimes we have to work under new policies or
procedures we don't agree with. Tell me about the last time you disagreed with a new policy or procedure instituted by senior management. How did you respond?
9. Tell me about the time when you had to change your work
schedule to help a peer. How did this affect you? What happened?
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10. Tell me about the most diverse group/team that you’ve been a part of. What problems did you encounter? What did you do? What happened?
11. Not all organizational changes are clearly explained and/or
communicated. What have you done when you found out about an unexpected change or were confused by a change?
12. Tell me about a situation in your job at _________when you
had to abruptly change what you were doing. What did you do? How did the change affect you?
13. Can you give me an example of a time when you recently
made an effective adjustment to a changing policy or procedure. What did you do? Why was it effective?
14. Unexpected absences can disrupt progress of a work
task/assignment/project. Tell me about a time when this happened to you and explain what you did.
ALIGNING PERFORMANCE FOR SUCCESS Focusing and guiding others in accomplishing work objectives. Key Actions
Sets performance goals - Collaboratively works with direct reports to set meaningful performance objectives; sets specific performance goals and identifies measures for evaluating goal achievement.
Establishes approach - Collaboratively works with direct reports to identify the behaviors, knowledge, and skills required to achieve goals; identifies specific behaviors, knowledge, and skill areas for focus and evaluation.
Creates a learning environment - As necessary, helps secure resources required to support development efforts; ensures that opportunities for development are available; offers to help individuals overcome obstacles to learning.
Collaboratively establishes development plans - Collaboratively identifies observation or coaching opportunities, training, workshops, seminars, etc., that will help the individual achieve important goals.
Tracks performance - Implements a system or uses techniques to track performance against goals and to track the acquisition and use of appropriate behaviors, knowledge, and skills.
Evaluates performance - Holds regular formal discussions with each direct report to discuss progress toward goals and
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review performance; evaluates each goal, behavior, knowledge, and skill area.
Questions:
1. Tell me about a recent performance review that you conducted with a direct report. Describe what happened before, during and after the review.
2. Tell me about a time when you worked with a direct report to
identify opportunities for development. What process did you use?
3. Tell me about a recent change in your organization's
business plan. Did this change affect performance expectations for your direct reports? What did you do?
4. Describe the technique/system you use to track the progress
of your direct reports in acquiring and applying new behaviors, knowledge, and skills.
5. Give me an example of how you've involved direct reports in
identifying performance goals and expectations. What was your role? What was the other person's role?
6. Describe what you've done to help others overcome
obstacles to learning and development. 7. Give me an example of a time when you established
performance standards with a direct report. Describe the process you used.
8. Can you give me an example of when you provided
feedback and assistance to another person about substandard performance? What did you do? How did you do that? What happened next?
9. Tell me about a time when a direct report disagreed with the
performance goals that you set for him or her. What did you do?
10. Describe what you've done to link organizational objectives
to your direct reports' objectives. 11. Some people set unrealistic goals for themselves. Tell me
about one of your direct reports who did this. What did you do?
12. Communicating poor performance ratings can be difficult.
Describe how you've handled a situation like this with a direct report.
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13. What have you done to ensure that direct reports have
adequate resources and opportunities to work on improving performance?
14. We all know that it's difficult to make a time in a busy
schedule to provide developmental feedback to high performers. Tell me about your highest performer. How frequently have you met to discuss this person's performance?
15. Give me an example of a project/task/assignment you gave
to a direct report to help him or her develop a specific skill. APPLIED LEARNING Assimilating and applying new job-related information in a timely manner. Key Actions:
Actively participates in learning activities - Takes part in needed learning activities in a way that makes the most of the learning experience (e.g., takes notes, asks questions, does required tasks).
Quickly gains knowledge, understanding, or skill - Readily absorbs and comprehends new information from formal and informal learning experiences.
Applies knowledge or skill - Puts new knowledge, understanding, or skill to practical use on the job; furthers learning through trial and error.
Questions:
1. What was the most difficult task you had to learn on your job at ___________? How did you learn it?
2. Tell me about a part of your job at _____that was easier for
you to learn than for others to learn. How did you accomplish this?
3. It's never easy to fully understand everything about a new
product, service, or procedure, even after attending a training session. Can you give me an example of when this happened to you.?
4. Tell me about a complex aspect of your job at ______. How
long did it take you to learn it? 5. In any new job there are some things we pick up quickly and
other things that take more time to learn. In your job at
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____, tell me about something you learned quickly and something that took more time.
6. What did you have to learn to be effective at
_____________? How long did that take you? Which part took the most time? Why?
7. What technical aspects of your job at _____ did you have to
learn? Tell me about one technical aspect and how you learned it.
8. Sometimes it's difficult to understand everything about a
process even when you've used it for a long time. Give me an example of a process you've used for a while but haven't mastered.
9. What formal training did you receive in your job at _______?
Tell me about one particular training program. How did you do?
10. Being a ____ (welder, mechanic, etc.) certainly requires a lot
of technical knowledge. How did you learn your skills? How long did it take before you were able to effectively apply what you'd learned?
11. Describe a situation in which you learned something
complex in a short period of time. 12. Describe a time when you had difficulty learning something
complex. 13. Tell me about the most recent software program you've
learned. How did you learn to use it? 14. Tell me about how you've used a computer on the job. How
did you learn how to use it? How long did it take you to learn?
15. How did you learn everything you needed to know when you
started in your position as ______? BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL TEAM
Using appropriate methods and a flexible interpersonal style to help build a cohesive team; facilitating the completion of team goals. Key Actions:
Develops direction - Ensures that the purpose and importance of the team are clarified (e.g., team has a clear
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charter or mission statement); guides the setting of specific and measurable team goals and objectives.
Develops structure - Helps to clarify roles and responsibilities of team members; helps ensure that necessary steering, review, or support functions are in place.
Facilitates goal accomplishment - Makes procedural or process suggestions for achieving team goals or performing team functions; provides necessary resources or helps to remove obstacles to team accomplishments.
Involves others - Listens to and fully involves others in team decisions and actions; values and uses individual differences and talents.
Informs others on team - Shares important or relevant information with the team.
Models commitment - Adheres to the team's expectations and guidelines; fulfills team responsibilities; demonstrates personal commitment to the team.
Questions:
1. What have you done to ensure that your team clearly understood its charter/goal?
2. Describe how you've worked with a team to set specific and
measurable goals and objectives. What process did you use?
3. Accomplishing team goals requires that all team members
fulfill their responsibilities. Tell me about what you've done to help clarify a specific team member's roles and responsibilities.
4. There are many obstacles that can prevent a team from
accomplishing its goals. Describe a time when you were able to remove obstacles so your team could achieve a goal.
5. Sometimes teams get off track when working toward a
specific project or goal. Describe a time when this happened and you were able to help your team get back on track. What did you do?
6. Tell me about a time you were on a team and had to involve
other team members in decisions and actions. What was your approach?
7. Describe the most effective techniques you've used to
encourage team members to contribute their talents to the team's function or goal. Give me a specific example of a time when you used one of these techniques.
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8. Tell me how you determined what information to share with a team to help them achieve their objectives. Give me a specific example.
9. For a team to function effectively, every member must be
committed to the team and its goals. Tell me about how you've demonstrated your commitment to the team. What were the results?
10. Tell me about a time when you had to step in to help a group
or team complete a task/project/assignment. What did you do?
11. Can you give me an example of a time when you worked
with a group or team to determine project responsibilities. What was your role?
12. Think of a time when you had a major role in developing a
team that become very successful. Tell me one or two things you did that contributed to the team's success.
BUILDING CUSTOMER LOYALTY
Effectively meeting customer needs; building productive customer relationships; taking responsibility for customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Key Actions
Uses Key Principals - Establishes good interpersonal relationships by helping people feel valued, appreciated, and included in discussions (enhances self-esteem, empathizes, involves, discloses, supports).
Acknowledges the person - Greets customers promptly and courteously; gives customers full attention.
Clarifies the current situation - Asks questions to determine needs; listens carefully; provides appropriate information; summarizes to check understanding.
Meets or exceeds needs - Acts promptly in routine situations; agrees on a clear course of action in no routine situations; takes opportunities to exceed expectations without making unreasonable commitments.
Confirms satisfaction - Asks questions to check for satisfaction; commits to follow-through, if appropriate; thanks customer.
Takes the "heat" - Handles upset customers by hearing the customer out, empathizing, apologizing, and taking personal responsibility for resolving customer problems/issues.
Questions:
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1. In you job at ____, how did you ensure that your internal/external customers' needs were met? Describe your procedure with one customer.
2. Tell me about the most you've ever done to try to satisfy a
particular customer. 3. Sooner or later, we all have to deal with an internal/external
customer who makes unreasonable demands. Think of a time when you had to handle an unreasonable request. What did you do?
4. Describe a time when you had to ask numerous questions
and listen carefully to clarify the exact nature of an internal/external customer's problem or needs.
5. What skills or qualities contribute to building productive
relationships with internal/external customers? Give me an example of a time when you used these skills or qualities with a specific customer.
6. Describe a time when you effectively handled an
internal/external customer complaint. 7. Can you tell me about a customer request you've received
that was in conflict with your company's policies? What did you do?
8. Tell me about a time when you were the focus of a
customer's displeasure. What did you do? 9. Can you describe a time when you didn't handle an
internal/external customer complaint well? What did you do? What happened?
10. Tell me about a difficult internal/external customer you've
had to deal with. Why was he or she difficult? What did you do?
11. Describe a time when you took steps to make sure an
internal/external customer was satisfied. What did you do? 12. Describe a situation when you chose to involve others to
help solve an internal/external customer's problem. What was the problem, and how did involving others help?
BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS
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Identifying opportunities and taking action to build strategic relationships between one's area and other areas, team, departments, units, or organizations to help achieve business goals. Key Actions:
Identifies partnership needs - Analyzes the organization and own area to identify key relationships that should be initiated or improved to further the attainment of own area's goals.
Explores partnership opportunities - Exchanges information with potential partner areas to clarify partnership benefits and potential problems; collaboratively determines the scope and expectations of the partnership so that both area's needs can be met.
Formulates action plans - Collaboratively determines courses of action to realize mutual goals; facilitates agreement on each partner's responsibilities and needed support.
Subordinates own area's goals - Places higher priority on organization's goals than on own area's goals; anticipates effects of own area's actions and decisions on partners; influences others to support partnership objectives.
Monitors partnership - Implements effective means for monitoring and evaluating the partnership process and the attainment of mutual goals.
Questions:
1. Describe a time when you participated with someone outside of your team/department/group in an activity that turned out to benefit both teams/departments/groups. What was your role?
2. Sometimes it's not easy to identify opportunities that benefit
your and another department. What have you done to find new opportunities to cooperate with other departments? Give me a recent example.
3. Getting people from outside your work area to cooperate
often requires them to commit time for your benefit. Tell me about a time when you asked someone outside of your work area to commit time for your benefit. What did you say to gain their cooperation?
4. In any organization there often are conflicting departmental
goals. Tell me about a time when you modified your goal for another department's benefit, and a time when you stuck with your goal and asked another department to modify its goal.
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5. Interdepartmental cooperation involves giving and receiving. Tell me about a time you collaborated with others to determine courses of action to achieve mutual goals.
6. Think of someone from another department with whom
you've worked who would say you're a good partner. Why would that person say that?
7. One department's success often depends on cooperation
from other departments. Give me an example of a plan you've developed to obtain another department's cooperation for the short term. How about a plan you developed to gain another department's long-term cooperation?
8. Tell me about a time when you had to persuade an
internal/external partner to form a partnership with you. 9. What have you done to promote collaboration and
cooperation in a way that supported the overall objectives of a partnership?
10. In a partnership, responsibilities must be shared so that
mutual objectives can be met. Describe how you have worked with a partner to determine each other's responsibilities.
11. Partnerships are not indestructible. Describe what you've
done to sustain a healthy, productive partnership with someone.
12. How do you determine if adjustments need to be made in a
partnership? BUILDING STRATEGIC WORKING RELATIONSHIPS Developing and using collaborative relationships to facilitate the accomplishment of work goals. Key Actions:
Seeks opportunities - Proactively tries to build effective working relationships with other people.
Clarifies the current situation - Probes for and provides information to clarify situations.
Develops others' and own ideas - Seeks and expands on original ideas, enhances others' ideas, and contributes own ideas about the issues at hand.
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Subordinates personal goals - Places higher priority on team or organization goals than on own goals.
Facilitates agreement - Gains agreement from partners to support ideas or take partnership-oriented action; uses sound rationale to explain value of actions.
Uses Key Principles - Establishes good interpersonal relationships by helping people feel valued, appreciated, and included in discussions (enhances self-esteem, empathizes, involves, discloses, supports).
Questions:
1. Describe a situation in which you needed to brainstorm differing/conflicting ideas with others in order to help accomplish work goals.
2. Describe a time when your goals or preferences were not
included in a final team/group decision. How did you respond?
3. Give me an example of a time when you worked with a
group/team to determine project responsibilities. What was your role? What process did the group/team use? What difficulties or issues came up?
4. Sometimes it can be difficult and frustrating to obtain
information from other people in order to solve a problem or achieve goals. Please describe a situation you've had like this. What did you do?
5. Occasionally other people's work priorities conflict with ours.
Tell me about a time when this happened to you. What did you do?
6. Working with others usually involves some and give-and-
take. Describe a time when you worked out an agreement with a peer or team member. What did you do?
7. Describe a time when you wished you'd been more
collaborative with others at work. What did you do? 8. Interacting with others can be challenging at times. Tell me
about the greatest difficulty you faced when trying to get along with peers, team members, or others at work. How did you handle the situation?
9. Leaders often have opportunities to foster positive
relationships at work. Give me an example of a time when you did this.
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10. Tell me about one of the toughest teams/groups that you've had to work with. What made it difficult? What did you do?
11. Have you ever helped a peer or tem member develop an
idea? Tell me about one of those times. 12. Tell me about a time you worked with someone who wasn't
as cooperative as you needed them to be. What did you do? 13. Have you ever spent a significant amount of your own time
and effort into helping a team/group complete a task? Give me an example. What happened?
14. Have you ever been on a team/group with an unproductive
person? What did you do? 15. Can you describe a situation in which you dealt with a very
sensitive person. What did you do? What happened? BUILDING TRUST Interacting with others in a way that gives them confidence in one's intentions and those of the organization. Key Actions:
Operates with integrity - Demonstrates honesty; keeps commitments; behaves in a consistent manner.
Discloses own positions - Shares thoughts, feelings, and rationale so that others understand personal positions.
Remains open to ideas - Listens to others and objectively considers others' ideas and opinions, even when they conflict with one's own.
Supports others - Treats people with dignity, respect, and fairness; gives proper credit to others; stands up for deserving others and their ideas even in the face of resistance or challenge.
Questions:
1. There are many ways to show respect to others. What ways work best for you? Give me a specific example.
2. Give me an example of what you have done to earn others'
trust. 3. Sometimes we are asked to do something that we don't think
is right. Tell me about a time when this happened to you. What did you do? What happened?
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4. Tell me about a time at work when you objectively
considered others' ideas, even when they conflicted with yours.
5. We don't always work with people who are ethical or honest.
Give me an example of a time when you saw another employee to something that you thought was inappropriate. What did you do? What happened?
6. Often there are people in an organization who deserve more
credit than they receive. Tell me about a time when this happened. What did you do?
7. When meeting or orienting a new employee, what have you
disclosed about the new person's manager/supervisor/team leader? Peers? The job? The organization?
8. It's often easy to blur the distinction between information
meant to be kept in confidence and information meant to be shared. Can you give me an example of when you were faced with this dilemma? What did you do?
9. Tell me about a time when your manager/supervisor/team
leader asked you to do something that you didn't think was appropriate. How did you respond?
10. Company policies vary regarding employees' personal use of
office equipment (e.g., photocopiers). Tell me about a time when you used company equipment for personal reasons.
COACHING Providing timely guidance and feedback to help others strengthen specific knowledge/skill areas needed to accomplish a task or solve a problem. Key Actions:
Clarifies the current situation - Clarifies expected behaviors, knowledge, and level of proficiency by seeking and giving information and checking for understanding.
Explains and demonstrates - Provides instruction, positive models, and opportunities for observation in order to help others develop skills; encourages questions to ensure understanding.
Provides feedback and reinforcement - Gives timely, appropriate feedback on performance; reinforces efforts and progress.
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Used Key Principles - Establishes good interpersonal relationships by helping people feel valued, appreciated, and included in discussions (enhances self-esteem, empathizes, involves, discloses, supports).
Questions:
1. Tell me what you've done to help a peer/team member understand what knowledge/skill areas to strengthen. Give me a specific example.
2. Tell me about how you've coached a peer/team member to
become more successful. 3. Describe a recent coaching discussion you conducted.
What was the task? How, it at all, did you involve the other person in the discussion (e.g., offer suggestions, listen to concerns, etc.)?
4. Tell me about a time when you gave feedback to reinforce
someone's effective performance. 5. Give me an example of feedback you gave to someone you
were coaching who was having difficulty with an assignment. (Probe for the use of Key Principles and how specific and objective the feedback was.)
6. Sometimes our best coaching efforts don't yield successful
results. Tell me about a time when you worked with someone, but the person failed to improve. (Probe for coaching methods.)
7. Describe how you coached two different people to
accomplish a comparable task. What similarities and differences were there in your approaches?
8. Tell me about a time when you conducted on-the-job
coaching. How did you know if your coaching was effective? 9. Describe a complicated task that you had difficulty teaching
someone to perform. What approach did you take? What were the difficulties?
10. Tell me about a face-to-face meeting in which you had to
give feedback for improvement to a sensitive person. What did you do? How did the person react?
11. Tell me about a time when you provided feedback to
someone after that person performed poorly.
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12. Tell me about a direct report/team member whom you found difficult to coach. Describe a specific situation. How did you handle it? What were the results?
COMMUNICATION Clearly conveying information and ideas through a variety of media to individuals or groups in a manner that engages the audience and helps them understand and retain the message. Key Actions:
Organizes the communication – Clarifies purpose and importance; stresses major points; follows a logical sequence.
Maintains audience attention – Keeps the audience engaged through use of techniques such as analogies, illustrations, an appealing style, body language, and voice inflection.
Adjusts to the audience – Frames message in line with audience experience, background, and expectations; uses terms, examples, and analogies that are meaningful to the audience.
Ensures understanding – Seeks input from audience; checks understanding; presents message in different ways to enhance understanding.
Adheres to accepted conventions – Uses syntax, pace, volume, diction, and mechanics appropriate to the media being used.
Comprehends communication from others – Attends to messages from others; correctly interprets messages and responds appropriately.
Evaluate the candidate’s behavior in the dimension of communication.
Review your notes and determine whether the candidate’s behavior in the dimension’s Key Actions was effective (+), neutral (o), or ineffective/absent (-).
Place a check mark on the appropriate line for each Key Action.
Use a five-point scale (5 – much more than acceptable; 4 – more than acceptable; 3 – acceptable; 2 – less than acceptable; and 1 – much less than acceptable) to rate the candidate’s behavior in the dimension. Write the rating in the space provided. + o -
___ ___ ___ Organizes the communication ___ ___ ___ Maintains audience attention ___ ___ ___ Adjusts to the audience
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___ ___ ___ Ensures understanding ___ ___ ___ Adheres to accepted conventions ___ ___ ___ Comprehends communication from others Communication Rating: _______ CONTINUOUS LEARNING Actively identifying new areas for learning; regularly creating and taking advantage of learning opportunities; using newly gained knowledge and skill on the job and learning through their application. Key Actions:
Targets learning needs - Seeks and uses feedback and other sources of information to identify appropriate areas for learning.
Seeks learning activities - Identifies and participates in appropriate learning activities (e.g., courses, reading, self-study, coaching, experimental learning) that help fulfill learning needs.
Maximizes learning - Actively participates in learning activities in a way that makes the most of the learning experience (e.g., takes notes, asks questions, critically analyzes information, keeps on-the-job application in mind, does required tasks).
Applies knowledge or skill - Pouts new knowledge, understanding, or skill to practical use on the job; furthers learning through trial and error.
Takes risks in learning - Puts self in unfamiliar or uncomfortable situation in order to learn; asks questions at the risk of appearing foolish; takes on challenging or unfamiliar assignments.
Questions:
1. Describe how you have identified and pursued learning opportunities in new areas.
2. What was the most difficult task you had to learn on your job
at ______? 3. In any new job there are some things we pick up quickly and
other things that take more time to learn. Think about your last job, and tell me about something you learned quickly and something that took more time.
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4. Describe a situation in which you capitalized on an
opportunity to learn a new skill. 5. It's difficult to keep up with the rapid technical changes
occurring in almost every field. Tell me about an area that you don't completely understand because of the number or complexity of changes.
6. Even after working with a piece of equipment or machinery
for a long time, you might still have questions about how it operates. Tell me about a piece of equipment or machinery you've worked with for a long time, but still have questions about.
7. Seemingly constant changes in processes, procedures, and
technology make it difficult to keep up with everything there is to know about our jobs. How do you determine which areas to target for learning?
8. We've all had the experience of trying a new technique or
process we've learned in training, only to have difficulty making it work. Tell me about a time when this happened to you. What did you do? What happened?
9. Learning new skills isn't always easy or fun. Tell me about
the last time you volunteered to work on a project even though it seemed intimidating to you. What happened?
10. What steps have you taken to make the most of a learning
experience? 11. How did you learn everything you needed to know when you
started in your position as _______? 12. Have you taken any steps to improve your skill or
performance? Give me an example of when you did this. CONTRIBUTING TO TEAM SUCCESS Actively participating as a member of a team to move the team toward the completion of goals. Key Actions:
Facilitates goal accomplishment – Makes procedural or process suggestions for achieving team goals or performing team functions; provides necessary resources or helps to remove obstacles to help the team accomplish its goals.
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Involves others – Listens to and fully involves others in team decisions and actions; values and uses individual differences and talents.
Informs others on team – Shares important or relevant information with the team.
Models commitment – Adheres to the team’s expectations and guidelines; fulfills team responsibilities; demonstrates personal commitment to the team.
Questions:
1. Tell me about a time when you encouraged a quiet team
member to get more involved. What did you do or say? What happened?
2. Describe how you have encouraged members on your team
to share their perspectives and ideas. What did you do or say to encourage them? What happened?
3. What are some specific tasks you’ve completed that directly
contributed to accomplishing a team goal? 4. Tell me about a time when a team you were on got stalled
and was not functioning effectively. What was the problem? What did you do?
5. Sometimes we comply with a team decision, even though we
have personal reservations. Describe a time when this happened to you.
6. Accomplishing team goals often requires activities and tasks
beyond formal team meetings. Tell me about something you've done outside of formal meetings that helped a team accomplish its objectives.
7. To accomplish goals, a team often must obtain resources
from other areas. Tell me about a time when you had to do this. What did you do? How did you know your actions benefited the team?
8. Describe how you've used procedural suggestions to help
move your team forward. Give me a recent example. What did you suggest? What happened?
9. Describe the most effective techniques you’ve used to
encourage full participation from every member of a team you were on.
10. Describe how you've involved other team members in
decision-making. Why did you do so? How did their input add value?
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Questions for people with little work experience:
1. Give me an example of a time when a team or group of which you were a member accomplished its goals. What was your role? What was the team's objective?
2. Describe a time when you needed to share information that
would benefit your team/group. What did you do? What was the result?
CUSTOMER FOCUS Making customers and their needs a primary focus of one's actions; developing and sustaining productive customer relationships. Key Actions:
Seeks to understand customers - Actively seeks information to understand customers' circumstances, problems, expectations, and needs.
Educates customers - Shares information with customers to build their understanding of issues and capabilities.
Builds collaborative relationships - Builds rapport and cooperative relationships with customers.
Takes action to meet customer needs and concerns - Considers how actions or plans will affect customers; responds quickly to meet customer needs and resolve problems; avoids over commitments.
Sets up customer feedback systems - Implements effective ways to monitor and evaluate customer concerns, issues, and satisfaction and to anticipate customer needs.
Questions:
1. Tell me about the most you've ever done to obtain information to better understand a customer. What did you do? How did the information improve your service?
2. What is the most effective way to evaluate the quality of your
internal/external customer services? Give me an example. 3. What have you done to understand a customer's point of
view about a problem? Give me an example. 4. How do you build collaborative relationships with customers?
Give me details about one or two of them.
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5. How do you ensure that internal/external customers keep you informed of issues/concerns/satisfaction in a timely fashion? Give me a recent example.
6. What have you done to educate customers about your
company/product/service capabilities? 7. Describe some customer-focused actions you've taken or
policies you've implemented that have produces positive business results. Give me a specific example.
8. Tell me about one procedure you've put in place to monitor
the quality of customer focus within your department/organization.
9. To better serve customers, we sometimes promise more
than we can deliver. Tell me about a time when you over committed yourself or your company. What happened?
10. Describe a time when you took action to provide quick and
thorough service in response to an internal/external customer's request or problem.
11. Describe a time when it was particularly important to
establish a good relationship with an external customer. What did you do?
12. Tell me about your most difficult customer. Describe a
specific interaction you had with this customer. (Listen for attitude and approach.)
13. Even good customers can make unreasonable demands.
Tell me about a time when this happened to you. How did you respond?
DECISION MAKING Identifying and understanding issues, problems, and opportunities; comparing data from different sources to draw conclusions; using effective approaches for choosing a course of action of developing appropriate solutions; taking action that is consistent with available facts, constraints, and probable consequences. Key Actions:
Identifies issues, problems, and opportunities – Recognizes issues, problems, or opportunities and determines whether action is needed.
Gathers information – Identifies the need for and collects information to better understand issues, problems, and opportunities.
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Interprets information – Integrates information from a variety of sources; detects trends, associations, and cause-effect relationships.
Generates alternatives – Creates relevant options for addressing problems/opportunities and achieving desired outcomes.
Chooses appropriate action – Formulates clear decision criteria; evaluates options by considering implications and consequences; chooses an effective option.
Commits to action – Implements decisions or initiates action within a reasonable time.
Involves others – Includes others in the decision-making process as warranted to obtain good information, make the most appropriate decisions, and ensure buy-in and understanding of the resulting decisions.
Questions:
1. If we're lucky, sometimes we can identify a small problem and correct it before it becomes a major problem. Can you give me an example of a time when you identified a small problem before it became big?
2. Describe the most complex problem you’ve recently been
asked to solve. What did you do? What alternatives did you consider?
3. Walk me through a situation in which you asked a lot of
questions of several people to get the information you needed to make an effective decision. How did you know what to ask?
4. Give me an example of a good decision you made recently.
What alternatives did you consider? Why was it a good decision?
5. Tell me about a time when you had to analyze or interpret
numerical or financial information. 6. Describe a time when you weighed the pros and cons of a
situation and decided not to take action, even though you were under pressure to do so.
7. Think about a good decision you made recently and one you
wish you hadn't made. Describe the process you followed in making each decision.
8. Tell me about a recent problem you uncovered in your job at
____. What sources on information did you use to identify this problem?
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9. Describe an occasion when you decided to involve others in
making a decision. Why did you do so? To what extent did you use their contributions?
10. Describe a situation in which you had to decide whether to
accept or reject a recommendation. What did you decide, and why? What happened?
11. What sources of information have you used to
monitor/uncover problems in your work area? Tell me about a situation in which you used one of those sources.
12. What kind of information have you been required to analyze?
Describe one of your most difficult analyses. 13. Describe the most successful troubleshooting you have
done. Contrast this with a time when you were unsuccessful. What did you do differently?
14. How have you monitored potential problems with the
equipment you use? Tell me about a potential problem you noticed using this method.
15. We all make decisions that turn out to be mistakes.
Describe a work decision you regret making. 16. Describe a difficult decision you recently made at work.
What factors did you consider? How long did it take to make your decision?
17. Sometimes we have to make decisions very quickly. Tell me
about a time when you made a decision too quickly. What happened?
18. Tell me about a decision you thought about for a long time.
How did you finally make your decision? 19. Can you give me an example of a decision you made that
significantly altered company policy. Describe your decision-making process.
DELEGATING RESPONSIBILITY Allocating decision-making authority and/or task responsibility to appropriate others to maximize the organization and individual's effectiveness. Key Actions:
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Shares appropriate responsibilities - Allocates decision-making authority and/or task responsibility in appropriate areas to appropriate individuals (considering positive and negative impact, organizational values and structures, and the enhancement of the individual's knowledge/skills).
Defines parameters - Clearly communicates the parameters of the delegated responsibility, including decision-making authority and any required actions, constraints, or deadlines.
Provides support without removing responsibility - Suggests resources and provides assistance or coaching as needed; expresses confidence in the individual.
Stays informed - Establishes appropriate procedures to keep informed of issues and results in areas of shared responsibility.
Questions:
1. How do you decide (1) what to delegate and (2) to whom? Describe a situation when you've applied these guidelines.
2. Sometimes it's difficult to know how much direction to
provide when delegating. Tell me about a time when you didn't provide enough instruction or guidance for an assignment or task you delegated. How and when did you find out that things weren't going well?
3. What procedures have you used to stay informed about a
task you delegated? 4. Tell me about the degree of decision-making autonomy
you've delegated to your direct reports. Give me a specific example.
5. Selecting the appropriate person to delegate a task to can
be difficult. Tell me about a time when you delegated an important project/task/assignment to a person who performed ineffectively. What happened? Why?
6. Tell me about the last major project/task/assignment you
delegated. How did you decide to whom you would delegate?
7. When assigning work to direct reports, how have you
determined the amount of instruction to give? Give me an example when you applied these guidelines.
8. Tell me about one of the most difficult problem-solving
assignments that you've delegated. Why was it difficult? What happened?
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9. Tell me about a time when you asked someone to fill in for you when you were out of town or out of the office. Why did you choose that person? What happened?
10. Tell me about a time when you decided not to delegate a
project/task/assignment. Why? What happened? 11. When delegating an important project/task/assignment, it's
important to convey trust and confidence in the person's ability to do the job. Give me an example of how you communicated your trust and confidence in a recent delegation.
12. Tell me about the last big decision you delegated. What
happened? 13. Tell me about a situation in which someone was reluctant to
accept responsibility for a delegated assignment/project/task. How did you handle that situation?
DEVELOPING OTHERS Planning and supporting the development of individuals' skills and abilities so that they can fulfill current or future job/role responsibilities more effectively. Key Actions:
Collaboratively establishes development goals - Works with individuals to identify areas for development, understand need for improvement, and set specific development goals.
Collaboratively establishes development plans - Works with individuals to identify options for meeting development goals; explores environmental supports and barriers to development; jointly determines appropriate developmental activities.
Creates a learning environment - Secures resources required to support development efforts; ensures that opportunities for development are available; offers assistance to help individuals overcome obstacles to learning.
Monitors progress - Give individuals specific feedback on their performance related to established goals; highlights key positive and negative performance issues; adjusts plans to ensure development.
Questions:
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1. Tell me about a time when you helped a peer who was not performing satisfactorily. What did you do? What happened?
2. What are the most effective techniques you use to help
another person develop his or her skills and abilities? Give me an example of a time when you used one of these techniques.
3. Tell me about a time when you worked with a peer to identify
areas for development. 4. Describe how you've worked with another person to identify
practical development goals. 5. What steps have you taken to ensure that resources are
available for a person to develop his or her skills and abilities?
6. Give me an example of a project/task/assignment you
delegated to a peer to help the person develop a specific skill.
7. Tell me about a time when you gave feedback to a person
on his or her performance related to established performance goals.
8. Are there any techniques that are particularly helpful in
identifying people's needs and capabilities? Tell me how you used those techniques with someone.
9. Tell me about a unique way in which you addressed a peer's
specific developmental need. 10. Tell me how you created an on-the-job opportunity for a
person to develop a particular skill. RESPECTING DIVERSITY Able to adapt behavior to others’ styles; able to interact with people who are difficult, or have different values, cultures, or backgrounds; able to optimize the benefits of having a diverse workforce. Key Actions:
Does the candidate’s behavior demonstrate respect for others’ values while working toward mutual objectives?
Did the candidate try to learn from the diverse approaches and use the differences to maximize success?
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1. Please describe your efforts to recruit, retain and advance faculty, staff and students of diverse populations?
2. UW-Stout is engaged in an effort toward increasing diversity and inclusiveness. Given the value placed on diversity, how have you integrated the value of diversity into your various roles and responsibilities?
3. Give the value UW-Stout places on diversity, how might you see yourself integrating this value into your roles and responsibilities as a faculty/staff member?
4. What is your experience working with students from diverse backgrounds, especially multicultural students or students from economically distressed families?
5. Please provide an example that shows your skill in interacting with people who have different values than you.
6. Describe an effort you undertook to ensure that diversity was accepted and facilitated in your work area.
7. Describe a series of interactions you had in which you adapted your behavior around the other people’s styles.
8. Diversity can bring with it a barrage of perspectives on various aspects of work. Describe something you’ve done to optimize the benefits of having a diverse group of colleagues.
9. Describe a time when you were able to adapt to a person from a background or culture that was different from yours.
ENERGY Consistently maintaining high levels of activity or productivity; sustaining long working hours when necessary; operating with vigor, effectiveness, and determination over extended periods of time. Key Actions:
Maintains stamina - Keeps a strong work pace over time; exhibits intensity in completing work objectives.
Maintains effectiveness - Performs mentally or physically taxing work effectively; retains the capacity for effective action or accomplishment over long periods of time.
Questions:
1. Tell me about a time you had to work at a fast pace for a long period of time. What kind of work did you do? What did you do to maintain that pace?
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2. How many hours of overtime have you worked in the past
two months (or other recent period)? How did you handle that situation?
3. Describe a time when you were particularly bust at work.
What kind of hours did you put in? How did the situation affect you?
4. Tell me about a time when you had to put things together in
sequence at a constant tempo. What did you do to maintain your pace?
5. Tell me about a time you worked swing shifts or night shifts.
What did you do to maintain your effectiveness? 6. What kinds of physical tasks were required in your job as
______? 7. How much overtime have you averaged in the last three
months? Why did you work overtime? 8. What job activities have you found require the most energy?
What did you do to maintain your effectiveness? 9. Tell me about a time you worked evenings or weekends for a
long period of time. What was the result? 10. What are the longest hours you've work in a day in your job
at____? How often did this happen: How did you maintain you effectiveness?
11. Describe a typical day on the job at ____. What have you
done to maintain efficient productivity levels from the beginning to the end of your shift?
12. People often make errors after they work long hours on the
job. Tell me about the last time this happened to you. FACILITATING CHANGE Encouraging others to seek opportunities for different and innovative approaches to addressing problems and opportunities; facilitating the implementation and acceptance of change within the workplace. Key Actions:
Encourages boundary breaking - Encourages associates to question established work processes or assumptions; challenges associates to ask "why" until underlying cause is
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discovered; involves stakeholders in continuous improvement actions and alternatives.
Values sound approaches - Consistently remains open to ideas offered by others; supports and uses good ideas to solve problems or address issues.
Rewards change - Recognizes and rewards associates who make useful changes.
Addresses change resistance - Helps individuals overcome resistance to change; shows empathy with people who feel loss as a result of change.
Manages complexity and contradictions - Tries to minimize complexities, contradictions, and paradoxes or reduce their impact; clarifies direction and smoothes the process of change.
Questions:
1. Describe a time when you helped a group of employees understand why a specific change (in process, procedure, policy, etc.) was necessary. What was the change? What did you do?
2. What strategies have you used to encourage others to
challenge established business assumptions? 3. Describe a time when you used to encourage others to
challenge established business assumptions. 4. People often feel threatened by change. Tell me about a
specific situation and some actions that you took to smooth the process of change for others. Which actions were successful, and which were not?
5. What techniques have you used to reduce the effect of
change on your direct reports? Describe the most effective technique you've used and the situation in which you used it.
6. What systems have you put in place, or helped put in place,
to recognize or reward associates who suggest or make effective changes? What effect has this recognition had on others' innovation? Give me a specific example.
7. Tell me about a time when you had to align others' activities
and procedures with an organizational change. What did you do?
8. Describe a time when change caused a problem for your
group/department. What did you do? What happened?
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9. It can be difficult to get people to think "outside the box". Tell me about a time when you were able to get others to go beyond conventional thinking. What did you do? What happened?
10. Describe some ways in which you changed standard
operating procedures for your department/group. What prompted you to make these changes?
11. Describe the methods you've used to ensure that a change
was being implemented as intended. Which methods were effective, and which were not?
FOLLOW-UP Monitoring the results of delegations, assignments, or projects, considering the skills, knowledge, and experience of the assigned individual and the characteristics of the assignment or project. Key Actions:
Communicates time frames – Builds due dates into assignments and task delegations; effectively communicates milestones and expected results.
Gathers appropriate information – Asks questions to obtain relevant information; convenes meetings to review progress and share information; gets feedback on results from those directly involved.
Evaluates results – Meets formally with peers, associates, and others to review the results of an assignment, project, or delegated task.
Questions:
1. Describe how you have kept track of tasks/assignments that were someone else's responsibility but affected your productivity. Give me a specific example.
2. Have you ever been responsible for monitoring progress on
someone else's projects? Give me an example. What did you do?
3. Have you ever gathered information from peers/team
members/others in the organization to be sure tasks were completed on time? Tell me about one of those situations.
4. Describe what you have done to monitor the progress of
projects/assignments in which you’ve been involved with several other people. Give me a specific example.
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5. Have you ever had to follow up with peers/team members/others to check the status of products or services that you requested? Tell me about one of those situations.
6. How do you monitor the satisfaction of your internal/external
customers? Give me a specific example. 7. Tell me about a time when you met with peers/team
members/ others at the end of a project/task/assignment. What did you discuss? What was your role in the meeting?
8. Tell me about one of the methods you’ve used to follow up
on your projects/tasks/assignments. 9. We've all been surprised when we find out a deadline was
missed because someone didn't do what he or she was supposed to do. Tell me about a time this happened to you.
10. How have you made sure that due dates were met for work
that you delegated? Give me an example.
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FORMAL PRESENTATION Presenting ideas effectively to individuals or groups when given time to prepare; delivering presentations suited to the characteristics and needs of the audience. Key Actions:
Maintains audience attention - Keeps the audience engaged through use of techniques such as analogies, illustrations, humor, an appealing style, body language, and voice inflection.
Defines clear goals - Establishes an objective that clearly reflects the needs of the audience.
Follows a logical sequence - Presents main ideas that support the objective of the presentation, and presents facts, evidence, and details that support the main ideas; delivers information in a logical order to aid understanding.
Uses nonverbal communication - Uses body language (e.g., eye contact and gestures) that is consistent with verbal communication and aids understanding.
Uses learning aids - Uses audio and visual aids to enhance the audience's understanding of content.
Listens and responds to questions and objections - Involves the audience by soliciting questions and input; clarifies as needed to help achieve the goals of the session.
Summarizes the presentation - Summarizes the main ideas; calls the audience to take action or make decisions, where appropriate.
Questions:
1. Tell me about the most memorable presentation you made in the past year.
2. Making a formal presentation can be very challenging. Tell
me about a formal presentation that you wish you could do over.
3. Tell me about one of the most diverse groups to which
you've made a presentation. What difficulties did you encounter? What did you do?
4. How have you adjusted you presentations for different
audiences? Give me a specific example. How did you change your approach to meet the needs of that audience?
5. Tell me about a presentation you've made at a professional
association or conference. What was your approach?
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6. We've all made presentations in which something went wrong (lost overheads, defective audiovisual equipment, etc.) Tell me about your most memorable presentation in which something went wrong.
7. Describe a presentation you've made several times to
different groups. Tell me how you modified the presentation over time to make it more effective. What worked, and what didn't?
8. We've all experienced difficult audiences when presenting.
Can you give me an example of a time when you made a presentation to a hostile audience?
9. Tell me about one of your most effective presentations.
What was your approach? What made it effective?
10. Tell me about a time when you had to present technical information to people without a technical background. What was your approach?
11. Describe a presentation you made to your
supervisor/manager/team leader. How did you prepare? 12. Tell me about a time you presented business plans to senior
management.
Questions for people with little work experience
1. Describe a presentation you’ve made.
2. Tell me about your public speaking experience. Tell me about one of those experiences.
3. Have you taken any public speaking courses? Tell me about
a class you attended and a particular presentation that you made to the class.
GAINING COMMITMENT Using appropriate interpersonal styles and techniques to gain acceptance of ideas or plans; modifying one's own behavior to accommodate tasks, situations, and individuals involved. Key Actions:
Opens discussions effectively - Describes expectations, goals, requests, or future states in a way that provides clarity and excites interest.
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Clarifies the current situation - Sees, gives, and summarizes information; ensures that the situation/issue at hand is understood.
Develops others' and own ideas - Presents own ideas; seeks and develops suggestions of others; makes procedural suggestions.
Facilitates agreement - Uses appropriate influence strategies (such as demonstrating benefits or giving rewards) to gain genuine agreement; persists by using different approaches as needed to gain commitment.
Closes discussions with clear summaries - Summarizes outcomes of discussions and establishes next steps it needed.
Uses Key Principles - Establishes good interpersonal relationships by helping people feel valued, appreciated, and included in discussions (enhances self-esteem, empathizes, involves, discloses, supports).
Questions:
1. What techniques have you used to gain acceptance of ideas or plans? Give me an example of a time when you used one of these techniques.
2. Not everyone agrees with our decisions. Tell me about an
unpopular decision you made and how you gained acceptance from others.
3. Describe a face-to-face meeting in which you had to
influence a very sensitive person. What techniques did you use? What happened?
4. Tell me about one of the most difficult one-on-one meetings
in which you had to gain someone's agreement with or commitment to an idea or plan. What did you do?
5. What are the most successful techniques you've used to
gain others' agreement? Describe one or more of these techniques.
6. Once you gain agreement to an idea or plan, how do you
ensure that the agreed-upon actions are taken? 7. As managers, we are concerned about people whose
performance is less than satisfactory. Tell me about a time when you gained commitment from a peer/team member/direct report to improve that person's performance. What did you do?
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8. Occasionally we need information and contributions from other people to be effective in our jobs. Describe whet you've done to ensure others' participation in one of your projects.
9. Often we must convince others of the benefits they will
realize from committing to an idea or plan. Describe how you've demonstrated the benefits of a plan or idea to gain someone's commitment. What happened?
10. Tell me about a time when you influenced an associate to
take on a difficult assignment that was beyond the scope of the person's responsibilities. What did you do? What happened?
11. Tell me about a time when you worked with a direct
report/team member/peer to develop an idea or plan. Describe whet you did to gain this person's commitment.
12. Tell me about a time when you needed to persuade a team
member/peer to change his or her mind about something. What did you do?
13. Give me an example of a time when you influenced others to
do a job in a new and different way. GENERAL Questions:
1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself and what attracted you to this position at UW-Stout?
2. As you researched this position, what factors caused you to apply? Why do you want this position?
3. What is it about this position that seems to be a good fit for your goals as a teacher and a scholar?
4. Tell us about the responsibilities of your current or previous relevant position(s) and why you are interested in this position at UW-Stout?
5. How have your past responsibilities prepared you for this position?
6. Have you had any experience advising students? If so, what do you see as important advisor attributes?
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7. What type of experiences and level of expertise do you have working with technology in your previous positions?
8. What do you want to accomplish as a [insert job title]?
9. What do you expect from your chair?
10. What issues in education are of greatest concern to you? Why?
11. What are your long-term career goals and how does this position fit into them?
12. What would your co-workers say are your strongest qualities?
13. What areas challenge you professionally that you may be looking to improve upon?
14. What would you consider to be your professional strengths and challenges?
15. What qualities do you possess that would be the greatest asset to this program?
INFORMATION MONITORING Setting up ongoing procedures to collect and review information needed to manage an organization or ongoing activities within it. Key Actions:
Identifies monitoring needs - Determines which processes or areas need to be monitored; identifies what information needs to be obtained.
Develops monitoring systems - Establishes systems to monitor activities or outputs that are easy to use and that provide timely and pertinent information.
Implements tracking systems - Effectively puts into place monitoring systems with minimal interruption for other organizational processes.
Reviews data - Collects and reviews data on a regular basis to determine progress, anticipate needs, and make necessary adjustments to personnel or processes.
Questions:
1. Give an example of how you stay informed about issues and events in your area of responsibility.
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2. Explain how you've determined which areas within your department need to be monitored.
3. Can you tell me about a project you managed and how you
monitored progress? 4. How have you monitored your team's/group's productivity or
performance? Give me a specific example. 5. Tell me about a time when you were responsible over a long
period of time for ensuring that equipment, instruments, or products were not defective. What was your approach?
6. Give me an example of how you've monitored regulations
(e.g., legislative, environmental) that affect your industry. How did you use the information?
7. Sometimes it's difficult to keep track of changing
policies/procedures. Tell me about a time when you were unaware of a policy or procedure change. What happened? Why didn't you find out about it?
8. Staying abreast of current developments in your
professional field can be challenging. Describe what you have done to stay informed.
9. Have you ever had to reallocate resources in the meddle of
a project you were managing? How did you determine that adjustments needed to be made?
10. Describe a process that helps you keep track of matters that
require your attention. INITIATING ACTION Taking prompt action to accomplish objectives; taking action to achieve goals beyond what is required; being proactive. Key Actions:
Responds quickly – Takes immediate action when confronted with a problem or when made aware of a situation.
Takes independent action – Implements new ideas or potential solutions without prompting; does not wait for others to take action or to request action.
Goes above and beyond – Takes action that goes beyond job requirements in order to achieve objectives.
Questions:
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1. Have you suggested any new ideas to your manager/supervisor/team leader recently? Give me an example. What happened to the idea(s)?
2. Have you made any suggestions for cutting costs to your
manager/supervisor/team leader? Give me an example. 3. Often there are no rewards when we volunteer for special
projects or assignments. Tell me about a time when you didn't volunteer or participate in a special project or assignment because there was no reward or recognition for doing so.
4. Have you taken any steps to make your job easier/more
efficient/more productive? Give me an example.
5. Tell me about the last change or improvement you initiated in your job at ______.
6. Describe a time when you went beyond your job
requirements to achieve an objective. What did you do? What happened?
7. Describe some ways you changed your job at ___________.
What prompted you to make the changes? 8. Can you think of a project or idea that was sold or
implemented primarily because of your efforts. 9. Tell me about a time when you did more than was required
in your current job at _______. 10. What has been your biggest achievement at ______? What
steps did you take to achieve it? 11. Were there any projects you initiated at _____? Give me an
example. What prompted you to begin that project? 12. While you were at ______, what change were you able to
bring about? How did you do that? 13. Tell me about a suggestion you made to improve work
procedures or manufacturing processes at ______. How did you gain acceptance for it?
14. Describe a situation in which you identified a problem and
took action to correct it rather than wait for someone else to do so.
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15. Tell me about a time when you took action to exceed an internal/external customer's expectations. Specifically, what did you do?
16. Have you ever volunteered your personal time to help
complete a task on time? Tell me about that situation.
17. Describe a time when your quick response to a problem or situation made a difference. What happened?
INNOVATION Generating innovative solutions in work situations; trying different and novel ways to deal with work problems and opportunities. Key Actions:
Challenges paradigms - Identifies implicit assumptions in the way problems or situations are defined or presented; sees alternative ways to view or define problems; is not constrained by the thoughts or approaches of others.
Leverages diverse resources - Draws upon multiple and diverse sources (individuals, disciplines, bodies of knowledge) for ideas and inspiration.
Thinks expansively - Combines ideas in unique ways or makes connections between disparate ideas; explores different lines of thought; views situations from multiple perspectives; brainstorms multiple approaches/solutions.
Evaluates multiple solutions - Examines numerous potential solutions and evaluates each before accepting any.
Ensures relevance - Targets important areas for innovation and develops solutions that address meaningful work issues.
Questions:
1. Tell me about a time when you worked with others to develop new and creative ideas to solve a problem. What was your role?
2. Tell me about what you've done to develop new and creative
solutions to business problems. Give me an example of a specific approach you developed.
3. Describe how you improved the productivity/profitability of
your work unit. How did you identify these opportunities for improvement?
4. Give me an example of a time when you changed an
established work procedure to solve a problem.
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5. Tell me about a creative idea you thought of to improve one
of your company's products or services. What happened? 6. Because an organization can't develop a new
product/service every day of the week, sometimes it's important to combine existing products/services/ creatively to seize a new opportunity. Tell me about a time when you did this successfully.
7. Give me an example of an idea you had for improving your
organization's processes or procedures. How did you come up with the idea? What happened?
8. In your job at ____, what was your most creative
contribution? 9. Tell me about a unique approach you took to solve a
problem. How did you come up with the approach? Did you consider other options?
10. Tell me about a time when your standard approach to
problem solving didn't produce the desired solution. What did you do?
11. Tell me about a time when you had the opportunity to
generate a creative solution to a problem. What happened? How did you come up with the solution?
12. Tell me about the techniques you've used to generate
solutions to business problems. Give me an example. What was the problem? Describe some of the ideas you considered.
JOB FIT The extent to which activities and responsibilities available in the job are consistent with the activities and responsibilities that result in personal satisfaction; the degree to which the work itself is personally satisfying. Facets:
Achievement - Meeting increasing work challenges.
Center of attention - Working on high-profile assignments.
Challenging work - Working on difficult or demanding tasks requiring substantial effort and commitment.
Coaching others - Fostering other people's job-related development
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Commission - Working under a pay structure in which part of one's income depends on measurable performance (e.g., commission sales).
Compensation - Receiving a commensurate salary or monetary compensation (e.g., stock options) for work.
Complexity - Performing complex tasks or working on complex projects.
Continuous learning - Increasing knowledge and skill when circumstances call for additional learning.
Details - Working on tasks requiring great attention to details.
Entrepreneurialism - Developing business by seeking out new opportunities, taking risks, and initiating new ventures.
Formal recognition - Receiving formal recognition (inside and outside the organization) for accomplishments.
High-involvement leader - Influencing others by creating a participative, empowered environment.
High-involvement member - Working in a participative, empowered environment.
High responsibility/accountability - Receiving primary responsibility/accountability for completing tasks that might place heavy demands on one's time and involvement.
Influencing others - Using appropriate interpersonal styles and methods to inspire and guide individuals; gaining acceptance of ideas or plans.
International exposure - Working with situations involving different cultures/languages and responding to the ambiguity of unexpected/unfamiliar approaches.
Interpersonal support - Receiving regular and abundant emotional support, reassurance, and gestures of appreciation.
Physical environment - Working in a physically comfortable and attractive environment.
Position/Status - Holding a position with a highly respected title or status relative to others in the organization.
Practical results - Performing work that results in concrete outputs or outcomes.
Promotion opportunities - Earning positions of greater responsibility/status.
Recognition for expertise - Receiving rewards or recognition for expertise in technical or others specialized skill areas.
Relationship building - Developing and maintaining ongoing working relationships requiring personal interaction and mutual support.
Standardized work - Performing clearly defined, stable work assignments with established goals and procedures.
Task variety - Working on several different tasks or projects.
Travel - Regularly traveling away from the office (i.e., flying, driving) to conduct business.
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General Questions:
1. When were you most satisfied or dissatisfied in your work? What was most satisfying or dissatisfying about that?
2. Tell me about a time when work would have been more
enjoyable if there had been more or fewer aspects of the job (e.g., tasks, relationships, opportunities) available.
Job Fit Facet Questions: Use Question 1 when a facet is extremely present in job; use Question 2 when a facet is extremely absent from a job. Some facets have only one question, which can be used in both situations. Achievement
1. Tell me about a time when you had difficult goals to achieve at work. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that?
2. Tell me about a situation in which you easily achieved your
work goals. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that?
Center of Attention
1. Tell me about a time when you had a highly visible role on a major assignment. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that?
2. Tell me about a time when you worked on a low-profile
assignment and didn't receive a lot of attention from others. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that?
Challenging Work
1. Tell me about one of the most difficult and demanding tasks you've had to complete. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that?
2. Describe a time when the tasks you were working on were
not difficult or demanding. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that?
Coaching Others
1. Tell me about a time when you had many or few opportunities to coach others in your work area. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that, and why?
Commission
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1. Under what type of pay structures have you worked (e.g., set
wages or part of wages based on commission/incentive performance)? How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with this compensation structure(s), and why?
Complexity
1. Tell me about a time when you had a lot of opportunities to work on complex tasks. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that, and why?
2. Tell me about a time when most of your work was relatively
simple. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that, and why?
Continuous learning
1. Tell me about a job you had in which continuous learning was necessary for you to be effective. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that?
2. Tell me about a job you had that did not require additional
learning after the initial training for you to be effective. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that?
Details
1. Tell me about a job you had that required high attention to details. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that, and why?
2. Tell me about a time when your job did not require high
attention to details. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that, and why?
Entrepreneurialism
1. Tell me about a situation in which you had a chance to increase or expand your company's business through initiating or developing new ventures. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that, and why?
2. Tell me about a time when you did not have the opportunity
to develop or initiate new projects or approaches that might have contributed to your company's growth. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that, and why?
Formal recognition
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1. Tell me about a time when your achievements were formally recognized (e.g., plaques, awards, ceremonies). How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that?
2. Tell me about a time when your achievements were not
formally recognized with plaques, awards, and ceremonies. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that?
High-involvement leader
1. Tell me about a time when you involved direct reports or team members in decisions affecting their work. What kinds of decision did you involve them in? How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that, and why?
2. Tell me about a time when you did not involve direct reports
or team members in decision affecting their work. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that, and why?
High-involvement member
1. Tell me about a time when you had a lot of input into determining your tasks and how to do them. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that, and why?
2. Tell me about a time when other people made most of the
decisions affecting your work. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that, and why?
High responsibility/accountability
1. Tell me about a time when you were accountable for the completion and success of a major assignment. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that?
2. Tell me about an important task you were involved in, but
other people were accountable for its completion and success. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that?
Influencing Others
1. Tell me about a time when you had the opportunity to inspire or motivate others to take action and achieve goals. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that, and why?
2. Tell me about a time when you had few opportunities to
influence and guide others in your work. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that, and why?
International exposure
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1. Which of your previous jobs provided you with the opportunity to interact with the widest diversity of cultures and nationalities? How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that, and why?
2. Which of your previous jobs provided you with the fewest
opportunities to interact with people from different cultures and nationalities? How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that, and why?
Interpersonal support
1. Tell me about a situation at work in which you received a lot of emotional support from others. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that, and why?
2. Tell me about a situation at work in which you did not receive
a lot of emotional support from others. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that, and why?
Physical environment
1. Tell me about a job you've had in which the work environment was or was not comfortable (temperature, atmosphere/décor, noise levels, humidity, dust, etc.) How did you feel about that?
Position/Status
1. Which of the positions in your career has carried the greatest respect, status, or power? How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that?
2. Which of the positions in your career has carried the least
respect, status, or power? How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that?
Practical Results
1. Tell me about one of your jobs in which you could see the results of your actions (i.e., there were concrete outcomes). How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that, and why?
2. Tell me about one of your jobs that was more conceptual in
nature and did not produce concrete outcomes or the results were not immediately observable. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that, and why?
Promotional opportunities
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1. Tell me about a time in your job when you had opportunities for promotion or advancement. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that?
2. Tell me about a time in your job when your opportunities for
promotion or advancement were limited. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that?
Recognition for expertise
1. Tell me about a time when you received recognition or were rewarded for your expertise. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that?
2. Tell me about a time when you were not recognized for your
expertise. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that?
Relationship Building
1. Tell me about a time when you had to work closely with others, building and maintaining relationships, to accomplish a task. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that?
2. Tell me about a situation in which you worked alone much of the time. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that, and why?
Standardized work
1. Tell me about a job in which you had to follow established procedures to accomplish routine tasks. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that, and why?
2. Tell me about a job that had few routine tasks, and you
determined how to complete the work. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that, and why?
Task Variety
1. Tell me about a time when you had a lot or little variety in your work. How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that, and why?
Travel
1. Tell me about one of your jobs that required extensive or minimal travel (i.e., driving, flying, short or long trips). How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with that?
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LEADING THROUGH VISION AND VALUES Keeping the organization's vision and values at the forefront of associate decision-making and action. Key Actions:
Communicates the importance of the vision and values - Helps others understand the organization's visions and values and their importance.
Moves others to action - Translates the vision and values into day-to-day activities and behaviors; guides and motivates others to take actions that support the vision and values.
Models the vision and values - Takes actions, makes decisions, and shapes team or group priorities to reflect the organization's vision and values.
Rewards living the vision and values - Recognizes and rewards associates whose actions support the organization's vision and values.
Questions:
1. Have you ever been in a situation in which you had to motivate others to take actions to support a major reorganization? How did you do that?
2. What strategies have you used to communicate a major new
directive from senior management to employees? Which strategies have worked, and which have not?
3. What have you done to make your organization's vision and
values meaningful to others? Which strategies have worked, and which have not?
4. Tell me about a time when you helped others shape
priorities to reflect the organization's vision and values.
5. Describe a time when you helped a group of employees understand why the organization was going in a particular direction. What did you do?
6. Tell me about a time when you communicated a major
change in your organization's vision and/or values to others. How did you do that?
7. Tell me about a time when your actions or words played a
critical part in realizing senior management's vision for the
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organization. What actions did you take to support the vision?
8. Describe a time when you planned team/group priorities to
reflect the organization's vision and values. What did you do?
9. Describe what you've done to keep your organization's
vision and/or values a critical factor for associates' decisions and actions.
10. Tell me what steps you've taken to instill the organization's
vision and/or values in your direct reports.
11. What changes in your organization's vision and values have affected your direct reports? Tell me about a specific action you took to help your direct reports incorporate the change into their day-to-day activities and behaviors.
12. Gaining commitment to a new vision can be very
challenging. Tell me about a time when you could not motivate others to actively support a new vision. Why were your efforts unsuccessful?
13. Every manager has problems (turnover, low morale, low
productivity) when his or her work unit isn't committed to the organization's vision. Give me an example of when your work group experienced these problems. What did you do?
MANAGING CONFLICT Dealing effectively with others in an antagonistic situation; using appropriate interpersonal styles and methods to reduce tension or conflict between two or more people. Key Actions:
Opens discussions effectively - Establishes a clear and compelling rationale for resolving the conflict.
Clarifies the current situation - Collects information from relevant sources to understand the conflict.
Remains open to all sides - Objectively views the conflict from all sides.
Stays focused on resolution - Stays focused on resolving the conflict and avoids personal issues and attacks.
Develops others' and own ideas - Presents and seeks potential solutions or positive courses of action.
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Initiates action - Takes positive action to resolve the conflict in a way that addresses the issue, dissipates the conflict, and maintains the relationship.
Closes discussions with clear summaries - Summarizes to ensure that all are aware of agreements and required actions.
Questions:
1. Working on a project with others sometimes causes conflict. Describe one of the most difficult situations you've had involving conflict with another person. How did you handle it?
2. People in conflict often become antagonistic and
unproductive. Tell me about a time when you had a conflict with another person and remained objective. Describe how you did this. What happened?
3. Tell me about a time when you came up with an effective
rationale for resolving a conflict. What did you do? What happened?
4. Describe the most difficult conflict you've been involved in.
What actions did you take to resolve the conflict? What happened?
5. People in a conflict sometimes can't separate issues from
personalities. Tell me about a time when personal issues (yours or someone else's) got in the way of resolving a conflict.
6. Not every conflict we're involved in can be resolved. Tell me
about a conflict you couldn't resolve. What did you try? What happened?
7. Tell me about a time when you took positive action to
resolve a conflict. What did you do? What happened? 8. Have you ever been a member of a group/team on which
there was a conflict? What did you do to encourage agreement? What happened?
9. Open conflict can prevent a team/group from achieving
objectives. Tell me about a time when you were in this kind of a situation. What did you do about it? What happened?
10. Tell me about a time when you had to mediate a discussion
among people who were in conflict. How did you prepare? What did you do?
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11. Can you tell me how you prepared for a meeting in which
you addressed conflict issues with another person? What did you do? What happened?
Questions for people with little work experience:
1. Interacting with others can be challenging at times. Describe a student group you were a member of in which there was conflict. What specifically did you do in this situation? What happened?
MANAGING WORK (Includes Time Management) Effectively managing one’s time and resources to ensure that work is completed efficiently. Key Actions:
Prioritizes – Identifies more critical and less critical activities and tasks; adjusts priorities when appropriate.
Makes preparations – Ensures that required equipment and/or materials are in appropriate locations so that own and others’ work can be done effectively.
Schedules – Effectively allocates own time to complete work; coordinates own and others’ schedules to avoid conflicts.
Leverages resources – Takes advantage of available resources (individuals, processes, departments, and tools) to complete work efficiently.
Stays focused – Uses time effectively and prevents irrelevant issues or distractions from interfering with work completion.
Questions:
1. Tell me about a time when you were faced with conflicting priorities. How did you determine the top priority?
2. Describe how you've organized materials (files, records, or
other information) so that you could find them easily. 3. Describe a procedure you've used to keep track of items
requiring your attention. Tell me about a time when you used this procedure.
4. At one time or another, we’ve all forgotten to do something
important for an internal/external customer. Tell me about a time when this happened to you recently. What did you forget? Why? What happened?
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5. Tell me about a time when you adjusted your work schedule because you couldn't get all the necessary parts, materials, or equipment for a project. How did this happen? What did you do?
6. We've all been in situations in which we couldn't complete
everything we needed to on time. Tell me about a time when this happened to you.
7. Give me a recent example of a time when your schedule
was disrupted by unforeseen circumstances. What did you do?
8. What performance/production objectives were you expected
to achieve this year? What steps did you take to ensure that you were making progress in all areas?
9. Tell me about how you've scheduled meetings with other
people so you could complete your work more efficiently. What steps did you take?
10. Every once in a while, we all have idle time on the job
because of some unforeseen event (unexpected delays, etc.). Tell me about the last time this happened to you. What did you do?
11. Prioritizing project/activities/responsibilities can be
challenging. Tell me about the last time you could've done a better job of prioritizing a project/activity/responsibility. What happened?
12. Describe how you plan your daily or weekly activities. Walk
me through the process for yesterday (or last week). 13. Do you have a particular system for organizing your work
area? Tell me about a time when that system helped you in your job and a time when it didn't.
Questions for people with little work experience:
1. Tell me about a time when your school course load was very heavy. What steps did you take to get all your work done?
2. Describe how you scheduled your classes to meet your
degree requirements most effectively.
3. Tell me how you balanced your schoolwork with extracurricular activities.
4. Tell me about a time when you were faced with conflicting
priorities. How did you determine the top priority?
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MEETING LEADERSHIP Ensuring that a meeting serves its business objectives while using appropriate interpersonal styles and methods and considering the needs and potential contributions of others. Key Actions:
Opens discussions effectively - Helps to establish the purpose and importance of the meeting.
Clarifies the current situation - Seeks, gives, and summarizes information; checks for understanding.
Develops others' and own ideas - Seeks, makes, and develops suggestions; makes procedural suggestions.
Closes discussions with clear summaries - Helps to summarize meeting outcomes and establish follow-up.
Uses Key Principles - Establishes good interpersonal relationships by helping people feel valued, appreciated, and included in discussions (enhances self-esteem, empathizes, involves, discloses, supports).
Questions:
1. Tell me about a time when you led a task force or committee meeting. What did you do to ensure that the meeting was productive?
2. Tell me about a recent meeting you led in which it was
critical to achieve specific business objectives. How did you conduct the meeting? What happened?
3. Tell me about a time when you led your direct reports/team
members in a meeting to solve a problem. How did you involve everyone in the meeting? What happened?
4. Gaining others' acceptance of our ideas sometimes can be
difficult. Tell me about a meeting you led in which you had a problem getting others to accept your idea. What was your approach?
5. Tell me about the methods you've used to keep meetings on
track. Describe a meeting when you used one of these methods. What happened?
6. Tell me about a meeting you were leading in which you
noticed someone not paying attention or participating. What did you do?
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7. Tell me about a meeting that you've led in which one person dominated the discussion. What did you do?
8. Have you ever led a meeting in which a participant
suggested an inappropriate idea? How did you respond?
9. Often it's critical to gain agreement on outcomes and follow-up actions in a meeting. Tell me about a meeting you've led in which you needed to do this. What steps did you take? What happened?
Questions for people with little work experience:
1. Describe a student meeting you led. How did you plan the meeting? Were the meeting's objectives met? Why or why not?
2. Describe a time when you had to lead a student meeting,
and the group got off track. What did you do?
3. Tell me about a time when you had difficulty gaining agreement from the people involved in a meeting you were leading. Did you have formal authority: What did you do?
4. Have you ever led a meeting in which one or more
participants were not serious about its purpose? What did you do?
MEETING PARTICIPATION Using appropriate interpersonal styles and methods to help reach a meeting's goals while considering the needs and potential contributions of others. Key Actions:
Clarifies the current situation - Seeks, gives, and summarizes information; checks for understanding.
Develops others' and own ideas - Seeks, makes, and develops suggestions; makes procedural suggestions.
Facilitates agreement - Tries to build agreement on outcomes and actions.
Uses Key Principles - Establishes good interpersonal relationships by helping people feel valued, appreciated, and included in discussions (enhances self-esteem, empathizes, involves, discloses, supports).
Questions:
1. Describe a meeting in which you had something you wanted to share but didn't. What prevented you from contributing?
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2. Tell me about a meeting in which you took a stand on an
unpopular issue. What did you say to promote agreement for the issue?
3. Tell me about a time when you supported someone else's
ideas in a meeting. How did you support them? What happened?
4. Tell me about a meeting you attended in which you
suggested a new idea. What approach did you use to gain acceptance of your idea? Were you successful? How did you know?
5. Tell me about a meeting in which someone suggested a new
idea that affected your work. How did you react?
6. Tell me about a meeting in which you and other participants had to agree on specific action items. Did everyone reach agreement? What was your role?
7. We've all been in meetings when our
manager/supervisor/team leader said something we disagreed with. Tell me about a time when this happened to you.
8. Tell me about the most productive meeting you've been in.
What was your role?
9. Tell me about a recent unproductive meeting you attended. Why was it so unproductive? What was your role?
10. Sometimes when meeting with an important internal/external
customer, we don't understand everything that's being discussed. Tell me about a time when this happened to you. What did you do?
11. Tell me about a meeting in which your role was to provide
technical expertise. How did you ensure that everyone understood what you said?
Questions for people with little work experience:
1. Have you ever been in a (class, fraternity/sorority, peer group, student/faculty, etc.) meeting in which you had something to share but didn't? What prevented you from contributing?
2. Have you ever been involved in a (class, fraternity/sorority,
peer group, student/faculty, etc.) meeting in which you took a
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stand on an unpopular issue? What did you say to promote agreement?
3. Tell me about a (class, fraternity/sorority, peer group,
student/faculty, etc.) meeting in which you suggested a new idea. What did you say to gain acceptance of your idea? Were you successful? How did you know?
4. Were you ever in a meeting with a professor who said
something you disagreed with? What did you do or say? NEGOTIATION
Effectively exploring alternatives and position to reach outcomes that gain the support and acceptance of all parties. Key Actions:
Clarifies the current situation - Explores all parties' needs, concerns, and initial positions, including own.
Identifies points of agreement/disagreement - Builds common ground by highlighting areas of agreement; focuses efforts by pointing out areas of disagreement.
Keeps discussion issue oriented - Manages the interpersonal process to stay focused on the task; constructively addresses emotions and conflict.
Develops others' and own ideas - Engages in mutual problem solving by brainstorming alternative positions or approaches and evaluating them openly and fairly.
Builds support for preferred alternatives - Builds value of preferred alternatives by relating them to the other party's needs; responds to objections by emphasizing value; exposes problems with undesirable alternatives.
Facilitates agreement - Seeks a win-win solution through a give-and-take process that recognized each party's core needs.
Questions:
1. Successful negotiation involves a give-and-take process that recognizes each party's needs. Describe a negotiation in which you reached a win-win solution with someone. What did you do?
2. Negotiation involves tactful exploration of alternatives and
positions. Describe a negotiation in which you explored alternatives to reach an agreement that satisfied all parties involved. What did you do?
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3. What types of negotiations have you been involved in? Describe a recent negotiation for me. What was you role? What was the outcome?
4. Often it is difficult to keep negotiations issue oriented.
Describe a situation when you were able to do this. 5. What types of negotiating techniques have you used?
Describe a situation in which you used these techniques. What happened?
6. Describe a situation in which you negotiated a very favorable
outcome for your organization. What approach did you use to plan and conduct the negotiation?
7. Think of a time when a negotiation didn't turn out exactly as
you had planned. Describe what happened? 8. Describe a situation in which you negotiated with others in
your organization for limited resources. 9. Tell me about one of the legal settlements you negotiated. 10. Describe your most successful (unsuccessful) experience
mediating a dispute. 11. Describe a situation in which you negotiated
price/term/delivery with a difficult customer. What happened?
12. When negotiating, we often compromise on certain points.
Tell me about a negotiation in which you used a strategy for accepting (rejecting) some points to achieve the desired outcome.
13. Describe a situation in which you thought an internal/external
customer was mistaken or when you disagreed with that person. How did you handle the situation?
14. Sometimes there is just no room for compromise. Tell me
about a time when you had to make nonnegotiable demands. What happened? What was the response?
15. Tell me about the most difficult person you've had to
negotiate with. What happened?
Questions for people with little work experience:
1. In negotiations with others, it's important to build support for your views by relating them to the other party's needs. Tell me about a situation in which you employed this strategy.
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2. Tell me about a time when you had to negotiate expectations
with ____(parents, professor, peer). 3. Sometimes we're given assignments that don't interest us.
Tell me about a time when this happened to you. What did you do? What happened?
4. Did you have to make any compromises about your choice
of curriculum? How did you get what you wanted? 5. Tell me about a major purchase that you recently made (car,
computer, stereo). Did you get a good deal? What did you do?
6. Successful negotiation involves a give-and-take process that
recognizes each party's needs. Describe a negotiation in which you reached a win-win solution with someone. What did you do?
ORGANIZATION FIT The extent to which an organization's mode of operation and values are consistent with the type of environment that provides personal satisfaction. Facets:
Achievement recognition - Emphasis on appropriately rewarding individual success.
Bias for action - Oriented toward aggressive, proactive responses to problems and opportunities.
Challenging the status quo - Emphasis on asking questions and challenges the norms and standard procedures for breakthrough advances.
Civic responsibility - Support of and involvement in community activities (e.g., volunteering).
Clarity of policies and procedures - Emphasis on carefully documented organizational policies, procedures, and other rules for doing business.
Continuous improvement - Emphasis on constantly improving processes, products, and services and exploring innovative ways to do the job.
Customer focus - Emphasis on understanding, meeting, and exceeding customer needs and maximizing customer satisfaction.
Employment security - Operation of a stable business that creates employment security.
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Environmental sensitivity - Encouragement of environmentally safe work processes and proactive measures in protecting surroundings.
Fun and friendly environment - Orientation toward a size and style that makes it possible for employees to be well acquainted in an upbeat and energetic environment.
Geographic distribution - Possession of business units located throughout a wide national and international geographic area.
Growth at any cost - Emphasis on the bottom line and increasing organizational resources and assets.
High-technology orientation - Uses and/or development of state-of-the-art, high-tech applications.
Intellectual focus - Emphasis on intellectual discussions, continuing education, professional development, and idea exchange.
Interdepartmental cooperation - Cultivation of an atmosphere of interdependence, collaboration, and reciprocal communication between divisions within the company.
Lean and mean - Maintenance of minimum staff for efficiency and effectiveness.
Minimum management structure - Orientation toward a simple, short, decision-making infrastructure.
Openness to frequent change - Willingness to consider change and to adapt; modification of job and roles within an organization to adapt to change.
Participative management - Encouragement of an environment in which individuals have a sense of ownership and influence over their work.
Personal freedom - Emphasis on freedom from imposed constraints in the work environment and on a healthy balance between work and other activities.
Personal growth - Enhancement of individual effectiveness by providing training and development opportunities.
Planning for long-term success - Orientation toward achieving future success, long-term goals, and meeting timelines through careful planning and well-established strategic direction.
Prestige - Orientation toward prominence, domination of the industry, influential status, and/or contributions to society.
Quality focus - Emphasis on the production of high-quality goods and services.
Quick reaction to business opportunities - Emphasis on responding quickly to business needs and developing products, plans, and strategies quickly and perfecting them later.
Resource consciousness - Emphasis on prudent use of resources and avoiding waste.
Thriving on risk - Promotion of bold ventures to take advantage of business opportunities.
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Valuing diversity - Advancement of diversity in the workforce (with regard to race, ethnicity, opinion, gender, physical ability, etc.) for the achievement of common goals.
General Questions:
1. When were you most satisfied or dissatisfied working in a company or organization? What was it about the company or organization that made it satisfying/dissatisfying?
2. Tell me about a time when work would have been more
enjoyable if some characteristic of the company or organization had been different (e.g., policies, environment, structure.)
Organization Fit Facet Questions: Achievement recognition
Tell me about a time when the organizational culture in which you worked did or did not give individuals recognition for success and achievements. How satisfied were you with that?
Bias for action
Organizations differ in the extent to which they support and encourage aggressive, proactive responses to problems and opportunities. Tell me about an organization for which you worked that did or did not encourage aggressive, proactive approaches. How did you feel about that?
Challenging the status quo
Organizations differ in the amount of emphasis placed on challenging norms and standard procedures in order to make breakthrough advances. Describe one of your employers that did or did not encourage employees to question the status quo. How satisfied or dissatisfied were you with that?
Civic responsibility
Organizations might encourage some degree of employee involvement in community activities. Describe the degree of community involvement encouraged by an organization where you worked. How did you feel about that?
Clarity of policies and procedures
Organizations differ in the extent to which policies and procedures for doing business are documented and communicated. Tell me about a time when you worked for an organization that did or did
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not clearly document and communicate business policies and procedures. How did you feel about that?
Continuous improvement
Organizations differ in the amount of emphasis placed on improving products and processes. Describe one of your employers and the degree of importance given to continuous improvement. How satisfied or dissatisfied were you with that?
Customer focus
Emphasis on customer focus differs among organizations. Tell me about one organization where you worked where the degree of emphasis on customer needs and satisfaction was high, or about one where it was not. Describe how you felt about that.
Employment security
Job security varies by organizations and business/industry. Describe an organization where you worked that either did or did not have the degree of employment security you desire. How did you feel about that?
Environmental sensitivity
Organizations vary in the degree to which they emphasize taking measures to protect the environment. Describe an organization for which you worked where work processes were or were not modified in order to protect the environment. How did you fell about that?
Fun and friendly environment
An organization's size and culture can foster or impede an upbeat, energetic atmosphere where employees can get to know one another well. Tell me about an organization for which you worked and describe the degree of fun and friendliness that was or was not present. How did you feel about that?
Geographic distribution
Some organizations are centralized in one location, while others are dispersed over a wide national/international geographic area. Tell me about one of your past employers and describe their geographic profile. How satisfying or dissatisfying was that for you?
Growth at any cost
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Organizations vary in the degree of focus on profit and growth. Give me an example of one of your employers and the actions/attitudes that demonstrated their level of focus on growth. How did you feel about working in that kind of environment?
High-technology orientation
The orientation toward using and developing high technology varies widely among organizations. Describe one of your employers and the degree of high technology usage. How did you feel about this?
Intellectual focus
What experience have you had with organizations that did or did not emphasize professional development, continuing education, and intellectual discussion/exchange of ideas? How satisfying or dissatisfying was that kind o work environment for you?
Interdepartmental cooperation
Tell me about a time when the organizational culture in which you worked supported or did not support collaboration among departments. How satisfied were you with that?
Lean and mean
Some organizations operate with minimal staff resources, while others have a sizable staff. Describe one of your past employers that had one of these work environments. How did you feel about that?
Minimum management structure
Some organizations have a complex, multi-layered management structure, while others have a simpler, flatter structure. Looking at your past employment experiences, describe the level of complexity or simplicity of the management decision-making structure. How satisfying or dissatisfying was that for you?
Openness to frequent change
Organizations that are open to change and that implement frequent change can create an environment that might range from stimulating to unsettling. Describe a time when you experienced organizational change. What was the degree of change, and how did you feel about that?
Participative management
Organizations differ in the degree to which they give employees ownership and influence over their jobs. Describe what you
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consider an ideal degree of participation, influence, and job ownership at work and compare it to one of you jobs.
Personal freedom
Organizations vary in the emphasis on a balance between work and personal activities. Describe an organization for which you worked that did or did not encourage individual choices to achieve balance. How did you feel about that?
Personal growth
Organizations vary in the degree of training and development they offer to enhance employee effectiveness. Describe an organization for which you worked where there were many of few training and/or development opportunities available. How did you fell about that?
Planning for long-term success
Some organizations focus on long-term goals, while others emphasize short-term results. Describe one of your employers and the emphasis on long- or short-term planning. How satisfying or dissatisfying was that for you?
Prestige
Organizations have varying degrees of prestige. Tell me about an organization for which you worked that you thought was or was not prestigious. How did you feel about that?
Quality focus
Tell me about a time when you worked for an organization that did or did not have a strong emphasis on producing high-quality goods or services. How satisfied were you with the degree of significance given to quality.
Quick reaction to business opportunities
Some organizations focus on rapid development of new products/plans/strategies with refinements and perfection delayed until a later time. Others take the time to perfect products/services before taking them to market. Describe one of your past employers that used one of these approaches to product/services development. How did you feel about it?
Resource consciousness
Organizations vary in the degree to which they encourage economizing and discourage waste of resources. Describe on organization where you worked that did or did not encourage
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careful use of resources to avoid waste. How did you feel about that?
Thriving on risk
Tell me about a time when you worked in an environment in which associates were encouraged to take risks t pursue business opportunities. How satisfied were you with that?
Valuing diversity
Organizations differ in the degree to which they support the accomplishment of common work goals by a diverse workforce (opinions, race, ethnicity, gender, physical abilities). Describe an organization for which you worked that did or did not encourage workforce diversity. How did you feel about that?
PLANNING AND ORGANIZING Establishing courses of action for self and others to ensure that work is completed efficiently. Key Actions:
Prioritizes – Identifies more critical and less critical activities and assignments; adjusts priorities when appropriate.
Determines tasks and resources – Determines project/assignment requirements by breaking them down into tasks and identifying types of equipment, materials, and people needed.
Schedules – Allocates appropriate amounts of time for completing own and others’ work; avoids scheduling conflicts; develops timelines and milestones.
Leverages resources – Takes advantage of available resources (individuals, processes, departments, and tools) to complete work efficiently; coordinates with internal and external partners.
Stays focused – Uses time effectively and prevents irrelevant issues or distractions from interfering with work completion.
Questions:
1. Tell me about a time when you faced conflicting priorities. How did you determine the top priority?
2. How have you avoided scheduling conflicts when working on
a project with several other people?
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3. Tell me about a time when you had to coordinate resources (people, processes, departments, equipment) to complete a complex project.
4. Tell me abut a time when you were responsible for
determining assignments, schedules, and timelines for a project you were managing. Describe how you worked out a project plan. What happened?
5. What kinds of project planning or administration did you do
in your job at ________? Tell me about one of the projects you planned.
6. What objectives were you expected to meet this year? What
steps did you take to make sure you were making progress on all of them?
7. Prioritizing projects/activities/responsibilities can be
challenging. Tell me about the last time you could have done a better job of prioritizing a project/activity/responsibility. What happened?
8. Tell me about a time when you adjusted your work schedule
because you couldn't get all the necessary parts, materials, or equipment for a project. Tell me about one of those situations. What did you do?
9. Describe a time at _________when you needed to complete
several things at the same time. What did you do to get the work done?
10. What have you done to make your department/group/team
more efficient or organized? Give me an example. 11. Tell me about a long- or short-term plan you've developed
for your department. 12. Have you ever prepared production or delivery schedules?
Describe how you did this. 13. Have you planned any conferences, workshops, or retreats?
Describe the steps involved in planning one of these. Questions for people with little work experience:
1. What factors did you consider when setting up your class schedule?
2. How did you balance you schoolwork with extracurricular
activities?
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3. Tell me about a time at school when you faced conflicting
priorities. How did you determine the top priority?
4. We've all been in situations in which we couldn't complete everything we needed to one time. Tell me about a time when this happened to you.
QUALITY ORIENTATION Accomplishing tasks by considering all areas involved, no matter how small; showing concern for all aspects of the job; accurately checking processes and tasks; being watchful over a period of time. Key Actions:
Follows procedures - Accurately and carefully follows established procedures for completing work tasks.
Ensures high-quality output - Vigilantly watches over job processes, tasks, and work products to ensure freedom from errors, omissions, or defects.
Takes action - Initiates action to correct quality problems or notifies others of quality issues as appropriate.
Questions:
1. When working on a project or task over an extended period of time, it can be difficult to maintain awareness of errors, omissions, or defects. Tell me about a time when you worked on a large project/task and one of these problems slipped through the cracks. What happened?
2. Tell me about a time when you had to send out an important
letter/document quickly and you didn't take time to verify the accuracy of the information. What happened?
3. When working on a repetitive task, it's easy to lose
concentration and miss important details that could cause problems later. Give me an example of a time when this happened to you.
4. Describe a process you carried out that required paying
close attention or adhering to prescribed instructions. How did your attentiveness pay off?
5. Tell me about a time in your job at ____ when you noticed
that a process or task was being done incorrectly. What did you do?
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6. Can you give me an example of a time when you found quality defects in work outputs (yours or others'). How did you discover the defects? What did you do? What happened?
7. We've all had occasions when something important escaped
our attention at work. Can you give me an example of when this happened to you? What happened?
8. Sometimes if we're lucky, we can identify a small error or
problem and correct it before it becomes a major headache. Has this ever happened to you? What happened?
9. Tell me about a time when you noticed subtle changes in
equipment/processes/material on your job. How did you notice the changes? What did you do?
10. Describe a time when you identified an error/problem/defect
that had escaped others' attention. What did you do? What happened?
11. Tell me about a time when you had to proofread someone
else's writing. How did you go about it?
12. Tell me about a time when you thought you had completed a project but your manager/supervisor/team leader returned it to you for additional work. Describe the project and the steps you needed to take to complete it.
Questions for people with little work experience:
1. Tell me about a detailed class project that you worked on. How did you keep track of the details? How did the project turn out?
2. We've all had occasions when we were working on
something and overlooked a detail. Give me an example of when this happened to you. What was the result?
RESEARCH/SCHOLARSHIP: Able to develop and maintain a program of scholarship, research or creative endeavors.
Questions:
1. Tell us about your research program. How do you see yourself continuing or modifying that program here?
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2. Tell us about any experiences you have in involving undergraduate/graduate students in your research. What do you see as the pros/cons of undergraduate research assistants?
3. In what ways can you envision yourself getting involved in motivating students to do research and in serving as a mentor to students doing research?
4. What type of support does your research require?
5. What do you see as a potential source of external funding for your particular type of research?
6. Describe how you might develop a successful program of scholarship involving undergraduates.
7. As a comprehensive university, our teaching load is 12 credits each semester. How do you envision making time for scholarship?
8. Tell us how you view the relationship between your research/scholarship and your teaching.
RISK TAKING Initiating action that tries to achieve a recognized benefit or advantage when potential negative consequences are understood. Key Actions:
Actively seeks opportunities - Pursues situations or opportunities that can lead to either substantial benefit or significant negative consequence.
Calculates risk - Gathers information to understand probability of success, benefits of success, and consequences of failure.
Commits to action - Initiates action despite uncertainty of outcome; is willing to accept the consequences of failure.
Questions:
1. Describe the biggest professional risk you've taken. What information did you consider before taking action? What happened?
2. It's never easy to take a risk, especially when you don't have
the support of peers or co-workers. Tell me about a risk that you avoided taking because you didn't have others' support.
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3. Describe a time when you decided to try a new and untested approach to handling a problem. What happened?
4. We all have had time when friends or co-workers have
advised us to avoid risk. Describe a time when you ignored this advice. What happened?
5. Tell me about a time when you took action despite knowing
that the odds for success were slim. What was your rationale for taking the action? What happened?
6. Describe a time when you took a risk you later regretted.
What happened?
7. Describe a time when you took a risk and you were glad you did. What factors did you consider before you took action?
8. Describe a time when you took an action that posed a risk
for the organization or others in the organization. What happened?
9. Describe a time when you supported someone else's idea
that had a low probability of success. Why did you support the idea? What happened/
10. Tell me about a risk you took recently. What steps did you
take to understand the potential benefits and consequences of your action? What happened?
11. Describe a time when you chose a low-/no risk option over
one with higher risk. Why did you rule out the option with a higher risk?
12. Tell me about a time when you were asked to examine a
problem and determine which solutions posed the most risk and the least risk. What factors influenced you decisions? What happened?
13. Switching from ____ to _____ was a major change. What
factors influenced your decision to change jobs? (Listen for intentional risk taking.)
Questions for people with little work experience:
1. Describe the biggest risk you've taken. What information did you consider before taking action? What happened?
2. Describe a time when you tried a new approach to handling
a problem. What happened?
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3. We've all been in situations in which friends advised us to avoid taking a risk. Describe a time when you ignored this advice. What happened?
SAFETY AWARENESS Identifying and correcting conditions that affect employee safety; upholding safety standards. Key Actions:
Identifies safety issues and problems - Detects hazardous working conditions and safety problems; checks equipment and/or work area regularly.
Takes corrective action - Reports or corrects unsafe working conditions; makes recommendations and/or improves safety and security procedures; enforces safety regulations and procedures.
Monitors the corrective action - Monitors safety or security issues after taking corrective action and ensures continued compliance.
Questions:
1. In your job at ____, did you ever notice any process or task that was being performed unsafely? Give me an example. How did you notice it? What did you do?
2. Give me an example of when you were involved in
establishing safety standards for your work group/team or organization. What was your role? What was the result?
3. Tell me about a hazardous material or piece of equipment
you've worked with. What special procedures did you follow when working with it?
4. Sometimes it seems necessary to bend safety or security
rules to finish a job. Give me an example of when you did this. What happened?
5. Tell me about a time when you recognized an unsafe
situation involving a dangerous piece of equipment. What did you do?
6. Describe a time when you had to confront someone who
violated a safety or security regulation. What happened?
7. Tell me about a dangerous work-related task you had to do. How did you make sure no one got injured?
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8. Tell me about a technique/procedure you developed to help ensure safety on your job.
9. Have you ever seen a co-worker doing something unsafe?
Tell me about the situation. What did you do? 10. Tell me about a time when you were really busy or under a
lot of pressure to finish an assignment to work. What actions did you take to ensure that safety was not compromised?
11. Tell me about a time when you were understaffed at work.
What actions did you take to ensure that safety was not compromised?
STRATEGIC DECISION MAKING Obtaining information and identifying key issues and relationships relevant to achieving a long-range goal or vision; committing to a course of action to accomplish a long-range goal or vision after developing alternatives based on logical assumptions, facts, available resources, constraints, and organizational values. Key Actions:
Gathers information - Identifies and fills gaps in information required to understand strategic issues.
Organizes information - Organizes information and data to identify/explain major trends, problems, and causes; compares and combines information to identify underlying issues.
Evaluates/Selects strategies - Generates and considers options for actions to achieve a long-range goal or vision; develops decision criteria considering factors such as cost, benefits, risks, timing, and buy-in; selects the strategy most likely to succeed.
Establishes implementation plan-Identifies the key tasks and resources needed to achieve objectives.
Executes plan – Makes sure strategies are carried out; monitors results and makes adjustments as needed.
Questions:
1. Tell me about a time when you had to implement a complex
company directive. Explain how you approached the task. What happened?
2. Tell me about a time when you had to weigh different options
for implementing a general directive from senior
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management. What factors did you consider? How did you make your decision?
3. What strategies have you employed to make sure a major
new directive from senior management was carried out? Which strategies worked, and which did not? Give me a specific example.
4. Describe a time when you recommended a plan of action in
response to business/market trends. What information did you use to make your recommendation? Was the plan executed? What was your role?
5. Describe a time when you had to significantly modify work
procedures so they aligned with new strategic directive. How did you accomplish this?
6. Tell me about a time when you had to link a general directive
from senior management to individual performance expectations. How did you do this, and what were the results?
7. What types of organizational systems (controls,
compensation, communication, accounting, etc.) have you put in place to support a specific organizational strategy? Explain the process. What were the results?
8. Describe how you have planned tasks and acquired
resources in order to implement a long-range corporate vision. What information did you consider? What steps did you take?
9. Tell me about a time when you had to develop an alternative
course of action to address a problem or capitalize on an opportunity. What decision criteria did you use to determine your course of action?
10. How have you determined an appropriate course of action
for achieving a long-range organizational goal? Give me a specific example. What options did you consider? Were your actions successful?
Questions for people with little work experience:
1. What types of information did you check when determining what you wanted to do for a career? How did you use this information?
2. What options did you consider when planning how to
complete your education? How did you reach your decision?
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STRESS TOLERANCE Maintaining stable performance under pressure or opposition (such as time pressure or job ambiguity); handling stress in a manner that is acceptable to others and to the organization. Key Actions:
Maintains focus - Stays focused on work tasks and productively uses time and energy when under stress.
Maintains relationships - Presents a positive disposition and maintains constructive interpersonal relationships when under stress.
Copes effectively - Develops appropriate strategies as needed to alter conditions that create stress and to sustain physical and mental health.
Questions:
1. Every job produces different levels of stress. What was the most stressful aspect of your job at ____? How did you react to this?
2. We all have times when the responsibilities of our jobs are
overwhelming. Give me an example of a time when you felt overwhelmed at work. How did you react?
3. Working with customers can be challenging at times.
Describe one of the most stressful interactions you've had with an internal/external customer. How did you react?
4. Have you ever been faced with an ethical or value conflict in
your job? Give me an example of when this happened to you. What did you do?
5. Have you ever worked in a job with a high level of
ambiguity? Give me an example. How did you handle the situation?
6. To what extent have you had to work in very unpleasant
work conditions (heat, dust, noise, etc.)? Give me an example of when you worked under these conditions. How did you cope?
7. Sometimes interacting with others at work can be difficult.
Describe the most stressful interaction you've had with your management/supervisor/team leader or a peer/team member. How did you respond?
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8. Tell me about a time when you were too busy at work to take a break. How did you cope?
9. Can you think of a time when you had unreasonable
production goals? How did you respond? 10. Sometimes angry, internal customers make personal
accusations or attacks. Tell me about a time when this happened to you. How did it affect you? How did you react?
11. Tell me about an important project you were working on that
had an unreasonable deadline. How did it affect you? How did you react?
12. Work can be filled with distractions or interruptions. Tell me
about a time when you wee distracted or interrupted often at work. How did you react?
Questions for people with little work experience: 1. Describe a time when your workload in school was
particularly heavy. How did you respond? 2. We've all been in high-pressure situations at school.
Describe a time like this in your school experience. How did you react?
3. Describe a time when you faced conflicting demands at
school. What were the demands? How did you respond? TEACHING Able to help students learn information, clearly present information to a students with varying abilities and learning styles, use a variety of pedagogical techniques, stay current in the field.
Questions:
1. How do you provide feedback to students about how they are doing?
2. What motivational techniques have you used to help students reach their maximum learning potential?
3. What kinds of instructional strategies do you or would you use to facilitate student learning?
4. Please describe your experience teaching undergraduates. What methods have you used?
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5. What strategies have or would you use when teaching a class of 200 students or larger?
6. How do or will you determine if students are learning? What evaluation techniques do you use?
7. How do you handle the different ability levels of students? How do you help a student who is having difficulty?
8. What have you done to reinforce major ideas or concepts that you wanted students to learn?
9. How have you handled a student who refused to work in your class or do what you asked?
10. How have you dealt with a student who is consistently late for class?
11. Describe a teaching strategy you used to maximize the learning potential of all students.
12. Define cooperative learning and give an example of how you have used it.
13. What curriculum materials have you developed?
14. How do you individualize your teaching?
15. What have you done in terms of professional development to develop your skills as a teacher?
16. How have you used technology in your teaching?
17. Please discuss your experience with college students. In what capacity have you worked with them?
18. How do you evaluate your students’ academic performance and growth?
19. Tell us about one of your proudest moments teaching. Tell us about one of your most frustrating moments teaching.
Other Questions:
1. What do you consider rewarding and exciting about
teaching?
2. What do you see as one of your major strengths as a teacher?
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3. What do you see as one of your major challenges as a teacher?
4. In your opinion, what are some of the most significant challenges we face in teaching today’s undergraduate students and how do you meet those challenges?
5. Please describe your general teaching philosophy.
6. What kind of learning environment do you try to create?
7. Besides teaching in your area of specialization, what other courses are you interested in developing/teaching?
8. What unique teaching experiences and qualifications would you bring to our students and department?
9. What do you feel are the most important things students learn in your classroom?
10. Describe an ideal classroom.
11. Tell us about your interest and/or experience in on-line teaching?
12. How do you think your students would describe you?
13. How do you make students feel at ease around you, while still respecting you?
14. What is the toughest aspect of teaching today? What are some of the greatest challenges of being an educator?
TECHNICAL/PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS Having achieved a satisfactory level of technical and professional skill or knowledge in position-related areas; keeping up with current developments and trends in areas of expertise.
Key Knowledge Areas:
Possesses relevant knowledge and skills - Has adequate knowledge and /or skills to perform effectively on the job.
Maintains knowledge and skills - Keeps abreast of knowledge and/or skills required to perform the job effectively.
Questions:
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1. What technical training have you received? Can you give me an example of how you've applied this training?
2. What experience do you have operating computers (or other
office equipment)? How proficient are you? 3. Describe a project, situation, or assignment that challenged
your skills as a _______. How did you manage the situation?
4. We've all faced the problem of not being able to handle a
new task/responsibility, even though we received the assignment because of our background and training. Tell me about a time when this happened to you.
5. Even though we try to be expert in our area of work, it's
impossible to know and understand everything. Tell me about an aspect of your work/technical field you are still trying to master.
6. Describe a time when you successfully demonstrated your
technical knowledge. Contrast this with a time when you weren't able to do so. What did you do differently?
7. What training have you received in_______(process,
function, task)? Can you give me an example of how you've used this training?
8. Give me an example of a project you completed that
demonstrated your technical expertise in _______. 9. Describe how you've gone about learning a new technical
task. 10. Tell me about the most complex technical assignment or
project you've worked on. What was your role? 11. What equipment have you been trained to operate? How
proficient are you? 12. Give an example of a time when you operated a _________
(computer, machine, etc.). 13. What experience do you have operating machinery (or
computers)? What level of proficiency have you achieved? 14. Describe the most difficult maintenance work you've done. 15. What experience do you have using diagnostic equipment
and procedures? Give me an example that shows your level of expertise.
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16. What experience do you have working with computer
hardware (software) components? Give me an example that demonstrates your level of expertise.
17. What is your level of expertise reading schematics? Give
me an example that illustrates your proficiency. 18. What is your experience with computer system
configurations and networking? Describe the most complex system you've worked with.
Questions for people with little work experience
1. Give me an example of an assignment you worked on that
showed your expertise in ___________. What did you do?
2. Sometimes complex projects require additional expertise. Describe a situation in which you had to request help on one of your projects or assignments.
WORK STANDARDS Setting high standards of performance for self and others; assuming responsibility and accountability for successfully completing assignments or tasks; self-imposing standards of excellence rather than having standards imposed. Key Actions
Sets standards for excellence-Establishes criteria and/or work procedures to achieve a high level of quality, productivity, or service.
Ensures high quality-Dedicates required time and energy to assignments or tasks to ensure that no aspect of the work is neglected; works to overcome obstacles to completing tasks or assignments.
Takes responsibility-Accepts responsibility for outcomes (positive or negative) of one’s work; admits mistakes and refocuses efforts when appropriate.
Encourages others to take responsibility-Provides encouragement and support to others in accepting responsibility; does not accept others’ denial of responsibility without questioning.
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Questions
1. In your position with __________, how did you define doing a good job? Did you do a good job? How did you know? Give me an example.
2. Tell me about something you’ve done to encourage
peers/direct reports to take responsibility for improving their work standards.
3. What were the criteria for success in your job at
____________? What did you do to meet the criteria? Give me a recent example.
4. Tell me about a time in your position at ____________ when
you were not satisfied with your unit’s (team’s) performance. Why not? What did you do to correct the situation?
5. Sometimes a supervisor’s/team leader’s evaluation of our
performance differs from our own. When has this happened to you? What did you do about it?
6. Think about a time when your work was above standard and
a time when it was below standard. What were some reasons for the difference in performance?
7. Give me an example of a time when you knew that a
process or operation was being done poorly. What did you do? What was the effect of your actions?
8. Tell me about a time when you were not satisfied with your
(department’s) level of sales at ___________. What did you do about that?
9. When evaluating the work standards of your direct reports,
what factors do you weigh the most? Describe how you have used those factors to evaluate a specific employee.
10. Tell me about a time when you weren’t satisfied with your
work because of quality defects. How did you handle the situation?
11. Sooner or later, everyone comes under some pressure to
sacrifice quality in order to get work done on time. Tell me about a time when this happened to you. What did you do?
Questions for people with little work experience
1. As a student, how did you define good performance? What did you do to perform according to that definition?
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2. What were your standards of success in school? What did you do to meet those standards?
3. We don’t always agree with a professor’s evaluation of us.
Tell me about a time when you disagreed with a particular professor’s evaluation. How did you handle the situation?
4. Tell me about a research project you did that made you
proud. What made it so good? What was your role?