Questionning Skills

This list is not a checklist. It was compiled from observation of many mock employment interviews conducted by recruitment staff and student studying personnel practice. The questions were actually put to candidates (real and role-play). They represent example questions which might be of value in an interview.

Self-study
Tutorial Assignment

• Well-structured, Open-ended questions

  In a well conducted interview, the candidate should be talking (on relevant matters) for up to 80% of the time. One way is to pose structured, open-ended questions. This gets the candidate to talk, and helps to reveal his/her position and priorities on matters discussed.

  Open-ended questions are phrased in terms of "Tell me about....". The suffix is frequently what, when, why, how etc. The first question on a topic may be broad to open up discussion. Further shorter, open-ended questions probe to narrow the focus and target specific aspects of answers and to encourage the candidate to explain in more detail.
  Examples

  • "What are your views on .....
  • "How do you feel about ;
  • "Tell me a little about .........
  • "Could you give me your impressions of "

  Candidates frequently give responses that seem incomplete, or appear to be "stock answers". The interviewer must dwell on each topic and draw out further information until entirely satisfied. Probe with further targetted open-ended questions.
  Examples

  • "Could you expand/enlarge upon that"
  • "Could you tell me more about "
  • "To what extent have you actually ..........
  • "What exactly does that involve?"
  • "What alternative ways did you consider?"

• FEEDBACK
  An interviewer must ensure that he/she is still on the same wavelength as the candidate, giving the opportunity to correct misunderstandings that may have arisen.

  Examples

  • "This indicates to me that .....
  • "I get the feeling that ...........
  • "Do I understand you correctly then - you are saying
  • ....?"
  • "In other words, you mean that ?

• YES/NO AND LEADING QUESTIONS

  These are questions to which a short 'yes/no' response can be given. They can suggest the desired answer and are among the commonest faults of interviewing revealing little or nothing about the candidate. They have the extra disadvantage that the dialogue is back in the interviewer's hands so quickly that he/she scarcely has time to frame his next question. Yet they can establish a set position from which further open-ended development can begin.

  Thepoints that interviewers intended to elicit from the following might be valid lines of investigation. But the questions are badly structured.

  Assignment

  What interview/question approach might be better used to secure the desired information? Can the questions be re-structured to obtain the information in more acceptable ways? Are there other ways to obtain the same information? Evaluate each example.

  Examples

  • "Have you ever had any serious illness?"
  • "Are you in good health?"
    
  • "Do you envisage any problems working here?"
  • "Have you had sufficient experience for this post?"
  • "Can you cope with this level of responsibility?"
  • "Do you get on with people?"
  • "I assume you get on well with people, what then do you think are.....
  • "I take it that you are broadly familiar with....

  • "I presume - your family fully supports you in the move...?"
  • "Do you anticipate being with us for long?"
  • "Do you feel quite confident about ?"
  • "You don't have any prejudices about ?"
  • "Do you feel that you would fit in here?""
  • "Can you handle figures all right?"
  • "In this job, you would be working for me; is that all right?"
  • "Do you think that you are conscientious?"

• QUESTIONS FOCUSING ON
  PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE, BIOGRAPHY AND ACHIEVEMENTS

  A common generalisation has it that "the best operator does not always make the best supervisor". This is an example of that classic generalisation the Peter principle, which may be summarised as

  Everyone rises to their level of incompetence.

  There may be correlation between performance and achievement patterns in the past, and predictions of success in the future but this is not guaranteed. In addition, job titles have a wide variety of meanings in different organisations, and it is therefore essential to gain a real understanding of exactly what the candidate has done in the past, and to what depth. What kind of questions might help?

  Examples
  

  • "Take me through the key moments in your career up to now"
  • "What aspects of your previous experience have prepared you for this job?"
  • "What particular strengths would you bring to this job?"
  • "What events/jobs in your present job have been the most challenging? .......Why? "
  • "What achievements are you particularly proud of?"
  • "What is missing from your experience thus far which might be useful for this job?

• MOTIVATION/AMBITION
  Competence and expertise alone will not ensure job success. As well as being competent for the job, the candidate must genuinely want to undertake it. So, find out if he/she is applying for the money or status, or a stepping stone to a more desirable position elsewhere.

  Examples
  

  • "What particular aspects of this job do you find most attractive?"
  • "What are your career goals for the next few years?"
  • "What parts of your present job do you find most stimulating?".....and reverse the question with "least stimulating".
  • "If you were to remain in your present post what changes would you seek to make?"

• INTELLECTUAL CHALLENGE
  At managerial/professional level, candidates expect to be stretched at the interview, and may feel cheated if they cannot demonstrate what they know. Questionning based upon posing hypothetical problems may result in textbook answers, but the interviewer can probe actual experience more deeply.

  Asking candidates "what would you do if...something...." may reveal their mental agility and explanatory powers - but can they really do it? Hypothetical probing can be minimised by referencing actual experience. You can also engage the candidate in discussion about issues relevant to the post. This way you can explore the candidate's knowledge and analytical abilities (verbal skill and demonstrate mental agility).

  Be very careful comparing the persons' actual achievements to date (doing) with their ability to talk about matters (theorising). Candidates may find this type of questioning demanding - so much so as to make superfluous any artificial form of "stress creation".

  Examples
  

  • "How would you set about . . . ? "
  • "How would you resolve....?"
  • "What part do you feel that you/your department could play?"
  • "What is your assessment of ....."
  • "How would you compare....?"
  • "What priorities do you see for....?"
  • "How do you measure the success of what you are proposing?"
  • "How have you convinced sceptical managers?"
  • "What steps have you taken to implement....?"...."What success has resulted?"
  • "How could you apply this technique in this particular situation?"

• EMOTIVE/UPSETTING QUESTIONS and COMMENTS
  As well as establishing rapport at the start of the interview, confidence and mutual respect must be maintained throughout. This can easily be damaged by a thoughtless, impertinent or irrelevant remark during the interview.

  Recognise also questions which imply direct or indirect discrimination. Even if there was no intention to discriminate (in the interviewers eyes), questions can be loaded that way with unfair discrimination being the result. Evaluate the use of each of the following:

  • "You seem to have missed several things from the form."
  • "Your hand-writing.....I'm having difficulty in reading the form."
  • "How was it that you did so badly in these examinations?"
  • "What does your husband do? How does he feel about the move?"
  • "You say that your husband works on overseas contracts? What affect will this have on your career plans?"
  • "Do you really feel that with two children at school you will be able to cope with the demands of this job?"
  • "Time is getting on......"
  • "Is that in fact true?"
  • "Do you feel with your limited experience that you really match up to the job?

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BOLA is developed and maintained by Chris Jarvis