Interview questions to ask candidates, organized by goal and role

Some candidates present well in interviews: they’re confident when answering and use all the right words. But upon reviewing your notes, you realize the applicant didn’t give certain relevant details or connect their experience to the role description.

You can avoid this situation by having a strong list of interview questions to ask candidates. Pinpointed questions help you get the clear, concrete answers you need to decide which applicant is the best fit. 

This guide breaks down the main types of interview questions and some example questions for vetting your next hire.  

The primary types of interview questions

Good interview questions should provide insight into the candidate’s motivations and skills while also enabling a hiring manager to understand how the applicant responds in real-world work situations. Here’s more on common question types.

Behavioral and situational questions

Questions that ask candidates to describe specific experiences are considered behavioral. “Tell me about a time you…” is the common setup for these questions and requires candidates to provide a real-life example. 

Situational questions are hypothetical, although the candidate may have experience with a scenario similar to the proposed one. “What would you do if…” frames the scenario that the candidate can imagine themselves in.

Both of these questions test judgment and decision-making skills. If a candidate can explain what they would do and why, they’re off to a great start. If their problem-solving skills reflect what you’d expect from a professional on your team, even better. 

Motivation, skills, and team culture questions

Screenings should give more depth to a candidate’s profile, so you need to assess several dimensions—from skills to cultural fit—in your questions. Ask why the candidate wants this particular role, as motivation is a clear signal of drive and intent. Ask, too, about the skills the role requires instead of trusting the candidate’s resume. Get specific examples of how the applicant has used those skills before. Finally, discuss how the candidate works in a team, using questions about how they handle disagreements or their ability to delegate. Look for evidence of flexibility and a willingness to learn, as well as cues indicating cultural fit.

Questions by hiring goal

Tailor interview questions to what you’re trying to learn. Here are a few examples, by hiring goal, to guide you.

Role interest and growth potential

To gauge a candidate’s interest and fit for a role, consider the following questions:

• What drew you to this role and company?
• In what areas do you want to grow over the next few years?
• What kind of work environment brings out your best work?
• Where do you want to be in 5 years?
• How does this position support your career path?

Work style and on-the-job judgment

Assessing how a candidate will perform in the role is key to predicting success. Try these prompts to better discern abilities: 

• Tell me about a time you worked through a conflict on a team.
• Describe a decision you made with incomplete information.
• How do you prioritize when everything feels urgent?
• Tell me about a project you owned end to end, and what you would do differently.

Questions by seniority and role

Interviewers must tailor questions to a range of experience levels, from entry to senior. Here are some questions to ask at either end of the experience spectrum to get answers that realistically reflect the candidate’s abilities.

Entry-level and early-career candidates 

For early-career applicants, focusing on school or extracurricular experiences helps you understand what type of performer they are. 

• What from your coursework, internships, or projects prepares you for this role?
• Tell me about a time you received constructive criticism and what you did with it.
• What are you most looking forward to about starting your career here?
• How have you contributed to team dynamics in the past?

Experienced contributors and managers

As people advance in their careers, they have more specialized skills. Here are questions you can ask to glean more specific details:

• What tools and systems have you used in your most recent role, and how?
• Walk me through a measurable result you delivered and how you got there.
• How do you lead or influence without direct authority?

When interviewing managers, you might ask:

• How would you describe your people-management style?
• What do you find to be the most difficult part of people management? 
• How do you manage disagreements among team members?
• What were the biggest challenges in your previous role? 

How to evaluate answers

If you’re doing dozens of interviews, it might be hard to tell which candidates really stand out without a functional evaluation or rating system. Here are some tips for vetting efficiently.

What strong answers include

Good answers are clear and relevant. They should be grounded in specific examples from a candidate’s experience, like projects they’ve worked on or teams they’ve been a part of. 

Strong answers should also connect directly back to both the question and the job description. For example, if you ask a candidate about a project they’d consider a success, their answer should cover:

• What the project was 
• How they contributed
• Why they consider that project a success
• How that skill would translate to the new role/relate to projects in the position you’re interviewing for 

Use the same core questions and a simple scoring rubric so you’re judging every candidate equally. 

What to probe and watch for 

Here are a few things you can do during the interview to prompt stronger answers:

• Use follow-ups: If a candidate has given a solid answer that’s missing one of the bullets above, such as how their specific contributions made the project a success, ask a follow-up. To continue with the example above, that might mean asking, “And what was your specific role in this project?” 
• Try the STAR framework: Ask candidates to use the STAR framework (situation, task, action, result) to clearly outline each contribution. For example, if asking the question “Tell me about a time you turned around an underperforming project,” you could encourage the interviewee to answer with the situation (a project off track), the task (their responsibility), the action (what they did), and result (the outcome).
• See if answers connect to the job description: Are you hiring a person who needs to manage a team? Are they relating their responses back to people management skills? The ability to connect qualifications to role responsibilities is key for good interview answers. 
• Watch for red flags: Vague or negative claims signal that a candidate might not be the right fit. Make sure they can land specific examples clearly and concisely instead of rambling or using lots of filler words to give a generic answer. 

Poor interview questions to avoid

Some questions are better left unasked. Here are some examples:

Low-signal questions

Avoid questions that don’t give candidates the chance to provide a strong answer:

• Leading questions: While you want a candidate to give a strong example of their qualifications, you don’t want to lead them to a response. Keep questions open enough that candidates can answer with their own experience and perspectives.
• Closed questions: A simple “Yes” or “No” answer doesn’t tell you much about a candidate. Avoid questions that don’t leave room for a thorough response.
• Vague questions: If a question is too open, a candidate won’t be able to provide the information you need. You want to target a specific type of response (i.e., behavioral or motivational) without spending time talking about irrelevant experiences.

Personal or discriminatory questions

Avoid asking personal questions at all costs. That includes questions about age, family or marital status, pregnancy, national origin, religion, disability, or sexual orientation.

Keep any questions about a candidate’s personal background strictly professional. You need to know if they can work in the country you’re hiring in and not much else. Focus on job-relevant inquiries to avoid biased questions or illegal asks.

Build a healthy pipeline with Juicebox

Creating a standardized interview process is crucial to making sure you’re finding the best candidates. That means having stage-specific questions, structured notes, core questions, and a lack of bias throughout the entire candidate screening process. 

And while having the right questions is key, you need to source the best-fit candidates first.

Juicebox, an AI-native sourcing and people search platform, can find candidates across more than 800 million profiles from over 30 data sources. Juicebox runs a natural-language search, then performs automated outreach through Autonomous Agents to keep the conversation going.

Book a demo to get started today. 

Frequently asked questions

What are the best interview questions to ask candidates?

The best interview questions to ask are specific and relate directly to the job opening. They should give candidates a chance to explain why their experience matches the role requirements. 

How many questions should I ask in an interview?

There’s no ideal or set number of questions to ask in an interview.

Determine what you need to ask to get a clear picture of a candidate’s background and go from there. This will vary by interview stage, but it’s good to set a list of questions you ask every candidate to avoid bias in the interview process.

What interview questions are illegal or off-limits?

Although the legality of specific questions may vary by state, you generally can’t ask any questions about:

• Marital or familial status
• Citizenship status (unless it’s relevant to authorization to work in the U.S.)
• Age
• Religion
• Criminal record
• Sexual orientation 

How do I keep enough qualified candidates reaching the interview stage?

Using AI-powered platforms like Juicebox can automate outreach and keep your pipeline full, ensuring you always have qualified candidates to move to the interview stage.