The best recruiting questions for interviews, by category

Most interview question lists enumerate endless examples that look like something you’d conceivably ask in an interview. But what these lists lack (and what interviewers truly need) is questions grouped by what they teach you about the candidate. 

This guide does exactly that. Below, we’ll break down four types of recruiting questions for interviews: behavioral, situational, role/skills-based, and motivation/culture-add–based questions, explaining what a strong answer sounds like for each. We’ll also walk you through some questions to avoid, and how to turn a question list into a structured interview process guide. 

How to use interview questions effectively

Why use a list of questions for interviews in the first place? Some assume it’s simply to avoid running out of things to say during a screen with someone you’re meeting for the first time. And while it’s never a bad idea to have a conversation starter ready, this answer overlooks the true value of a prepared list of questions: structure. 

As an interviewer, your goal should be to create as structured of an interview experience across candidates as possible. Asking the same questions every time enables a consistent scoring approach across candidates, which in turn produces fairer comparisons and stronger predictions than what an unstructured chat can provide. 

The questions below are grouped by what they reveal about the candidate. So make sure to pull from each to build a balanced set when your next position opens. 

Behavioral interview questions

Behavioral questions ask candidates to describe how they reacted to past situations. The value here rests on the assumption that past behavior is predictive of future performance, and it’s usually a pretty safe bet.  

As the interviewer, listen carefully for specificity, concrete outcomes, and a clear delineation between the candidate’s own actions and collective work done as a group.

Sample questions 

• Tell me about a time you disagreed with a manager or peer. How did you handle it?
• Describe a project that didn’t go the way you planned. What happened next?
• Tell me about a time you had to influence an outcome owned by someone you had no direct authority over. How did it go?
• Walk me through the most complex problem you solved in the past year. How did you approach it?
• Describe a time you were handed a deadline you believed was unrealistic. How did you communicate, and how did the proposal impact the project timeline? 

What to listen for

The strongest answers will describe situations, decision points, and actions with a high level of specificity. There should also be stakes attached to the problem; e.g., meeting client expectations, achieving a difficult KPI, or handling a tough conversation. The explanation should close with a concrete outcome, even if that outcome was undesirable. 

Encourage the candidate to focus on the actions they personally took. Reluctance or inability to do so is often a red flag. Finally, ask candidates to hone in on a specific instance from the past, avoiding the temptation to speak in broad generalities, or about “how they’d usually handle” X. 

Situational interview questions

Situational questions pose a hypothetical scenario to see how a candidate would approach it.

Unlike behavioral questions, situational questions aren’t tethered to first-hand experiences. Instead, they seek to evaluate critical thinking and problem solving skills against an array of potential challenges. These questions work when interviewing candidates at any level of seniority, but are particularly useful when assessing junior candidates who might lack specific, role-relevant experience. 

Sample questions

• Imagine you inherit a project that’s already two weeks behind schedule from an owner who’s left the organization. What would you do first?
• A stakeholder asks you to do something that would push out your current deadline. How do you respond?
• You notice a mistake in a finalized deliverable that’s already reached a client. What are your next steps?
• Two leaders on your team give you conflicting priorities. How do you decide between the two?
• You’re asked to reach a goal, but given no defined process for reaching it. Where do you start?

What to listen for

The signal you pull out of these questions isn’t necessarily the answer, but the reasoning and thought process that goes into it. 

Strong candidates will ask questions before deciding on a specific path. They’ll also fluently articulate the tradeoffs between a set of given options. For software engineers, growth strategists, sales reps, and most roles in the broader category of knowledge work, the ability to reason and ask the right questions is more valuable than reflexively running the same playbook across different contexts. 

Role and skills-based questions

Role and skills-based questions probe specific competencies required for success in the role. 

The exact phrasing of the below examples will depend on the role you’re hiring, but you can apply the framing across different functions and seniority levels.

Sample questions

• Which parts of the project listed on your resume did you personally own, and which were shared with other stakeholders?
• Walk me through how you would approach [core task of the role] in the first 30, 60, and 90 days. 
• What tools and frameworks do you use for [specific function of the role]? How has your approach evolved in recent years with the arrival of tools like generative AI and agentic workflows?
• Explain something about [core element of the role] that most people on the outside get wrong. 
• What decision in your last role would you make differently now?

What to listen for

A primary aim of these questions is to separate verified capabilities from what a candidate’s credentials appear to claim. When candidates struggle to explain what they can do in their own words, it often indicates misalignment with the stated capabilities on their resume. 

Strong candidates will also be able to clearly explain the parts of projects they owned in their entirety, versus the elements they shared with others. These questions are helpful for making the distinction, especially when interviewing senior candidates whose titles can overstate the scope of their responsibilities. 

Motivation and culture-add questions

Questions in this category seek to surface the reasons a candidate wants this role in particular. They also reveal helpful information about management style and preferences. We advise framing these questions as a matter of “culture-add” versus “culture-fit,” as screening exclusively for candidates who adhere closely to the existing team culture tends to box out those whose perspectives and experiences are different enough to improve decision making quality. 

Sample questions

• Why did you decide to apply for this position, specifically?
• How would you describe your working style?
• How do you handle receiving feedback? 
• What would you change about the culture of the last team you were a part of?
• What would you like to be working on that your current or previous position didn’t prioritize?

What to listen for

True alignment, not just a canned answer. A candidate who takes the time to read about the company, the market it operates in, the job description, or your professional experience before hopping on the call is demonstrating real interest. 

Questions to avoid

As a best practice, employers should avoid questions that aren’t relevant for making a determination about essential job qualifications, especially those touching on personal or protected characteristics.

Two categories of questions are explicitly prohibited under federal law. The Americans with Disabilities Act bars potential employers from asking any questions that could reveal a disability before a conditional offer is made. In a similar vein, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act makes it illegal to ask questions about whether a medical condition runs in the family. 

Many other sensitive topics aren't criminalized the way ADA and GINA questions are, but that doesn't make them safe. Asking directly about characteristics like race, sex, religion, or national origin is direct evidence of discrimination under Title VII. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission notes that some types of questions could be seen as evidence of discrimination if a candidate you reject later challenges the decision. Avoid questions about the following:

• Race, color, or ethnicity
• Sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation
• Age
• Family status (including pregnancy and marital status)
• National origin or citizenship
• Religion
• Disability or health
• Personal associations, especially clubs or organizations that reveal any of the above

Note that requirements vary by jurisdiction, and some states’ rules (e.g., asking about salary/compensation history) are more restrictive than the baseline set by the federal government. Check regulations from where you’re hiring first to be sure. 

Build a structured interview scorecard

If you’ve defined a question set, building out a repeatable scorecard to guide the live interview is just a few steps away. Here’s what to do: 

• Choose a consistent question set per role
• Define what strong answers look like for each question, and give concrete examples
• Create a scoring scale (e.g., 1–4 or 1–5) and use it across each candidate, with typical behavior for each score characterized in the document

The consistency of questions and grading criteria you get from an interview scorecard is what makes the questions predictive of future job success, rather than an anecdotal list of preferences. 

Better questions start with better candidates

The best interview questions only matter if the right people are in the room to answer them. Getting them there? That’s a matter of sourcing effectively. 

Juicebox is the sourcing layer that fills the pipeline of qualified candidates worth interviewing. Juicebox offers plain-language search that lets recruiters use the same words they get in a Slack from the hiring manager to build a qualified shortlist in minutes, not days. Try a free search today. 

FAQs

What are the best interview questions to ask candidates?

The best interview questions to ask candidates are those that are structured to create a consistent, repeatable, and fair set of criteria by which all candidates for the role can be evaluated. Thematically, they touch on behavioral, situational, motivational, cultural, and role-based topics. 

What is the difference between behavioral and situational questions?

Behavioral interview questions probe what candidates did in past situations, hoping to surface concrete evidence of how they handled the biggest challenges in their careers. Situational questions are more geared at understanding how candidates would react to hypothetical contexts, with a focus on understanding what their thought processes and reasoning look like. 

How many questions should an interview include?

For a 45 to 60 minute interview, aim to ask 5 to 8 questions. This allows time for substantive follow-up questions that can provide greater detail. It also leaves time for the candidate to ask their own questions at the end.