Sample Interview Questions
Personal Assessment
Tell me about yourself?
Walk me through your resume. Tell me about your career to date.
What are your strengths (major strength)?
What are your weaknesses (major weakness)? How do you compensate?
What are your own special abilities?
You have five minutes. Sell yourself to me.
What qualifications do you have that make you feel that you will succeed in
accomplishing your objectives?
Tell me about a time when you had to deal with an ambiguous situation.
What is the biggest mistake you can recall and what would you do differently?
How would your boss (subordinates, best friend, classmates) describe you?
What makes you a good investment for an employer?
What constructive criticism have you had from others?
What sets you apart from your peers?
Are you a leader, an entrepreneur, creative, a team player? Why? Give me an example.
Think of a team player or leader you admire and tell me why?
Think of a teammate or leader you feel could be stronger and why?
Are you tough? Are you aggressive? Be prepared to back up answer.
How competitive are you? Example?
Jobs/Company/Industry
Why are you interested in this industry? This company?
Tell me why you think the lifestyle of this job is right for you?
Make a comparison between our firm (industry) and the others to whom you are talking.
Do you have an offer from the company you worked for this summer?
What other companies are you interviewing with?
What do you think you will be doing in this job for which you are applying?
Given your background in (a different field), why do you want to become a banker
(marketing manager, etc.)?
From your past work experience, what do you think is going to happen in ____________
industry?
How do you evaluate a business?
How do you judge a company when you are looking for a job?
What have you read about our company and/or products lately outside of the information
in the regular recruiting material?
You seem to have the analytical (financial, technical, etc.) skills. What makes you think
you could handle the selling (line management, leadership, etc.) requirements of the
job?
In your research on our company, do you see any specific problems that we have?
Which division of our organization are you are most interested in?
Give me a good example of a ________ (good ad campaign, control program, mergers
and acquisitions, etc.) Tell me why it's good.
Based on this interview, what questions do you have about the company?
Education & Training
How did you choose the Tepper School of Business? Would you make the same choice
today?
Which courses did you like best? Least? Why?
Exactly what did you learn in _____________ class?
How well has your schooling prepared you for your career?
Tell me about a club, team or class project you worked on at school.
What advice would you give an incoming student?
What prompted you to get an MBA?
Tell me about the management game. What position do you hold on your game team? Do
you like game?
Work Experience
Why did you leave job x for job y? Why did you choose your particular jobs?
What did you like most in your jobs? Least?
What were your primary accomplishments and successes?
Did you prefer working with others or by yourself?
What was the most difficult problem you faced? How was it resolved? What did you
learn?
What have you found that you do best?
What have you done that shows initiative? Give examples?
What has been your greatest frustration or disappointment in your previous job?
Considering your accomplishments, what are some of the reasons for your success?
What have been some of your disappointments? What things have you hoped to
accomplish which have not been done? What prevented you?
Describe your relationships with your last supervisor.
What has been your experience in organizing a work unit
Activities & Interests
What volunteer organizations have you been actively involved in? What did you do? In
what school activities have you participated? Why?
What do you enjoy doing off the job? In your spare time?
What extracurricular offices have you held?
How did you become interested in _____________ (from your resume)?
What do you read?
How do you keep abreast of current events?
Goals & Expectations
Where would you like to be in five years? 10?
Why do you think you would like to work for us?
What do you think determines a person' s professional progress?
Why do you think people succeed? Fail?
How long do you think it will take you to get where you want to go?
How have your aspirations changed in the last few years?
Are there any conditions that limit your flexibility in taking on a new assignment?
What are the most important things to you in a job?
Location / Geography
Why do you want to stay in the _________ area?Are you free to relocate?
What constraints do you have?
How do you feel about traveling? How does your family feel?
What size city do you prefer?
In this position, you may have to relocate every few years. Is this a problem
ADDITIONAL BEHAVIORAL/STAR STORY
QUESTIONS
1. Describe a situation at work when you had to make a decision and were uncertain about
the outcome.
2. Give me an example of a time when you were able to take meaningful action in resolving
a problem.
3. Tell me about a time when you resisted the temptation to jump to a conclusion and
obtained all facts about the problem before coming to a decision.
4. Give me an example of a time when you actively defined several solutions to a single
problem using any tools such as research, brainstorming, or mathematics.
5. Often, exercise of good judgment is needed to complement logic in choosing a practical
solution. How would you use it in solving a problem?
6. Give me an example of the most complex project/assignment you have had, including
your role and the outcome.
7. Describe a time when voicing your opinion was uncomfortable or could have had serious
consequences, but you did it because you believed so strongly in the value of your
perspective.
8. What do you do when you are communicating with someone and it becomes apparent
that they don't understand what you're saying or vice versa?
9. Tell me about a time when your communication skills enabled you to influence the way
others thought or acted, even in a very difficult situation.
10. Tell me about a time when you were willing to disagree with another person in order to
build a positive outcome.
11. Describe a time when you had to sell an idea to your boss or another authority figure.
12. Give me an example taken from your experience in report writing, preparation of memos,
or general correspondence which illustrates the extent of your written communication
skills.
13. What important goals have you set in the past, and how were you able to work towards
accomplishing them successfully?
14. Describe how you delegate responsibility in your current job.
15. Have you ever had to take over a leadership role unexpectedly? How did it work out?
16. Describe a situation in which you developed a group into a strong working team.
17. What was the most creative idea you introduced on the job? How did you persuade your
superior?
18. Give an example of a time when you were able to build rapport with someone at work,
even when the situation was a difficult one and the odds were against you.
19. When have you found yourself in rapidly changing circumstances? Tell me exactly what
you did.
20. Tell me about a time when you had to cope with strict deadlines or time demands.
