Types of Interview Questions
Close-ended Question
Do you like working on a team?
Open-ended Question
What types of people have been the easiest to work with? What types of have been the
hardest? (Follow-up: Why?)
Behavioral Interview Question
Give me a specific example of how you went about working more effectively with a difficult
teammate.
1. Getting Behavior
o What did you actually do?
o What was your reaction to that?
o What was your very first step?
o What was the next thing you did?
o Can you a little more specific?
o If I were in the same room with you, what would I have seen you doing?
o Can you walk me through that conversation, meeting, etc? What happened first?
2. Getting Outcomes
o How did it all turn out?
o What was the final result?
o What happened after your part in the story was over?
o How have things gone since then?
o Is there anything else that would be useful for me to know about the situation?
Competency-Based Interview Question
Question
Tell me about a specific time when you did strategic or long-term planning for a business unit you
were leading?
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What was your personal role in the planning effort?
How did you approach this planning task?
What information did you consider?
What were some key components of the plan you developed?
What was the outcome?
Themes to Listen To:
 Strong personal role in conceptualizing the strategy
 Gathering and using market data to guide the strategy
 Broad organizational perspective
 Linking own unit’s strategy to the broader organizational strategy
 Identification of business trends
 Recognizing implications for own business unit
 Identifying strategic business opportunities