Behavioral Interview Questions for “Soft” Skills

I love writing interview questions for my clients, so I thought I’d start compiling the ones I’ve written here with this short list.  The “soft” skills questions seem hardest for people to write.  It would be great fun for me to write more, so feel free to give me an assignment in the comments below.  And, feel free to share your favorite questions there too.  If you wanted to include stories or comments about using them, I’d love to read them.

Hi Liz –

We’re looking for questions that can help us select candidates who:

1. like people

2. are happy/positive

3. are comfortable with change

4. are self-motivated

________

The first thing I do when I want to write a behavioral interview question is to picture the behavior I want in a co-worker, and the situation I think might evoke or challenge that behavior.  Then I use the Behavioral question format to phrase a question about the situation and ask them what happened.

To the extent you and I agree on what these things look like, these questions will work for you.  Whether or not they fit, I encourage you to use them as a jumping off place for your own.  In each category I included a question designed to elicit “contrary evidence,” that is a question about failing to like people, be positive, etc.

1.  Like people

• Tell me about a time when you joined a new company needed to become part of a team quickly.  What did you do?  What happened as a result?

• Tell me about a time when your attempt to connect with someone was rebuffed.   What did you do?

• Tell me about a time you joined a team that was tense and not communicating with each other very well.  What did you do to become a part of the team?

• Tell me about a time when you had to work with someone you didn’t like.  How did you handle it?

2.  Are happy/positive

• Tell me about a time when your work was difficult – a real slog.  What did you do to keep going?

• Tell me about a time when your boss made an unpopular decision and your co-workers were complaining and negative.  What did you do?

• Tell me about a time when you lost your enthusiasm for your work.  What did you do?

• Tell me about a time when the barriers to doing your work were severe.  How did you handle it?

• Tell me about a time when you weren’t able to talk yourself into being upbeat and positive.  How did you handle it?

3. Are comfortable with change

• Tell me about a time when your work changed due to a new regulation or leadership decision.  What did you do to adjust?

• Tell me about a time when you noticed a problem with the way you were expected to work.  What did you do?

• Tell me about a time when someone came to you with an idea for improving your workflow.  How did it go?  What did you end up doing?

• Tell me about a time when the changes coming at you were just too many to deal with.  What did you do?

 4. Are self-motivated

• Tell me about a time when you saw a way to improve your team’s workflow.  What did you do?

• Tell me about a time when you had to learn something new that was really difficult for you.  How did you go about it?

• Tell me about a time when you wanted to move forward in your career, but couldn’t see an opportunity to.  What did you do?

• Tell me about a time when you were overwhelmed with work.  How did you handle it?

• Tell me about a time when you couldn’t not seem to get motivated to do something.  What did you do?