Samples of Appropriate Interview Questions

There are several pages of questions. Because each position is unique, these questions may or may not suit your specific needs. You might begin sorting out the questions by choosing only categories pertinent to a particular job/position. You may need to adapt or rephrase the questions to the specifics of your position. The questions are divided into the following categories:

Previous Job Experience & Performance Expectations for This Job Management Attitudes Decision Making; Problem Solving; Analytical Skills Interpersonal Communication Skills; Dealing withConflict Leadership Qualities Motivation & Goal Orientation Overall Job Performance Initiative, Creativity, and Innovation Ability to Learn Dependability & Flexibility Organization / Attention to Detail / Use of Time Cooperation Technical Skills Graphic Design / Desktop Publishing Web Design Using Technology to Communicate Organizational & Planning Skills Interpersonal Communication Skills; Dealing withConflict Decision Making & Problem-Solving Abilities Management Attitude & Style General Knowledge of the Organization Administration Financial Management Evaluation Performance Employee Relations

Planning & Goal Setting Organizational Relationships

Overall Job Performance 1. How do you typically handle yourself in a fast-pacedenvironment? 2. How would you describe your work pace: fast,moderate, slow, or if it varies and under what circumstances? 3. What are your strengths? Why? 4. What are your weaknesses? Why? 5. How do you handle a heavy workload with manydeadlines? 6. In all jobs there are heavy periods and lightperiods. What do you do in such cases? 7. You are given several rush projects to be completedin a short period of time. How would you establish priorities? Why? 8. How would you describe your organizational abilities? 9. How would you describe your attendance and punctuality habits?How wouldyou describe your work habits?How would you describe your own performancestandards? Initiative/Creativity/Innovation 1. What ideas did you contribute to your department?What were the results? 2. Give an example of something you recommended that wasadopted. 3. What have you done to make your job easier or moreinteresting? 4. Give an example of a project you were responsible forstarting. What did you do? How did it work out? 5. How much information do you need to get started on anew project or assignment? 6. When have you had to produce results, withoutsufficient guidelines or information? What did you do? 7. What is the most creative thing you have done in apast job? How did it occur? 8. In the last year, what innovative ideas have you had at work? Were youable to implement them? How were they innovative? Ability to Learn 1. Give an example of a situation at your previousemployer when you have had to keep up with changes in technology, terminology,and information specific to your field? 2. How quickly have you learned new processes for a job?What did you have to learn? 3. How soon could you learn this job well enough tobecome productive?

4. If time did not permit a training period on a newjob, how would you go about learning the things expected or required of you? 5. Give three examples of your adaptability. 6. Describe the most recent formal learning experienceyou?ve had. 7. What are your long-term professional goals? How dothe duties and responsibilities in this position relate to that goal? 8. What do you consider to be important attributes of asupervisor? 9. What kind of supervisor do you enjoy working for most? Least? Decision Making/Problem Solving/Analytical Skills 1. Describe a specific time on any job that you?ve heldwhen you were faced with issues that tested your problem-solving skills. Whatdid you do? 2. Give an example of a time when you had to keep fromspeaking or not finish a task because you did not have enough information tocome to a good decision. Be specific. 3. Give an example of a time when you had to make aquick decision. 4. Give an example of a time when you had to use yourfact-finding skills to get information to solve a problem- then describe howyou analyzed the information to come to a decision. 5. Give an example of a problem you faced on a job anddescribe how you solved it. 6. Describe your most stressful work-related situationand how you handled it. 7. How do you typically handle yourself under pressureor stress? Describe a difficult situation you encountered with a supervisor orco-worker and how you handled it. 8. What are some examples of important types ofdecisions or recommendations you are called upon to make in your past/presentposition? 9. Most of us can think of an important decision we?dmake quite differently if we could do it over. Any examples from yourexperience? 10. Give an example of a difficult decision you had tomake at your last job. How did you solve it? Follow-up: Why did you choosethat method instead of another solution? 11. What has been a stubborn or recurring problem areayou would have liked to solve in your current job, but haven?t yet? 12. What process do you follow in solving problems? 13. What methods do you use to make decisions? Pleasegive an example of your approach. 14. What kinds of decisions did you have authority over?Which ones did you have to check with your manager before making? 15. What information or technical support has helped yousucceed on the job? 16. Have you ever had to make a decision before you had all the data youwanted? Give an example. What did you do?

Interpersonal Communication Skills/Dealing with Conflict 1. What is effective communication? 2. Tell me about a job experience when you had to speakup in order to be sure that others knew what you thought or felt. 3. Describe how you would endeavor to convince your bossto grant you additional funds for a purpose you have-in-mind. 4. Describe some projects you worked on that requiredstrong writing skills. What was the level of your responsibility? Who was theprimary audience? 5. How would you characterize your written and oralcommunication-skills? 6. What do you require from a supervisor? 7. Would you rather work on a team or on your own? 8. Describe what a "team" environment means to you. 9. What experience have you had working as a member of a team? What are theadvantages? Technical Skills Graphic Design/Desktop Publishing 1. What experience have you had with graphic design anddesktop publishing? Please provide samples. 2. What are some basic principles of working withcolors? 3. What sort of consideration goes into designing abrochure? 4. What do you look for in a blueline? 5. What information and materials would you provide to a service bureau ifyou had to produce a brochure? Web Design 1. If money were not a concern, what platform would youchoose for an Intemet information server, and why? 2. When creating Web documents, what tools do you use?What kind of experience do you have with HTML editors? Plain text editors? Website management tools? 3. What does it mean for a program to be called a OGI?What is your experience with OGI programming? 4. What are the top 5 or 10 characteristics of a goodWeb site? Please illustrate by describing a good Web site that you recentlyproduced. How did you plan and design the Web site? How do you decide when andhow to revise or enhance a Web site?

5. What, in your opinion, are the basic characteristicsof a bad Web site? How would you proceed if you were asked to re-design a lessthan adequate departmental Web site? 6. If you were given an assignment to put an existingprint publication on the Web, how would you proceed? Why? 7. Have you ever connected Web forms to a backenddatabase? Discuss your experience with such forms. 8. How do you stay current with developments in communications, graphicdesign, and Web publishing? Communication 1. How would you define effective communication? Whatskills do you have that make you a good communicator? 2. How do you choose which medium/media to use to reachyour various audiences? What are the strengths and weaknesses associated witheach medium? 3. What are some of the strategies you have used tocommunicate technical information to a wide variety of people with differinglevels of expertise? 4. How often in your professional experience have you encountered conflictbetween yourself and the subject of your story? Describe one such example. Management Attitude/Style

1. How would you describe your management philosophy andstyle? 2. Have you ever had to initiate corrective action foran employee? If so, what steps did you take to implement this action? 3. In what ways might you want to modify your approachto dealing with subordinates? 4. Some managers keep a very close check on theirorganization. Others use a loose rein. What patterns do you follow? How has itchanged during the last few years? 5. How would you describe your standards of performance?What would your staff say? What would your supervisor say? 6. How would you deal with an employee who was not doinghis or her job properly? 7. What philosophy and techniques do you use inmotivating your staff and energizing them? 8. How would you deal with an employee who does notappear to measure up to increasing demands of a job? 9. How do you think your staff would describe yourdelegation style? 10. How do you get your employees (or others) to followyou?

11. How do you use your power or authority to achieveyour goals? 12. Give an example of how you delegated responsibilityfor a recent assignment; for instance, how you delegated an assignment, and 13. What you did to monitor it. General Knowledge 1. Can you give us an overview of how an academicdepartment functions in the University? 2. What is your commitment to and understanding ofAffirmative Action as it relates to students, staff, faculty and recruitment?What about retention, staff development or promotion? 3. Describe the type of relationship you think should exist between staff andstudents on this campus. Administration 1. How do you make sure that your employees areaccountable? 2. What do you typically do when you hear of a problemin your area? 3. How useful have you found written procedures andguidelines in helping you manage your area? 4. Do you believe that the chain of command is important? Why? When do youthink it might inhibit organizational effectiveness? Financial Management 1. What responsibility do you have for budgeting? Whatbudgeting method do you use? 2. How do you go about estimating expenses and budgets? 3. What recent decision have you made that had an impacton finances? How did you assess its impact? 4. What experience have you had with long and short-term budget projections?Please explain.

DISCUSSIONS INDEX DESIGN DISCUSSIONS DESIGN EMPLOYMENT

progee818 step one

Posts: 25 Joined: October 6th, 2007, 4:57 pm

What are some common questions to prepare for as a designer getting interviewed? ill start it off:

what was your least successful project?

junglebrodda full self-realization

Posts: 669 Joined: April 4th, 2004, 6:11 am

hows

about

questions

that

designers

should

ASK

while

getting

interviewed?

maybe its just me but i always struggle with questions to ask, moreso than answering the questions. like: what maybe are an the expectations/responsibilities assessment of of your the position? work/skills?

what the "typical" projrct like?

progee818 step one

Posts: 25 Joined: October 6th, 2007, 4:57 pm

junglebrudda, thats not a bad topic to discuss, but id really like to know some common questions that i can expect to be asked. if you wanna know what to ask id suggest starting your own thread.
by rkuchinsky December 9th, 2007, 11:33 am

rkuchinsky Moderator

Posts: 3215 Joined: July 3rd, 2005, 10:20 am Location: Canada

to answer both questions, google "interview questions" and you'll get a lot of useful hits. most are pretty standard, but depends on who you are interviewing with..design director/manager, potential colleague, HR... Q&A will differ depending also of course on the position/industry. R
Richard Kuchinsky / Directive Creator http://www.rkuchinsky.com The Directive Collective http://www.directivecollective.com
by Cyberdemon December 9th, 2007, 12:25 pm

Cyberdemon full self-realization

Posts: 1357 Joined: February 8th, 2006, 12:51 am

Whats Favorite Favorite part of

your

project?

the

design

process?

Reason for leaving your previous job?

by junglebrodda December 9th, 2007, 2:57 pm

junglebrodda full self-realization

Posts: 669 Joined: April 4th, 2004, 6:11 am

progee818 wrote:junglebrudda, thats not a bad topic to discuss, but id really like to know some

common questions that i can expect to be asked. if you wanna know what to ask id suggest starting your own thread.

my fault, i was just thinking that this exact topic comes up quite often & it might be helpful to look at it from the opposite point of view, asking questions of the prospective employer could make the decision easier for you if you have to decide between different placese...questions usually are pretty standard and besides doing the work IS the preparation, no? it is not as if they are trying to stump candidates...

thats is how my professors explained it to me...whatever questions you are asked, take a sec to think about it, and answer as honestly (& thoughtfully) as you are able. you might also try to put those answers in the context of highlighting your skills/strengths, while you might talk about any deficiencies/weaknesses as points of improvements...the questions that will be the most difficult will likely be those that are specific to the needs of the place/position be interviewed for and pertaining to your portfolio...i.e. how might you be an asset to this team?, what was the aim of a particular project?, how did you arrive at a particular solution?
no ideas original....there is nothing new under the sun...it is never what you do but how it is done
by rkuchinsky December 9th, 2007, 10:21 pm

rkuchinsky Moderator

Posts: 3215 Joined: July 3rd, 2005, 10:20 am Location: Canada

best tip i have for answering interview questions came from an article i read about political speaking. can't remember the source.

bottom line is to have 3 main points/issues you want to get across in your communication, and always bring the answer back to them.

for example, if your strength or relevant point for the position is your sketching ability, you can turn ie. Q. how do you work in any question around to highlight it. groups?

A. I work well in groups, and find that my ability to quickly communicate ideas through sketching can help bring a wide variety of concepts to the table effectively, making easy to understand in groups of people from diverse backgrounds...

you see the same thing from politicians where they always (some better than others) go back to main campaign point despite the question.

also to keep in mind, is that in many cases your answers are not really whats important (esp. to HR people), but how you answer them (confidently, well worded, relevant, not rambing, etc.), and what how the answers fit not the position, skills to they are looking for. do-

i had one interview with a potential hire that when asked "tell me about yourself" started with

his birth, kindergarden, etc. had to cut the guy off after 5 minutes by the time he was only up to activities in high school....

R
Richard Kuchinsky / Directive Creator http://www.rkuchinsky.com The Directive Collective http://www.directivecollective.com
by yo December 10th, 2007, 3:54 pm

yo Administration

Posts: 7732 Joined: January 5th, 2004, 7:57 pm Location: MASS

Give

an

example

of

how

you've

worked

well

in

group:

Give an example of a time you have influenced the final outcome of a design beyond traditional design What Where How What are go do you you do your perceptions like see most yourself we of our about in fit brand from an the your next into outside current 5-10 means: job? years? that? perspective?

What How Give an do

attracts you of when

you prefer a project to went

to start off course

working off and a what

here? project? you did?

example

Give an example of a time you've gotten feedback you didn't agree with and what you did with it: How do you like (our city) so far?

How do you ensure your original design intent is carried all the way to the consumer and the story Have you of ever the collaborated with design sales and is advertising told? departments?

(If not evident so far) Show us what you would typically generate during the first phase of a project: (If not evident so far) Show us some mid phase project refinement drawings: (If not evident so far) Show us some technical documentation:

and the number one most over looked important question by interview candidates: Good morning how are you doing today?.. have a good answer.
Michael DiTullo ---------------http://www.michaelditullo.com
by plus1 January 8th, 2008, 4:57 pm

plus1 step one

Posts: 46 Joined: May 11th, 2006, 7:06 am Location: LONDON, UK

my "How

fave

question do

when you

meeting deal

nokia

UK with

yrs

ago:

confrontation?"

"well.....er"

!!
+ONE

WORST QUALITY
by optimistic January 8th, 2008, 5:03 pm

optimistic Moderator

Posts: 294 Joined: November 11th, 2004, 3:32 pm Location: Chicago

My

least

favorite

interview your

question

that

I've

been

asked

several

times: quality?"

"What's

worst

Second

least

favorite

interview

question

(after

looking

at

my

whole

portfolio):

"So, what are you good at?"

c2c step two

Posts: 95 Joined: January 15th, 2008, 2:30 am Location: Chicago

Great Here What What What What What What What How If If o o o o Below you you are job kind is the have do could change doing of are was brings you your are some I ask

questions when motivates you most most would thing measure about is Great Good Average Average your asked career of you that satisfying you to from prefer you your your what are would you in proud and to a interviewing a

Yo!!! candidate: you? joy? of? why? avoid? job? success? it doing be? a: job Job Job Job

responsibilities most you you anything everything important learned

What was the best this a previous manager did that you wish everyone did? mistakes?

My If I cc you think

favorite could I will do be

question anything using in some the of

to world Yo's what questions

ask would going it

is, be?

forward.

Thanks!!

Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness is largely matter of conscious choice. http://www.coroflot.com/c2c
by fatihy June 20th, 2008, 8:34 pm

fatihy step one

Posts: 29 Joined: November 8th, 2006, 5:11 pm Location: ottawa

It might be a weird question but I couldnt find any answer to it. Do interviews cover a demonstration of sketching or drawing skills?

Thanks!!!!! fy
by blaster701 June 20th, 2008, 10:15 pm

blaster701 step four

Posts: 516 Joined: October 21st, 2004, 8:34 am Location: Pompton Represent!

fatihy wrote:It might be a weird question but I couldnt find any answer to it. Do interviews cover a

demonstration

of

sketching

or

drawing

skills?

Thanks!!!!! fy

I have done it. At our office, we need to sketch under pressure with our clients at the factory with jet-lag. So, if the person seems right in the interview, I will ask them to draw a simple shape for me. It is not just about the drawing ability, but how they handle the pressure.
http://www.coroflot.com/blaster701 http://www.reflexdesigninc.com/ http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreyayerssmith
by dawolfman666 June 21st, 2008, 5:59 am

dawolfman666 full self-realization

Posts: 759 Joined: January 10th, 2004, 9:21 am Location: London

I was recently asked "what is good design?" can be a bit of a curved ball if you hadn't considered the question before.
http://www.coroflot.com/lukewoolfson
by yo June 22nd, 2008, 9:20 pm

yo Administration

Posts: 7732 Joined: January 5th, 2004, 7:57 pm Location: MASS

What was your on the spot answer?

by dawolfman666 June 23rd, 2008, 12:15 pm

dawolfman666 full self-realization

Posts: 759 Joined: January 10th, 2004, 9:21 am

Location: London

I said good design should just work well and enable your to get on with what ever your using the product/service for. http://www.coroflot.com/lukewoolfson by antidesign July 13th, 2008, 4:39 pm

antidesign

Posts: 5 Joined: July 7th, 2008, 4:48 pm Location: Italy It might be a weird question but I couldnt find any answer to it. Do interviews cover a demonstration of sketching or drawing skills?

Yes, you may be given a specific problem to solve in a given period (through sketching). There are always standard interview questions you should prepare to be asked here is a good place http://content.monster.co.uk/13710_en-GB_p1.asp I think rkuchinsky's 'politician' approach is a really good one otherwise you'll end up having to remember a lot of responses you may not use. And there will always be a curve ball... Questions which have most thrown me off: "How do you think your office colleagues see you?", and "If I were to give you 1000 now, what would you do with it?" And recently: "What do you know about the Mississippi? - "eer.. how to spell it..." - "Well what do you know about the flow rate of the river, and YES you're going to have to give me an answer" - so I had to

get up and work it out based on what I already knew... Another design specific one was to be given an object (technical prototype) and being asked how I would approach developing the project. It all comes down to how you cope with the question.