30 Interview Questions to Ask Candidates (and What to Listen For)
Business & Professional Services

30 Interview Questions to Ask Candidates (and What to Listen For)

Daniel Carter
Daniel Carter September 28, 2026 18 min read

The best interview questions to ask candidates are not clever. Instead, they are simple, job related, and asked the same way to every person in the running. What separates a good hire from an expensive mistake is not the question itself. It is whether the interviewer knows what a strong answer sounds like before the candidate starts talking.

I have spent most of my career in talent acquisition and executive search, sitting in on thousands of interviews from the recruiter screen all the way to the final board conversation. The pattern I see again and again is this: hiring managers walk in with a list of questions they found online, ask them in a different order each time, and then make a decision based on who they “clicked” with. However, that is not assessment. That is a coffee chat with a salary attached.

So this is not just another list. For each of the 30 interview questions to ask candidates below, I will tell you why I ask it and, more importantly, what I am listening for. In other words, use them as a menu, not a script. Pick the ones that map to the role, and then hold every candidate to the same standard.

Before You Ask Candidates Interview Questions: Structure Beats Charm

The research on this has been consistent for decades. In the widely cited Schmidt and Hunter meta analysis, structured interviews showed a predictive validity of .51 for job performance, compared with .38 for unstructured conversations. A more recent reanalysis by Sackett and colleagues revised many of those numbers downward, but structured interviews still came out as one of the strongest single predictors, at about .42.

Similarly, Google reached the same conclusion from its own hiring data. Its re:Work guidance says that using vetted questions and scoring rubrics saved interviewers an average of 40 minutes per interview, and candidate satisfaction went up, even among people who were not hired.

How to Structure the Interview Questions You Ask Candidates

In practice, structure means three things. First, decide the four to six competencies the role truly needs before you meet anyone, ideally pulled straight from a well written job description. Second, ask every candidate the same core questions, with room for follow up probes, whether they came from a referral, a sourcing campaign, or free job posting sites. Third, score each answer on its own, in writing, before you compare notes with the rest of the panel. Consequently, the interview questions to ask candidates below become far more powerful once you do that.

Interview Questions to Ask Candidates About Motivation and Career Story (1 to 10)

These interview questions to ask candidates open the interview. They relax the candidate, but they also tell you whether this person made deliberate choices in their career or simply drifted from one job to the next.

1. Walk me through your career, and tell me why you made each move.

Most people answer the first half and skip the second. However, I care most about the “why.” Listen for a thread that connects the moves, even if it is only visible in hindsight. A strong candidate can explain what they were running toward, not just what they were running from. If every exit was caused by a bad boss or a reorganization, make a note and probe gently later.

2. What made you say yes to this conversation?

This is my favorite opener for passive candidates, the kind you usually reach through a targeted Boolean search. After all, the honest answer tells you what actually motivates them right now, whether that is scope, money, leadership, stability, or mission. Listen for specifics about your company or the role. A vague answer like “it seemed like a great opportunity” usually means they have not done their homework.

3. What do you know about what we do, and where do you think we could do better?

The first part tests preparation. Meanwhile, the second part tests judgment and nerve. You are not looking for a consultant’s report. You are listening for a thoughtful observation delivered with tact. Candidates who can respectfully point out a gap tend to be the same people who will raise problems early once they are on your team.

4. What is the accomplishment you are proudest of, and what was your specific part in it?

The second half of the question does the heavy lifting. In particular, listen for “I” versus “we.” Good candidates credit the team but can clearly name the decisions and actions that were theirs. If you cannot tell what they personally did after two follow ups, that is information too.

5. Tell me about a job or project that did not suit you. What did you learn about yourself?

This question reveals self knowledge and fit at the same time. I listen for a candidate who can describe the mismatch without blaming anyone. The best answers end with a clear lesson that shaped their later choices, such as learning they need autonomy or that they do their best work close to customers.

6. What would make you turn down an offer from us?

Candidates rarely expect this one, which is exactly why it works. As a result, you learn their true deal breakers early, before you invest three more rounds. Listen for honesty about compensation, location, travel, or reporting lines. A candidate who says “nothing” is either very eager or not being straight with you.

7. Where do you want to be growing over the next two to three years?

I avoid the tired “five years” version. Instead, two to three years is concrete enough to answer honestly. Listen for whether their growth goals can realistically happen in this role. A candidate who wants to manage a team within a year, for a role with no direct reports, is a retention risk no matter how talented they are.

8. What kind of manager brings out your best work, and what kind shuts it down?

This one protects both sides. Listen for specific behaviors rather than personality labels. “I do well when my manager gives me the outcome and lets me figure out the path” is useful. Then compare it honestly with how the actual hiring manager operates.

9. Tell me about something you taught yourself in the last year.

Learning agility predicts how someone will handle a role that changes under them, which most roles now do. Listen for initiative and a clear method. Did they take a course, build something, find a mentor? In the end, the topic matters less than the fact that they chose to learn without being told to.

10. If I called your last manager today, what would they say you should work on?

This is the weakness question with teeth. Because it implies a reference check, candidates tend to answer more truthfully. Listen for a real development area, not a disguised strength like “I work too hard.” Then ask what they are doing about it. The follow up tells you more than the confession.

Behavioral Interview Questions to Ask Candidates (11 to 20)

This is the core of any serious interview, and these are the interview questions to ask candidates when you want hard evidence. Behavioral questions ask for real past examples, on the principle that how someone handled a situation before is the best clue to how they will handle it again. A 2019 study by Christopher Hartwell and colleagues found that past behavioral, situational, and background questions all predicted job performance. Therefore, listen for the full story: the situation, the task, the actions they took, and the result. When a piece is missing, ask for it.

11. Tell me about a time you had to deliver results with far fewer resources than you needed.

Of course, every business runs short on something. Listen for how they prioritized, what they chose not to do, and how they communicated the tradeoff upward. Weak answers describe heroic overtime. In contrast, strong answers describe a smart decision about where to spend limited time and money.

12. Describe a decision you made without all the information you wanted.

This tests comfort with ambiguity, which is a daily reality at any level above entry. Listen for how they gathered what they could, how they judged the risk, and whether they built in a way to correct course. Equally, watch out for candidates who never commit and candidates who never doubt.

13. Tell me about a mistake that cost your team or company something real.

Notice the word “real.” I do not want a story about a typo in a slide deck. Above all, listen for ownership in the first sentence, not the last. The best candidates explain what they did to limit the damage, what they changed afterward, and how they rebuilt trust. If the story ends with someone else being at fault, that is your answer.

14. Give me an example of a time you disagreed with your manager. What happened?

This reveals whether a candidate can push back without burning bridges. Listen for disagreement delivered privately, backed by evidence, and followed by commitment once a decision was made. On the other hand, a person who has never disagreed with a boss is either very new or very quiet, and neither is ideal in a senior hire.

15. Walk me through a problem you solved that others had given up on.

Persistence and creativity show up here. Listen for a clear diagnosis of why earlier attempts failed and what they did differently. I also pay attention to how they talk about the people who gave up. Respect for colleagues, even while outperforming them, is a strong cultural signal.

16. Tell me about a time you changed your mind because of new evidence.

Intellectual honesty is rare and valuable. Listen for a real reversal, ideally on something they cared about. Conversely, candidates who cannot recall ever changing their mind tend to struggle in fast moving companies where yesterday’s plan is often wrong by next quarter.

17. Describe a time you had to juggle several urgent priorities at once. How did you decide what came first?

Most importantly, listen for a method, not just stamina. Did they talk to stakeholders, look at deadlines and impact, or push back on something? The ability to say “not now” to the right request is one of the most underrated skills in any professional services role.

18. Tell me about a time you noticed a problem that was not your responsibility.

This question separates owners from renters. Specifically, listen for what they did next. Did they flag it, fix it, or ignore it? The strongest candidates found the right person, raised it clearly, and followed up. That behavior is what you want on your team when no one is watching.

19. Give me an example of a goal you missed. What would you do differently?

Most interview processes only hear success stories. This one, however, shows how a candidate relates to failure. Listen for accurate analysis rather than excuses, and for a specific change in approach. “I would plan better” is weak. “I would have set a checkpoint at week three instead of waiting until the deadline” is strong.

20. If you started here on Monday and found that a key project was two weeks behind, what would you do in your first 48 hours?

This is a situational question, so it is hypothetical by design. I use one or two of these to see how a candidate thinks on their feet. In particular, listen for questions before action. The best candidates want to understand why the project slipped, who is involved, and what the real deadline is before they start reassigning work.

Interview Questions to Ask Candidates About Collaboration and Leadership (21 to 30)

Skills get people hired. However, the way they work with others is usually what gets them fired. These final interview questions to ask candidates tell you how a candidate will actually show up on a Tuesday afternoon when things are not going well.

21. Tell me about the most difficult colleague you have worked with. How did you handle it?

Listen closely to how they describe the other person. Fair, specific language is a good sign. On the other hand, name calling or eye rolling is not. The strongest answers show an effort to understand the other person’s pressures and a practical approach that improved the working relationship, even if they never became friends.

22. Describe a time you had to influence someone you had no authority over.

In matrixed organizations and client facing roles, influence without authority is the job. Listen for how they built credibility, found shared goals, and adjusted their message for the audience. For this reason, candidates who only know how to escalate will struggle here.

23. How do you explain a complex idea to someone outside your field? Show me.

I like to ask candidates to actually do this, using a concept from their own work. Listen for plain language, a useful example, and checks for understanding. In fact, this is one of the quickest ways to assess communication skill, and it matters in every role that touches clients or leadership.

24. Tell me about a time you gave someone difficult feedback.

For managers, this question is essential. For individual contributors, it still shows maturity. Listen for preparation, specificity, and care. The best answers describe feedback that was delivered privately and soon, focused on behavior rather than personality, and followed up later.

25. And the reverse: tell me about feedback you received that was hard to hear.

This pairs with question 24 and is often more revealing. Listen for what they did with it. For example, defensiveness in the retelling, even years later, is a warning sign. Gratitude and a visible change in behavior are what you hope to hear.

26. For leaders: tell me about someone you hired or developed who went on to outgrow you.

Great leaders build people. Listen for pride in someone else’s success and for the specific things they did to accelerate that growth. Therefore, if a candidate for a leadership role cannot name anyone they developed, I think very hard before moving them forward.

27. Tell me about a time you had to let someone go or remove them from a project.

This tests courage and fairness together. Listen for a process: clear expectations, documented support, and a timely decision. Leaders who wait too long hurt their teams. Likewise, leaders who act without warning hurt trust. Ultimately, you want someone who did the hard thing the right way.

28. What is something most people get wrong about your area of expertise?

This is a fast way to measure depth. Experts have strong, nuanced opinions about common myths in their field. Listen for a clear point of view backed by experience. In contrast, generic answers usually mean the candidate knows the vocabulary but not the craft.

29. What does a great first 90 days in this role look like to you?

Listen for balance between learning and delivering. A candidate who plans to change everything in week one has not respected what already works. Similarly, a candidate who plans only to observe may be too passive. The best answers include early relationship building, one or two quick wins, and a plan to earn the right to make bigger changes. Compare their answer with your own employee onboarding checklist to see how well expectations line up.

30. What questions do you have for me?

Of all the interview questions to ask candidates, never skip this one, and never treat it as a formality. The quality of a candidate’s questions often tells me more than their answers. Listen for questions about how success is measured, what challenges the team faces, and why the role is open. By contrast, candidates who only ask about perks or have no questions at all have usually not thought hard about the job.

Interview Questions You Should Never Ask Candidates

Not all interview questions to ask candidates are worth asking. Some waste time. Others create legal risk. Brainteasers like “how many golf balls fit in a plane” are the first kind. Google, which made them famous, now advises its own teams to avoid them because they do not predict performance.

The second kind, however, is more serious. Questions about age, marital status, pregnancy or family plans, religion, national origin, disability, or health can expose your company to discrimination claims. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is clear that employers should not ask for information that could be used to screen people out on these grounds. For example, even friendly small talk like “do you have kids?” belongs outside the interview room. If a candidate volunteers something personal, acknowledge it politely and move on.

How to Score the Interview Questions You Ask Candidates

A great question with no scoring guide is only half a tool. For each of the interview questions to ask candidates that you use, write down in advance what a weak, acceptable, and strong answer looks like on a simple 1 to 5 scale. Then score immediately after the interview, before you talk to anyone else on the panel. Once the loudest voice in the debrief speaks, independent judgment disappears. Many applicant tracking systems let you build these scorecards directly into each interview stage.

In addition, three habits make scoring more accurate. Take notes on what the candidate said, not how you felt about it. Probe for specifics until you hear the actual actions they took. And separate the evidence from the decision: first agree on the scores, then decide. If you run or plan to start a staffing agency, consistent scorecards also make your shortlists far easier to defend to clients.

The Bottom Line on Interview Questions to Ask Candidates

The best interview questions to ask candidates are the ones that pull real evidence out of real experience. Choose interview questions to ask candidates that fit the role, ask them the same way every time, and know what you are listening for before the candidate walks in. As a result, your hires will surprise you far less often when you do that consistently. In my experience, the companies that treat interviewing as a skill to practice, rather than a conversation to wing, are the ones that stop losing good people six months after they start. Good interviewing is, in that sense, the first of your employee retention strategies.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best interview questions to ask candidates?

The best questions are job related, ask for real past examples, and are asked consistently to every candidate. Behavioral questions such as “tell me about a time you disagreed with your manager” tend to reveal more than hypothetical or personality questions. See the LinkedIn Talent Solutions guide for more examples by interview stage.

How many interview questions to ask candidates in one interview?

For a 45 to 60 minute interview, six to ten well chosen questions is usually enough. Leave room for follow up probes, because the follow up is often where the real answer appears. In short, fewer, deeper questions beat a long checklist.

Should every candidate get the same questions?

Yes, for the core questions. Consistency is what makes answers comparable and reduces bias. Interviewers can still ask different follow ups based on each answer. Google re:Work explains how its teams put this into practice.

What is the STAR method and should interviewers use it?

STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. It is a framework for answering behavioral questions, and interviewers can use it as a listening checklist for behavioral interview questions to ask candidates. If a candidate skips the action or the result, ask for it. SHRM has a helpful overview.

What questions are illegal to ask in an interview?

In the United States, avoid questions about age, race, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, marital or family status, disability, and genetic information. Laws vary by country and state, so check local rules. The EEOC lists prohibited practices.

Are structured interviews really better than a natural conversation?

The research says yes. Structured interviews consistently predict job performance better than unstructured ones, and they also tend to be fairer to candidates. A natural, friendly tone is still welcome. The structure is in the questions and the scoring, not in being robotic.

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