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Sample Standard Questions

• Walk us through your resume as it relates to this position.
• What are your major strengths?
• What are your weaknesses?
• What accomplishments are you most proud of in your career?
• What are your short-term career goals?
• Where do you see yourself in five years?
• In what sort of professional environment do you thrive?
• What motivates you to put forth your greatest effort?
• What things could you do to increase your overall effectiveness?
• Tell me about your communication skills.
• What supervisory or leadership roles have you had?
• Describe your leadership style.
• Have you ever had to fire someone? How did you handle the situation?
• What type of supervision do you prefer?
• How would your previous supervisor describe you?
• Why are you leaving your current position?
• Describe your ideal position.
• What is the most important thing you are looking for in an employer?
• Why are you interested in this position?
• Why do you think you’d like working for our organization?
• What do you know about the position, the organization or the department?
• How would your vision for this position be aligned with this university’s commitment to equity and diversity?
• What do you have to offer this department or organization?
• Why do you feel you will be successful in this role?
• Why should we hire you?

Sample Behavioral Questions

Building Community

• Tell me about a time when you demonstrated your ability to be open to an opinion that was different from yours.
• Tell me about a specific time when you had to handle a tough problem which challenged fairness or ethical issues.
• Describe your experience working in a diverse environment. How did you foster mutual respect for differences?
• UC Davis is committed to our Principles of Community. What is your understanding of what is expected of you as an employee of UC Davis? What is expected of you as a supervisor?
• Given the campus commitment to the Principles of Community, explain what diversity means to you and give an example of a situation where you promoted diversity in the workplace?
• Tell me about a time when you worked with a (student/patient/co-worker) with a different background/culture than yours. What did you do to ensure that you were inclusive of their identity during your interaction?
• Working with people from different backgrounds or cultures can present unique opportunities for collaboration and creativity. Describe a time where a project or decision you made was enhanced by including diverse perspectives.
• Working with people from different backgrounds or cultures can present challenges. Describe a time where differences in background made communication challenging. How did you handle this situation?
• If you were the successful candidate for this position, how would you help develop a sense of belong for (students/patients/employees/customers) from diverse communities? What do you expect the challenges would be? What do you expect the benefits would be?
• Provide an example of a time when you identified a diversity-related issue in your organization. How did you address it?
• Please describe the ways you have promoted diversity, equity and inclusion in your current or previous position(s).
• What do you see as the most challenging aspect of a diverse academic environment? What steps have you taken to meet this challenge?
• Describe your understanding of what it means to you to work in a diverse environment and what, if any, value it has for an organization?
• What specific skills do you have that will enable you to work effectively in this multicultural environment?

Communication

• Describe a situation in which you were able to use persuasion to convince someone to approach things differently.
• Tell me about a time in which you had to use your written communication skills in order to get an important point across.
• What has been your experience in making presentations to small or large groups?
• Tell me about a time when you had to resolve a difference of opinion with a co-worker/customer/supervisor.
• Give me a specific example of a time when you had to address an angry customer. What was the problem and what was the outcome? How would you assess your role in defusing the situation?
• How have you made your voice heard in an environment of strong-willed individuals?

Professional Development

• What have you done to further your own professional development in the last five years?
• Tell me how you stay current in your field.

Initiative

• Tell me about a time when you demonstrated your ability to gain support for a new program.
• Give me an example of a time when there was a decision to be made and procedures were not in place? What did you do?
• When you have discovered a problem in your work performance, what was your course of action? Can you give me an example?
• Tell me about a time when you made changes to current operations to meet future needs.
• Tell me about a time when you sought out for additional responsibility.
• Tell me about a project/suggestion that you initiated. Explain how you communicated the project/suggestion.
• Tell me about a time when you had to go above and beyond the call of duty in order to get a job done.

Job Effectiveness

• Tell me about a time when you demonstrated your ability to work effectively under pressure.
• Tell me about a recent job or experience that you would describe as a real learning experience. What did you learn from the job or the experience?
• Tell me about a time when you were asked to complete a difficult assignment. What did you learn from that experience?
• Tell me about a time when you demonstrated your ability to make an unpopular decision.
• Tell me about a time when you demonstrated your ability to surmount a major obstacle.
• Tell me about a time you had to prioritize the elements of a complicated project
• Give me one example of when priorities changed quickly and what you did.
• Tell me about a tough decision you made. What steps, thought processes and considerations did you take?
• Tell me about a decision you made but wish you had done differently.
• Give an example of a difficult situation you had at work and tell me how you handled it.

Teamwork

• Tell me about a time when you demonstrated your ability to work with others to complete a project.
• Please give me your best example of working cooperatively as a team member to accomplish an important goal. What was the goal or objective? What was your role in achieving this objective? To what extent did you interact with others on this project?
• Tell me about a time when your coworkers gave you feedback about your actions. How did you respond? What changes did you make?

Supervision

• What methods do you use to ensure that staff feels valued for their contributions?
• Tell me about a time when you had to give feedback to someone who was performing below expectations.
• Discuss a work situation in which you felt you successfully directed the work of others.
• Tell me about a time when you were responsible for hiring and orienting a new employee. What did you do to help them adjust?
• Tell me about a time when you needed to delegate parts of a large assignment. What was the outcome?
• Give me a specific example of how you have empowered your staff to make independent decisions.