1. Complete all chapter readings from your textbook.

1. Create EIGHT (8) legal, effective, and well-written questions.

• For each question you ask your candidate, include the response you are looking for as if you were actually asking the question to the candidate.
• Whether seeking CAN DO or WILL DO information from the candidates, the questions should be specific to the job for which you are selecting.
• DO NOT ASK YES/NO QUESTIONS.

DEVELOPING INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

The interview is usually the most important tool of all in the selection process, but the interview will only help you select the most qualified candidate if you have effective questions. The questions need to cover whatever CAN DO factors you can't test for and are usually the primary means of uncovering the WILL DO factors.

1. A typical one-hour interview usually has 8 - 16 carefully constructed questions. If you have more than one interview as part of the selection process, you will need more interview questions. If there is only one interview, it should be structured and have a balance of CAN DO and WILL DO questions. If there are two interviews, the first should be structured and focus on CAN DO questions. The second interview with the remaining top candidates can then be less structured and focus on more of the WILL DO factors.

1. Much interview time and effort are wasted because of poor questions. Very general questions (what are your strengths?) or ones that any candidate can easily answer (what are the qualities of a good employee?) will not give the interviewer(s) the information that s/he needs to distinguish between candidates accurately. Therefore, whether probing for CAN DO or a WILL DO factors, interview questions need to be tailored to the specific job and phrased so as to get the candidate to provide information about their knowledge, skills, abilities, and motivation for the specific job.

1. For CAN DO type interview questions, there are four different types of questions to ask - notice that they are all open-ended and specific to a job: background, job knowledge, situational, and past behavior. Some sample interview questions are listed below:

Background Questions - Examples:

• What work experiences, training or other qualifications do you have for working in a teamwork environment?
• What experience do you have with direct point-of-purchase sales?

Job Knowledge Questions - Examples:

• What steps would you follow in conducting a brainstorming session with employees on safety?
• What factors should you consider when developing a television ad campaign?

Situational Questions - Examples:

• Suppose a co-worker did not follow standard procedures. The co-worker is more experienced than you and claims her procedure works better. She says you should use it too. What would you do?
• Suppose you were giving a sales presentation and a difficult technical question came up that you could not answer. What would you do?

Past Behavior Questions - Examples:

• Based on your past experience, what is the most significant action you have taken to help a co-worker?
• Describe a specific sales presentation that you developed that you think was particularly effective. How would that experience help you in this job?