What are questionnaires for interviews?

At the most basic level, an interview questionnaire is a series of prompts, often organized by category, that a job candidate must answer. An interview questionnaire can be a focused list specific to the exact open position or a more broad list suitable for giving a variety of candidates for different roles.

There are two main ways in which questionnaires for interviews can be used; it’s up to you if you want to use it the first way, the second way or both ways. 

Using an interview questionnaire as a screening tool

The first way questionnaires for interviews are used is as a tool for screening candidates to see if they should advance to the next round, whether that’s an in-person, phone or video interview. 

Using this method, candidates are provided with a list of questions and space to answer them. Depending on the systems your company uses, this may take the shape of an online form or the answers may be sent via email.

Using an interview questionnaire during an interview

The second way to use the questionnaire is as a method for guiding the conversation during a job interview. When conducting job interviews, questionnaires help shape the conversation between you and the candidate, ensuring you get the information you need from them. It can be frustrating to conclude a job interview only to realize you forgot to ask the candidate something crucial for assessing their suitability for an open role. A questionnaire prevents this. 

The list of questions you prepare for the interview may be long, in which case you might pick and choose what to ask on the fly depending on the direction the interview takes. On the other hand, you may have a tight list of questions, all of which you want to get answers to before the job interview concludes. 

Why you should use interview questionnaires 

When you use an interview questionnaire as a tool for prescreening, you can eliminate candidates fairly quickly: If they don’t answer the questions properly or leave something blank, you can cross them off your list.

Ideally, a prescreening interview questionnaire will also give you questions to follow up on if you decide to advance the candidate to the interview round. 

There are a number of benefits to using the questionnaire during an actual interview. It will ensure that you don’t forget to include the one interview question you should always be asking or any underrated interview questions you might have not otherwise thought of.

Other benefits include the following: 

• Steering the conversation and staying on focus: Having a written list of questions to ask keeps you focused on what you need to accomplish with the interview. It should also help prevent you from drifting into less relevant conversational areas and to avoid repetition.
• Assuring you cover topics suggested by coworkers: An interview questionnaire allows you to consult coworkers or superiors before the interview to see if there’s anything they think you should ask on their behalf. If those colleagues aren’t present in the interview, it can be easy to forget to act as their interview advocate. Having an interview questionnaire that includes their prompts should assist in preventing that. 
• Helping you take notes on what to follow up on: As you take notes under each question, you can take stock of what the candidate said. You can also refer to the notes later to see what to pursue in follow-up interviews if the candidate advances.    

Sample interview questionnaires for screening and evaluating job candidates

Below are a number of interview questions you can ask candidates either as prescreening questions or during a live interview, broken down into categories. Asking every question below would take all day, so choose the ones you think are the best for the role and your organization.

Interview questions for background

1. Can you please tell me about yourself and describe your background?
2. How did the education you receive help prepare you for this position?
3. How did you hear about this position?
4. How long have you been working in our industry?
5. Do you have a personal mission or vision statement?
6. What about this position most makes you want to work here?
7. What about this company most makes you want to work here? 
8. What’s something I should know about you that I won’t see listed on your resume?
9. What have you learned in a previous position that will help you succeed at this job?
10. What aspects of your current position do you think are similar to this position? Do you see any differences?
11. What are you most proud of so far in your career? 
12. Why did you leave your last position (if applicable)?  
13. What do you dislike about your current job? 
14. Tell me about a work achievement in the past year that you think resonates with the work you’d be performing here. 
15. Is this the only job you’ve applied for recently, or are you looking at other places to work? 
16. If I called up your previous supervisor, how would they describe you?
17. Do you think you’re ready for this job, or would it be something of a professional stretch for you?

Interview questions about interpersonal skills 

1. Do you consider yourself more of a team player or someone who likes to work independently? 
2. How do you handle yourself and how do you cope during stressful work situations?  
3. What is your greatest work strength, and what would you say one of your greatest personal strengths is?
4. What motivates you to succeed at work?
5. What would you say is your greatest passion at work? What about outside of work? 
6. Use five adjectives to describe yourself as a worker.
7. Use five adjectives to describe yourself as a person.
8. Have you ever been in a situation in which you were at loggerheads with your supervisor? How did you resolve it? 
9. Everyone has a weakness, but what have you done in the workplace to overcome this weakness? 

Interview questions for assessing candidate qualification 

1. How have you used [X piece of software] in your current position? Do you consider yourself to be an expert at it?
2. What do you find is the most challenging aspect of working with [X software]?
3. How do you handle multiple projects at the same time, and do you feel you ever have trouble managing your time?
4. Tell me about a situation you had in your previous/current position where there was conflict among your team, and how did you help solve the situation?
5. Have you ever managed a team before? If not, do you think you would be able to manage a team at this company if the situation arose?

Interview Questionnaire Templates for PDF & Word

Use these interview questionnaire templates to help you screen potential candidates and assess candidates.

*Indeed provides these examples as a courtesy to users of this site. Please note that we are not your HR or legal adviser, and none of these documents reflect current labor or employment regulations.