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Interviews are fundamental to the success of building successful teams. It’s essential to reevaluate your questions to ensure you’re authentically assessing your candidates. Below are some less common interview questions that may enable you to get a better glimpse of your candidates, whether the interviews be in person or virtually.

General:

• Why do you want this job?
• What specific skill set do you bring to this job?
• What do you bring to our organization that other candidates do not?
• Tell me how you organize, plan, and prioritize your work.
• Tell me about an experience in which you analyzed information and evaluated results to choose the best solution to a problem.
• Provide an experience in which you were sensitive to someone’s needs or feelings. How did your helpfulness affect your work environment?
• Share an experience in which you used new training skills, ideas, or a method to adapt to a unique situation or improve an ongoing one. (Look for the candidate’s ability to learn.)
• Name a time when your patience was tested. How did you keep your emotions in check?
• In your experience, what is the key to developing a good team? (Look for how they build mutual trust, respect, and cooperation.)

Behavioural Based:

• Tell us about a time you used data to make a decision.
• Share an experience in which personal connections to coworkers or others helped you to be successful in your work.
• Describe a time when you were faced with problems or stresses at work that tested your coping skills. What did you do? 
• Tell me about a specific occasion when you conformed to a policy even though you did not agree with it. 
• Give me an example of a time when you used your fact-finding skills to gain information needed to solve a problem; then, tell me how you analyzed the information and came to a decision.
• Describe a situation in which you were able to read another person effectively and guide your actions by your understanding of his/her individual needs or values. 

Residence Life Specific:

• What ideas do you have for reaching out to first-year students?
• How do you maintain a professional boundary with students?
• How do you increase student participation at school events?
• What three factors are most important for student success?
• What role does data play in student success?
• What is the most critical aspect of the RA/HD/AC role?
• What is the key to success when communicating with students?
• Describe an experience in which you identified the educational needs of your students and successfully developed a way to teach/train them.

For empathy interview questions, check out our blog here. We also have information about virtual interviews, trust and efficiencies in hiring practices, and group interview processes.

Welcome to the community. We’re glad you’re here.

Sources:

https://www.jobinterviewquestions.com/academic/housing-and-residence-life-director/page/4
https://www.uidaho.edu/current-students/career-services/students-and-alumni/interviews/common-questions
https://www.interviewstrategies.com/interview-questions-for-higher-education-professionals-student-affairs/
https://www.hr.ubc.ca/administrators/files/common_behavioural_interview_questions.pdf

Tags: behavioural questions, hiring, interview questions, interviewing, interviews, less common, selection, staff selection, virtual interviewing