In our last blog we looked at a series of tips on competency based interview questions and how to handle them. This week we thought we would have a look at Role Based Interview Questions.

Where as a competency based questions are becoming more and more common, particularly with graduate hires, role based interview questions are seeking to understand a specific candidates industry expertise.  A good rule of advice is irrespective of the type of question asked; if you have applicable industry expertise, use it first. Remember to give detailed examples that tell the story.

Developing Others

• Tell me about a time when you coached someone to help them improve their skills or job performance.  What did you do?
• Describe a time when you provided feedback to someone about his or her performance. How did you handle the situation?
• Give me an example of a time when you recognized that a member of your team had a performance difficulty/deficiency.  What did you do?

Impact and Influence

• Describe a recent situation in which you convinced an individual or a group to take on board your ideas.
• Describe a time when you went through a series of steps to influence an individual or a group on an important issue.
• Describe a situation in which you needed to influence different stakeholders with differing perspectives.
  Innovation
• Describe something you have done that was new and different for your organization that improved performance and/or productivity.
• Tell me about a time when you identified a new, unusual or different approach for addressing a problem or task.
• Tell me about a recent problem in which previously used solutions wouldn't work.  How did you solve the problem

Relationship Building

• Describe a situation in which you developed an effective win/win relationship with a stakeholder or client.
• How did you go about building the relationship?
• Tell me about a time when you relied on a contact in your network to help you with a work-related task or problem.
• Give me an example of a time when you deliberately attempted to build rapport with a co-worker or customer.

Self-Management

• Describe the level of stress in your job and what you do to manage it.
• Describe a time when you were in a high-pressure situation. How did you ensure you performed to the best of your ability?
• Describe a time when things didn't turn out as you had planned and you had to analyse the situation to address the issue. What did you learn?

Strategic Thinking

• Describe a challenge or opportunity you identified based on your industry knowledge, and how you developed a strategy to respond to it.
• Describe a time you created a strategy to achieve a longer-term business objective.
• Describe a time when you used your business knowledge to understand a specific situation.