Position Name: Renewal Energy Leader
Interviewer
Candidate Name
Interview Date
Introductory Questions
– Interviewer(s) share name, role, tenure, and hand business cards for thank you messages – Share a brief overview of the company
– Give Candidate the Job Description, highlight Job Purpose, Schedule/Travel, Major Challenges & Key Decisions, and Physical Requirements
Tell us about yourself.
Walk us through your professional background.
What type of environment do you thrive in? What type of management style do you enjoy most?
What are your short and long-term professional goals?
What do you know about our organization?
Transitional & Verification Questions
– Clarify any unclear information from resume or application
– Verify availability for work hours and schedule, start date, and other important details
What interests you about this role?
What interests you about working for us?
Are you able to perform the essential functions of this position with or without reasonable accommodation?
Will you now or at any point in the future require visa sponsorship to work for us?
Behavioral / Situational Questions
– Ask job related questions, based on skills and competencies needed for the role
– Ask open ended questions that allow candidates to tell a story about a specific example
– Ask 5-10 questions based on the role and how much time you have (~3-4 minutes per question)
– Listen for recent examples, details, consistency, the candidate’s role in the story, and teamwork
– Take notes and ask clarifying questions as follow-ups. Follow up questions may include:
- Tell us more about the action you took and the outcome.
- What did you say at that point?
- How did you react to that situation?
- Explain your role in more detail.
- Tell me in detail what steps you took.
- And what was the result?
- Describe the obstacles you faced in getting it done.
- What other options did you consider?
- Why do you think you reacted as you did?
- How do you think others felt about your actions at the time?
- Were you satisfied with the outcome of your actions?
- If the same or a similar situation presented itself, what would you do differently?
Adaptability
Tell me about a time when you had to deal with changes in organizational direction that impacted your work. How did you respond?
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What is one of the most challenging changes you have faced at work? How did it impact you? What was the outcome?
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What is the most difficult or frustrating part of constant change for you? How have you coped with it?
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Tell me about a time when you faced a significant challenge working with people from a different department? What actions did you take?
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Innovation
Describe a problem you or a customer was facing at work where you designed an effective solution.
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Describe a process or system you knew could be better. How did you design and get approval to make improvements?
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Share an example of an idea you had that others thought was far fetched or risky.
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Learning Agility
Tell me about a time that you were involved in a team project that failed. What was the situation and what did you learn from that experience?
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Explain the quickest and the toughest mental transition you have ever had to make.
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Describe a time when you anticipated potential problems and developed preventive measures.
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Describe a time when you overcame a major obstacle.
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Describe a situation when you had to get started on something but didn’t know what to do.
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Sales
Tell us about a time that you promised a customer something before securing agreement internally.
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Share a time when you or the company could not deliver on a promise to a customer.
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Skilled Trades
Describe a time you respectfully handled a disagreement between a coworker or property owner. How did you work to resolve it?
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Please describe your past or current OSHA trainings and certifications.
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What motivates you or keeps you going during the workday in this field?
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How do you wrap up a day’s work? What steps do you take to ensure the job is complete or ready for the next day
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We work in all weather conditions and this work can be physically demanding. Describe for me what the hardest day could look like in this job.
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What is the next piece of equipment or skill certification you’d like to learn?
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Tell me about a time that you struggled to accurately interpret site plans and project blueprints?
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How would you manage a situation where the property owner is not happy with the quality of the work?
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How important is quality control to you when completing a project and why? Please share an example of a time when you had to make sacrifices to quality.
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How would you ensure there is effective communication among the members of your team during a project?
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Systems Thinking
To what extent do your individual contributions impact end use customers?
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Teamwork/Team Building
When it comes to group dynamics, what do you believe hinders teamwork the most?
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What do you believe makes a team successful?
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You’re leading a team on a highly time-sensitive project when suddenly, a colleague challenges the direction of the strategy you’re proposing. How do you address this challenge while keeping up with the timeline?
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Describe your most recent conflict within a team setting because of a miscommunication and how you were able to solve it.
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Tell us about a time when someone wasn’t pulling their weight on a team. What was the situation and how did you manage through it?
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Time Management
Talk about a time you were overloaded.
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How do you structure your day? Your week?
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Self Awareness & Development
What personality types would you rather not work with?
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How do you measure your own success?
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Describe a time when you volunteered to take on something new so that you could learn from it.
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Tell me about a recent time when your job knowledge helped save the day.
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What have you done in the last year to upgrade or improve your skills?
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What has been the most difficult criticism/feedback for you to receive?
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What have you discovered about yourself through your career?
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How have your served as a role model for others?
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Give me an example of a goal you set for yourself and how you achieved it. Give me an example of a time when you faced obstacles that kept you from meeting a goal.
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Safety
How do you ensure your work is performed in a safe manner?
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Tell me about a time when you had to compromise a safety procedure to expedite a task you had to complete. What was the outcome?
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Tell me about a time when you saw a safety hazard at work? What did you do?
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Results Orientation
Tell me about two recent instances that showcase your drive for stellar results.
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Tell me about a time when you went above and beyond the “call-of-duty” to get the job done. How were your efforts recognized?
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Relationship Building
Give 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 asses your role in diffusing the situation?
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Quality
Tell me about a time when you were given constructive feedback. How did you use it to improve your quality of work?
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Project Management
Tell me about the steps you have taken to get a project back on track when it was at risk of not being completed on time. Give me a specific example.
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Process Management
Do you believe there are times it may be appropriate to disregard a process? If so, when?
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Problem Solving
Have you ever had to fix a problem twice? Describe the situation.
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Tell me about a time when you encountered a problem and your supervisor was not available to help you. How did you handle the problem?
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Describe a problem you solved before anyone realized it was a problem.
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Tell me about a problem that needed fixing where you weren’t sure how to approach it.
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Planning & Organization
Describe a time when you were facing a challenging circumstance, personally or professionally. How did it affect your work? What did you do to balance the situation and stay on top of your workload?
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Performance Management
Share your philosophy or approach to knowing if a performance issue is a training issue or not.
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How would you handle an employee with poor or marginal performance who has been led to believe by previous leadership that they are meeting expectations.
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Managing Others
What is your approach in giving difficult feedback? Give me an example of a time when that worked well/didn’t work well.
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Describe a situation where you needed to motivate a difficult employee? What was the outcome?
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Describe your approach to hiring staff. What elements comprise this process?
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What is your greatest personal struggle in supervising others? Give me an example of a time when you overcame one of your struggled and resolved a problem.
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Tell me about an employee whose skills have increased because of your supervision.
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Describe your management style. Tell me about a situation that exemplifies your management style.
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If you could change one managerial decision you made during the past two years, what would that be?
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What have you done to develop a successor for your position?
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Leadership
How are you more self-aware now than earlier in your career? Are there certain tools you use to help in your leadership self-awareness?
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Tell me about a time when you had to inspire or energize an unmotivated individual or group. How did you do it and what was the result?
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Integrity
Tell me about a time you were new to a company or work group. What steps did you take to build trust with coworkers and/or staff?
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Discuss a time when your integrity was challenged. How did you handle it?
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Emotional Intelligence
What do you do when you think someone is not listening to you? Give me an example of a time when that happened.
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Describe a situation when it was more difficult for you to maintain self-control.
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Delegation
When delegating, are you more comfortable giving the person to whom you delegated full authority or closely monitoring progress? Give me an example of when this worked well/didn’t work well.
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Decision Making
Describe a decision you had to make when you were really torn between the alternatives. How did you finally decide? What was the outcome?
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Customer Focused
Have you ever had to go the extra mile to satisfy a customer? Tell me what you did and what was the result?
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What does the term “internal customer service” mean to you? Tell me about a time you demonstrated excellent internal customer service.
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Critical Thinking
Describe for me a recent time when you needed to make a job-related decision but did not have all of the information you needed. How did you go about completing the task?
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Creativity/Innovation
Give me an example of how you came up with a unique and novel solution to a problem.
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What is the most innovative thing you have done in the last six months? Why did you go this direction? What was the driving business need?
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Analytical/Detail Orientation
There are times when we inadvertently let details “slip through the cracks.” Tell me about a time when this happened to you. What was the cause? What were the results?
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Change Management
Tell me about a time when you were opposed to a change that affected your work practices. How did you get through it?
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Candidate’s Questions
– Be sure to leave time for their questions, generally 1-3
– Paint a positive but honest view of the pros and cons of the work and culture
Notes
Closing Questions
– Describe where you are in the process, next steps, and when they can expect to hear back
– Ask if they have any final remarks
What is one thing I should know about you that I haven’t asked?
What do you hope to find in our organization that you don’t have now?
Interviewer Assessment
Enter your overall assessment about the candidate’s knowledge, skills, abilities, and fit for this position.
Would you recommend this candidate advance in the process?