Position Name: Personal Banker – Retail
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 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 accomplishment on your resume are you most proud of?
Technical 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
What specific areas (related to the position) do you consider yourself the most knowledgeable? What areas have you had less experience or do not feel as comfortable with?
What has given you the greatest sense of achievement at work and why?
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?
Change Management
Describe for me the most difficult change in the workplace that you needed to deal with. How did you overcome resistance?
Situation:
Action:
Result:
Tell me about a situation where you needed to adjust quickly to a significant change in team or department priorities? What did you do? What was the outcome?
Situation:
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Communication
To get our points across, we sometimes need to use differing approaches when talking with different types of people. Talk to me about a time when you have done that successfully.
Situation:
Action:
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Tell me about a time when you had to give instructions to another person who was having difficulty understanding. What did you do?
Situation:
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Do you tend to take an observer/listener role or be an active participant in meetings? Tell me about a time when your preferred style worked well and a time when it didn’t.
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Customer Focused
When a customer irritates you, how do you react? Tell me about a time that happened.
Situation:
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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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How do you go about understanding the expectations of your customer—internal and external? Walk me through an example with an actual customer.
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Describe a time when you successfully handled a customer complaint.
Situation:
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Integrity
What do you do when your manager directs you to do something that you know is against company policy and practices?
Situation:
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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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What tools do you use to plan your day? How do these help you determine priorities? How do you keep others informed?
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Tell me about a time when a coworker did not report to work and you had to take on extra duties to help out in that absence. How did you plan your day? What did you do?
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Describe a situation that didn’t go as planned. What would you have done differently?
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Relationship Building
How does one go about building rapport quickly and maintaining successful business relationships? Give examples of how you made these work for you.
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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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Sales
How do you prepare to call a past or current customer?
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What has been your most difficult sales situation?
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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 could you bring to this position that other candidates could not?
What is the best thing a previous employer did that you wish everyone did?
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?