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Situational interview

24 February, 2015 - 17:30

A situational interview requires the applicant to explain how he or she would handle a series of hypothetical situations. Situational-based questions evaluate the applicant’s judgment, ability, and knowledge (Latham & Saari, 1984). Before administering this type of interview, it is a good idea for the hiring manager to consider possible responses and develop a scoring key for evaluation purposes. Examples of situational interview questions:

  • You and a colleague are working on a project together; however, your colleague fails to do his agreed portion of the work. What would you do?
  • A client approaches you and claims that she has not received a payment that supposedly had been sent five days ago from your office. She is very angry. What would you do?

(Creating Situational Interviews and Rating Scales)