15 Interview Questions You Can't Dodge or Fake

Here are 15 that penetrate to the core of several critical performances area and are extremely difficult to dodge, game, or fake:

Collaboration
We all have things about us that make it hard for other people to work with us. What makes it hard to work with you?

Critical Thinking and Problem Framing
How do you approach a complicated problem that you have never seen before?

Confidence, Responding to Uncertainty and Ambiguity
Tell me about a time when you had to go with your gut instinct and intuition to make a hard choice under pressure?

Self-Directed Learning Agility
Tell me about an important skill you have developed on your own?

Hubris/Humility
Please share a specific experience that shows you have your ego under control?

Influence, Courage, and Innovation
What was the last idea or suggestion you presented to your organization that was rejected or accepted?
What happened?

Coahability and Tolerance for Candor
When was the last time you got some tough feedback? What did you do?

Adaptability and Resilience
Give me an example of a time when prioritites suddenly shifted. What did you do to respond in that situation?

Curiosity, Mental Tenacity, and Problem solving
What's the most pressing question you are asking yourself right now in your role and don't have an answer for?

Strategic Thinking, Initiative, Urgency, and Confidence
When was the last time you failed to act quickly enough? What happened?

Ownership and Accountability
Tell me about a time in your professional life when you failed to meet objectives you had committed to.

Self-awareness
What would your peers, direct reports, and manager say about you? How would they describe your patterns?

Drive, Value, and Performance
Can you identify an area of performance where you personally have set the standard?

Self-reflection and Accountability
Give me an example of a time when you didn't do the best work of which you are capable.

Ethics and integrity
Tell me about the little things you do to ensure that you are acting ethically and with integrity. How do you sweat the small stuff?

The interview is typically the culminating stage of the hiring process. Everything else-resumes, references, assessments, portfolios, networks and connections-becomes secondary support. The precious few questions you choose to ask in the interview will shape the entire experience.

Of course there are different questions for different roles and hiring objectives, but there are some questions that universally and consistently yield meaningful results in almost any kind of hiring interview. Sharp or blunt, they are the instruments that draw out the information you will likely use to make your hiring decision.