• Calm under fire.

Tell us about a time when you had to make a choice that affected someone close to you, but you didn’t have enough information to be confident in your decision. What did you do?

Tell us about a time when you had to make a decision without having enough time to fully consider the alternatives. What was the outcome and how did you deal with the outcome?

Tell us about a time when a crucial piece of equipment failed on you (car, photocopier, air conditioner, computer). What did you do? How did you interact with others in the situation? How was the situation resolved?

• Organized multitasker.

Tell us about your biggest time crunch; a situation where you had significantly more things to do than you had time to do them in. How did you decide what to do and how did you deal with the consequences?

Tell us about a time when you were given a large assignment with no lead time and a short deadline. How did you cope? What was the outcome?

• Communicates opinions with ease.

Tell us about a time when you had to give bad news to someone close to you.

Tell us about a time when you disagreed with someone close to you about something important. How did you tell them?

Tell us about a time when you disagreed with someone you disliked about something important. How did you tell them?

• Ability to clearly direct people.

Tell us about a time when you had to give instructions for an immediate task to someone who was struggling to understand.

Tell us about a time when you had to assign a project to someone you didn’t like and whom you felt was incapable of accomplishing the task. What did you do?

Tell us about a time when you assigned a complex task to a large group. How did you ensure everyone knew what to do?

• Solid decision-making skills.

Tell us about a time when you made a decision which was initially seen as disastrous, but eventually turned out to be correct.

Tell us about a time when you had to make a controversial decision which impacted people close to you. How did you go about making the decision and communicating it to those who needed to know? What happened? How did you implement the decision?

• Quick reflexes.

Tell us about the quickest decision you ever made.

Tell us about a snap decision you made where you got it wrong. Tell us about the next decision you faced.

Tell us about a time when you faced a series of snap decisions where each choice impacted the next decision and where you didn’t have time to stop and think. How did you cope?

• Passionate about subject area.

Tell us about a time when you realized your excitement about a topic caused you to monopolize a conversation and annoy the other participants? How did you respond?

Tell us about a time when you were assigned a task for which you had no enthusiasm. How did it impact your performance? How did you cope?

• Reviews information and situations critically.

Tell us about a time when you had to review the performance of someone close to you. How did you ensure your review was unbiased by your preexisting feelings toward that person?

Tell us about a time when you shared your honest assessment with someone who had asked for your opinion but was actually just looking for approval. What did you do?

Have you ever been in a “the emperor has no clothes” situation? What did you do?

• Does not have to be major “team player” or very socially capable, but able to communicate across teams.

Tell us about a time when you had to communicate something important to a person you either didn’t like or didn’t know very well. How did you ensure they understood your message?

Tell us about a time when you quickly built rapport with a person you didn’t know.

Tell us about a time when you exchanged consequential information with someone you did not know very well. How did you quickly build trust? How confident were you in the level of communication when the exchange was completed?

• Attention to detail.

Tell us about a time when you saw issues or problems which everyone else appeared to either not see or not be concerned about. What did you do? How did you cope?

Tell us about a time when you were criticized for being “too in the weeds.” How did you respond? What did you do to resolve the issue?

Tell us about a time when your preparation process for a project took far longer than the time allowed. How did you cope?

• Problem-solver mentality.

Tell us about a time when people important to you were in conflict. What did you do? How did you cope? What was the outcome?

Tell us about a time you were presented with a problem you thought you couldn’t solve. What did you do?

• Time management.

Tell us about a time when someone important to you needed more of your time than you could give them. What did you do to resolve the issue?

Tell us about a time when you were late.

Tell us about a time when you were interrupted and pulled away from something important. How did you cope?

• Quick reflexes.

Tell us about the quickest decision you ever made.

Tell us about a snap decision you made where you got it wrong. Tell us about the next decision you faced.

Tell us about a time when you faced a series of snap decisions where each choice impacted the next decision and where you didn’t have time to stop and think. How did you cope?

• Good communicator.

Tell us about a time you had difficulty communicating with someone important to you. How did you cope? What strategies did you use to reconnect?

Tell us about a time when you had an important message to deliver which you expected would be rejected, misunderstood, or otherwise not well-received. What did you do?

Tell us about your most recent public speaking engagement.

• Reviews information and situations critically.

Tell us about a time when you had to review the performance of someone close to you. How did you ensure your review was unbiased by your preexisting feelings toward that person?

Tell us about a time when you shared your honest assessment with someone who had asked for your opinion but was actually just looking for approval. What did you do?

Have you ever been in a “the emperor has no clothes” situation? What did you do?

• Can handle pressure well.

Tell us about one of your most stressful experiences. How did you handle it? How did you cope?

Tell us about a time when you were required to do something you found to be extremely unpleasant. How did you cope?

Tell us about a time you struggled to get through the learning curve of a new job or project. How did you handle the situation? What was the outcome?

• Can act without emotion in stressful situations.

Tell us about a time when someone close to you did something wrong or unethical. How did you respond?

Tell us about a time when you made a mistake that really mattered. What did you do going forward?

Tell us about a time when you didn’t get something you were entitled to. How did you feel? What did you do to handle the situation?

• Thorough.

Tell us about a time when other team members thought a project was completed but you thought there was much more work to do. What did you do to resolve the disagreement?

Tell us about a time when you were on a team with someone who always did the bare minimum. How did you cope? What did you do?

• Attention to detail.

Tell us about a time when you saw issues or problems which everyone else appeared to either not see or not be concerned about. What did you do? How did you cope?

Tell us about a time when you were criticized for being “too in the weeds.” How did you respond? What did you do to resolve the issue?

Tell us about a time when your preparation process for a project took far longer than the time allowed. How did you cope?

• Able to jump start.

Tell us about a time you set a goal that nobody thought you could achieve. How did you handle the situation? What was the outcome?

Tell us about a time when you did more than was required on your own initiative. Specifically, how did you come to decide to do more, how did you decide what to do, and how did you deal with acting without permission?