Assessment Methods:
Creating Situational Interview Questions and Rating Scales

Sample Situational Interview Questions

1. A client walks up to your desk. She says she was told that a cheque due from your office had been sent five days ago. She claims she has not received the cheque. She says she has bills to pay, and no one will help her. She is very angry. What would you do?

2. You have noticed that one of your employees has been arriving late for meetings and missing critical deadlines on projects. Work that has been submitted has been poorly done. You have heard other staff comments on performance issues and suspicions that there may be a problem with alcohol. How would handle this situation?

3. Consider a situation where you and a co-worker are jointly working on a project. You divided up work in a manner you both agreed to. However, your co-worker fails to do his or her share of the work. What would you do?

4. You are emptying trash from trash cans into one of the large trash bins. After a few trips, you notice that the trash bin is too full to hold more trash. With two more loads to empty, what would you do?

5. Your spouse and two teenage children are sick in bed with a cold. There are no relatives or friends available to look in on them. Your shift starts in 3 hours. What would you do?

6. You are representing your program on an inter-ministry committee. The issues the committee must deal with are sometimes contentious or difficult to resolve. You find that committee members have diverse views and sometimes hold very strong opinions or positions. You find yourself repeatedly conflicting with a representative from another ministry. How would you establish a satisfactory working relationship with this person to accomplish the tasks?

7. You are attending a local regional meeting of the public as a representative of your Ministry. The Media is present at the meeting and continues to raise a controversial local issue. Another Ministry has stringent standards related to the issue that you, as Manager for your Ministry program, consider excessive. While there has been significant internal discussion, your Ministry is “not on record” yet as agreeing or disagreeing with the standards being imposed by the other Ministry. You are directly addressed by the media and asked for your Ministry’s position. What would you do?