INTERVIEW QUESTIONS BASED ON DIFFERENT FRAMEWORKS

by Nico Castro

Approaches to employee development

1. How do you develop your employees?

2. How do you choose the employees who will undergo “development”?

3. What specific practices do you apply?

If answer falls under formal education:
1. What do you plan to achieve by offering formal education to your employees?

2. How long do these courses usually take and how much do they cost the organization on
the average?

3. Do you encounter difficulties in employing company’s business practice(formal

education)?
If answer falls under Assessment:
1. How effective do you think you are in assessing your employees? Why do you say so?

2. Do you announce the results of your assessment?

3. Are the employees receptive to the feedback?

4. Do you also take into consideration the concerns of the employees (by concerns, we
mean what they think about the assessment process)?

5. Have you addressed any problems regarding assessment before?

If answer falls under Interpersonal Relationships:
1. Who mentors the employees?

2. How long does this process take?

3. How does the mentor help with the employee’s development?

4. What do employees say about their mentorship experience?

5. How effective do you think are your methods? Can you cite some examples to justify
your answer?
If answer falls under Job Experiences:
1. In the past, how did you address problems involving job
rotation/transfers/promotions/downward moves?

2. Are employees always willing to accept the change?

Follow up question:

If no, how do you manage the resistance to change?

3. Do you see any substantial improvement in your employees after the development
process?

Follow up question:
 In what ways?

Systems for Career Management

Do you have a career management system for your employees? Please describe the system and
the specific steps involved?

Follow up question:

If yes, in what ways do you help them?

If answer falls under Self-Assessment:

1. How do employees access information about his/her job performance?

2. How often can they access this information?

3. Is this information arranged in such a way that provides the employee with an easy and
understandable assessment of his/her strengths and weaknesses?

If answer falls under Reality Check:

1. Are employees always sure of what needs they must develop?

Follow up question:

If not how does management help in identifying these needs?

If answer falls under Goal Setting (could also be under reality check):

1. Do employees have concrete goals that they have formed for themselves in both short
and long term perspectives? (desired positions, skill acquisition, etc.)

2. How does management help employees achieve these goals?( courses, work experiences,
relationships)

If answer falls under Action Planning: (see question number 2 above)

Development related challenges

Succession Planning

1. Do you have a succession management system where you set plans on how to replace
your retiring leaders?Can you describe it?
2. What are the things you consider in your succession plans?

3. What performance measures does management use in choosing which employees to

consider in replacing top level management?

4. Is top level management always replaced by employees or can the replacement come
from outside the organization?

5. In choosing a replacement, what do you first consider: your own employees or candidates
from outside the company?
 6. How is the process of hiring and training these candidates linked with other HR systems or
function?

7. Do these candidates undergo further development before they enter top level
management?

8. How often do you provide the newly hired employees feedback on how they are
performing so far?

Dysfunctional Manager

1. Do you have a channel in which employees can freely and confidentially communicate
their concerns on sensitive issues like how they want to be treated by their managers?

2. Have employees ever complained about the behavior of a manager in the workplace? How
did you address the issue?
3. Do you also have development programs for your managers? Why?
If yes:
• How do you choose the managers who will undergo the program?
• How did the manager/s respond when he/she was asked to undergo the program?
• After the program, what changes (if any) have you observed in the behavior of
managers?
If no:
• What do you do with managers who have performance problems?
Closing Question

If you were to change your current business practice on developing your employees, what
changes would you apply? Why?