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Scheduling Interviews

During the entire interview process, not only will you be evaluating the candidates, but the candidates will also be evaluating Miami University.

Prior to Calling Candidates

  • Identify the interview questions you plan to ask of each applicant. It is permissible to ask follow-up questions based on applicant responses. Review the list of behavior-based interview questions.
  • Review the calendars for each member of the search committee, or ask that they set aside a number of time slots on their calendars. It is a good idea to set aside a few more time slots than the number of interviews being scheduled so that you can be flexible when scheduling with candidates.
  • Ensure that you have meeting locations available. The room(s) should be handicap accessible and in a location free from interruptions. If you are conducting a phone interview, please make sure that the room has a speakerphone for the committee to use.
    • If you plan to conduct a video conference, test the process in advance to ensure the camera adequately accommodates your committee size.

Behavior Based Interview Questions

Intrinsic Values: Adaptability, Motivation, Professional and Self Development

Adaptability

  1. Tell me about a time when you instituted change or helped implement change. What was the outcome? Who was involved? What were the results?
  2. Tell me about a time you offered a new idea. What was the idea? How did you present it? Who was involved? What were the results?
  3. Tell me about a time you adapted to a change within an organization. What was the change?
  4. Tell about a time you tried something that was out of your comfort zone. What was the situation? What did you do? What did you learn? What was the end result?
  5. Tell me about a time where you had too much to do, and too little time to accomplish your tasks. What did you do? What was the outcome?
  6. Tell me about a time you did not adapt very well to change. What was the situation? What did you do? What did you learn?
  7. Tell me about a time you had to react quickly to an important situation. What was the situation? What did you do? What was the end result?
  8. Tell me about a time you changed your priorities as a result of the current situation. How did you choose to reorder your priorities? What criteria did you consider when shifting your focus? If others were involved, how to get them to adapt? What was the final outcome?

Motivation

  1. Tell me about a time you outwardly showed your enthusiasm for a work assignment or project. What was the work assignment or project? What role did you play? What was the end result?
  2. Tell me about a time you used your problem-solving skills to tackle a challenging assignment. What was the assignment? What did you do? Were there others involved? What was the end result?
  3. Tell me about a time you went above and beyond to help someone else. What was the situation? What did you do? What was the outcome?
  4. Tell me about a time you motivated others around you to be more successful. What was the situation? When did it occur? Walk me step-by-step through what you did. How did everyone feel in the end?
  5. Tell me about a time you pitched in and helped when needed. What was the situation? How did you help? Who else was involved? What was the final outcome?
  6. Tell me about a time you proactively addressed a problem. What was the situation? What did you do? What was your thought process? How did you go about addressing the situation? What was the end result?
  7. Tell me about a time your actions inspired someone else to do something better or different? What was the situation? What actions did you exhibit? How did you help the other person? What was the final outcome?
  8. Please give me an example of a time where you acted as a self-starter. What was the situation? What did you do to be a self-starter? Who else was involved? What was the end result?

Professional and Self Development

  1. Tell me about a time you solicited feedback. What was the situation? What did you do to obtain the feedback? What did you learn? What did you change as a result of the feedback?
  2. Tell me about the last time you sought out a learning opportunity to keep current with your role within the organization. What did you do? What steps did you take? What did you learn? What was the outcome?
  3. Tell me about a time where you served as a role model, trainer, or coach for another person. What was the situation? What role did you play? What actions did you take? What was the outcome?
  4. Tell me about a time you learned a new skill and applied it to a project. What was the skill? What was the project? How did you approach the situation? What actions did you take? What was the outcome?
  5. Tell me about a time you did something to improve your skill set. What was the situation? What did you do? Who else was involved? What was the end result?
  6. Tell me about a time you realized you needed to make a change for the better. What was the change? What did you do about it? What was the final outcome?
  7. Tell me about a time you had to learn a new skill. What was the skill? How did you go about learning it? If you encountered roadblocks, how did you handle them? What was the final outcome?
  8. Tell me about a time you set out to learn something new? What did you set out to learn? Why did you focus your efforts on this topic? How did you acquire/gain the knowledge about the topic? What was the outcome?

Positional Values: Job Knowledge and Quality of Work, Stewardship, Service Orientation

Job Knowledge and Quality of Work

  1. Please give me an example of a time you took on a complex task. What was the task? What steps did you take? Who else was involved? What were the results?
  2. Tell me about a time you did not agree with a policy or procedure. What was the policy or procedure? Why did you disagree? What did you do about it? What was the outcome?
  3. Tell me about a time you took on other responsibilities in addition to your regularly assigned tasks. What were the additional responsibilities? How did you manage the heavier workload? How did you plan your time? What was the end result?
  4. Please give me an example of a time you received accolades for a job well done. Why did you receive recognition? What was the outcome of the “job well done?”
  5. Tell me about a time you initiated an opportunity to learn how to do your job more effectively or more efficiently? What opportunity did you seek out? What did you gain from the experience? What did you do differently? What was the outcome?
  6. Tell me about a time when you met a work goal. What was the situation? What did you do to accomplish the goal on time? Who else was involved? What was the end result?
  7. Tell me about a time you did not meet a work goal. What was the situation? Why were you not able to meet the work goal? How/why did you keep others involved about the progress of the goal? What was the end result?
  8. Tell me about a time your partnered with someone else to find a better/easier/more efficient way of doing something. What was the situation? What was your responsibility? How did you solicit their help? Who else was involved? What was the end result?

Stewardship

  1. Please give me an example of a cost-saving or streamlining idea you shared with your organization. What was the idea? How did you present the idea? What was the outcome?
  2. Give me an example of a time where you were able to get a lot accomplished in a small amount of time. What was the situation? What did you do? How did you plan your activities? Who was involved? What was the outcome?
  3. Tell me about a time you used your resources to benefit your organization. What was the situation? Explain the process you used. What was the outcome?
  4. Tell me about a time something went wrong. What was the situation? What role did you play? What did you learn? What was the final outcome?
  5. Tell me about a time you stopped or course-corrected a rumor or inaccurate information that was floating around the workplace. What was the situation? Who was involved? How did you go about addressing the situation? What was the end result?
  6. Please tell me about something you have done to conserve your organization’s resources. What did you do? How did you hear about the idea? How did you personally implement this idea? What was the end result?
  7. Tell me about a time you respected the need to keep something confidential. What was the situation? What did you do? If you became uncomfortable, how did you deal with it? Who else was involved? What was the outcome?
  8. Tell me about a time you felt very productive? What was the situation? What did you do? Why did you feel productive? Who else was involved? What ripple effects did your productivity have? What was he end result?

Service Orientation

  1. Tell me about a time you went above the call of duty to help a customer. What was the situation? What specifically did you do? What was the outcome?
  2. Tell me about something you have done in the past to improve upon your relationship with your customers. What did you do? How did you do it? Who was involved? What was the result?
  3. Tell me about a time you did not meet a customer’s expectation. What was the situation? Why were they dissatisfied? If you remedied the situation, what actions did you take? What was the end result?
  4. Tell me about a time a customer paid you a compliment as a result of your service. What was the situation? What action did you take to help the customer? How did you respond when you received the compliment? What effects did it have on the “big picture”?
  5. Tell me about a time you showed a sense of urgency in helping a co-worker or a customer. What was the situation? What did you do? How did the other individual respond? What was the outcome?
  6. Tell me about a time you effectively dealt with a challenging customer or co-worker. What was the situation? How did you effectively deal with him/her? What was the end result?
  7. Tell me about a time you welcomed a complaint so that you could make the situation right. What was the situation? What actions did you take to remedy the situation? Who was involved? What was their reaction? What was the end result?
  8. Tell me about a time you received recognition for your great customer service. What was the situation? Who was involved? What did you do for the customer? What was the end result?

Engagement Values: Teamwork, Communication, Inclusiveness

Team Work

  1. Tell me about a time you had to work within a team and the role you played. What was the situation? Who else was involved? What role did you assume? What was the outcome?
  2. Tell me about a time you recognized a need and responded without being asked to do so. What was the situation? What did you do? Who else was involved? What was the final outcome?
  3. Tell me about a time you did not work as well as you could have with a group or team. What was the situation? What was your role?
  4. Tell me about a time you went out of your way to ensure a co-worker knew you respected them. What was the situation? What did you do? What was the result?
  5. Tell me about a time you expressed appreciation to another person on your team. Why did you choose to outwardly recognize him/her? What did you do? What impact did it have on your team?
  6. Please give me an example of how you have shown your commitment to your team. What did you do? How was it received by others on the team? What was the outcome?
  7. Please give me an example of something you have done to promote teamwork. What was the situation? What did you do to promote teamwork? How was it received by others? What was the end result?
  8. Tell me about a time you offered an idea to help you team work together better. What was the situation? What did you do? How did you implement your idea? How was it received? What was the end result?
  9. Tell me about a time you offered helpful feedback to someone on your team. What was the situation? What feedback did you offer to him/her? As a result of the feedback, what changes did you see? What impact did this have on your team?

Communication

  1. Tell me about a time you used effective communication skills to problem solve with another individual. What was the situation? When did it occur? What role did you play? What was your thought-process in approaching the situation? What was the end result?
  2. Tell me about a time you offered feedback to another individual. What was the situation? What feedback was offered? How did the other person receive it? What was the end result?
  3. Tell me about a time you asked for others’ input when working on a collaborative assignment. What was the project? How did you solicit others’ ideas? How did you approach the assignment? What was the outcome?
  4. Tell me about a time where you used verbal and/or written communication to deliver an important message. What was the situation? What did you do? How did you communicate your message? What was the end result?
  5. Tell me about a time your communication was not effective. What was the situation? Why was your communication ineffective? What did you do differently as a result of this situation? Who was involved? What was the end result?
  6. Tell me about a time you communicated something effectively. What did you do that made your communication style/method effective? Who received your message? If any, what feedback did he/she offer? How did you know your delivery method was effective? What was the end result?
  7. Tell me about a time you demonstrated effective listening skills. What was the situation? What did you do? What was the outcome?
  8. Tell me about a time you did not demonstrate effective listening skills. What was the situation? Who else was involved? What was the end result?

Inclusiveness

  1. Tell me about a difficult situation and how you handled it. What was the situation? How did you approach it? What steps did you take? What was the outcome?
  2. Tell me about a time you embraced and championed a situation where everyone was treated equally and fairly. What was the situation? What did you do? How did others respond? What was the outcome?
  3. Tell me about an action you took to make your working environment more welcoming. What was the situation? What actions did you take? Who was involved? What was the outcome?
  4. Tell me about a time you learned something new about another culture. What was the situation? How did you apply this to your work environment? What was the end result?
  5. Tell me about a time you sought out someone else's perspective about an idea, situation, or process. How did you go about soliciting their ideas? What did you do with the information? What was the final outcome?
  6. Tell me about a time you did something to promote diversity. What was the situation? What did you do? How was your initiative received? What was the outcome?
  7. Tell me about a time you effectively worked with someone who shared a different opinion of the situation than you. What was the situation? How did you handle the difference in opinion? Who was involved? What was the outcome?
  8. Tell me about a learning experience you encountered. What did you learn? Why was it important? How did you come to this experience? What will you do the same and/or different in the future as a result of this experience?

Arranging the Interview

  • Contact the candidate directly, introducing yourself by providing your full name, title and which department you are affiliated with at Miami University.
  • Verify that it is a good time to speak to the candidate.
  • Clarify the reason for the call, indicating your request to schedule an interview (in-person or phone) for the vacant position.
  • Discuss the interview logistics:
    • Names and titles of those on the search committee.
    • How long the interview will last.
      • If it is a phone interview, confirm the phone number where the candidate can be reached and explain that the search committee will call the candidate.
      • For an in-person interview, provide location details such as building and room, directions and parking information.
  • Provide the candidate with your contact phone number and email should s/he need to follow up regarding any details or questions.
  • Confirm the candidate’s contact email and phone number.
  • Send a follow up email to the candidate confirming all interview details. If the candidate is scheduled for an in-person interview, please include a campus map with parking locations marked. If you believe that the candidate may have difficulty finding parking, please explain that they should factor in additional time to locate a parking space and walk to the interview location.

Leaving a Voicemail

  • Ask to be directed to the candidate’s voice mail.
  • Provide your full name, title and which department you are affiliated with at Miami University, along with contact information.
  • Thank the candidate and state that you look forward to hearing from them soon.

Allow at least 24 hours for the candidate to return your call before contacting them again either by phone or email. You should make at least two attempts to contact a candidate. If the candidate does not respond, document that the candidate could not be reached for an interview and move on to the other candidates.

Our Mission

At Miami University, people are core to our mission. Guided by our values of Love and Honor, we are dedicated to cultivating strategic partnerships and fostering a supportive and engaged community where employees are inspired to thrive, pursue knowledge, and work with purpose. The Office of Human Resources Management stewards our human talent with an unwavering commitment to excellence, contributing to our enduring legacy of leadership and service.