Sample Interview Questions

INSTRUCTIONS: The following questions are to be used when

interviewing for any Burns position. All interviewers should coordinate
and determine which questions will be asked by which of the
interviewers beforehand to eliminate the use of duplicate questions
and to obtain adequate information from the candidate to make an
educated hiring decision. Each interviewer should focus on about 15
20 questions. Questions should be selected based on the job
requirements, position description and team being recruited for.

General/Behavioral:

1. Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a difficult

coworker or client.
2. Tell me about a personal or career goal that you accomplished
and why that was important to you.
3. What strengths did you rely on in your last position to make you
successful in your work?
4. Walk me through a situation you wished you had handled
differently based on the outcome?
5. How do you like to be managed?
6. What do you think are the best and worst parts of working in a
team environment?
7. Do you set goals for yourself? What have you done to reach
them?
8. Tell me about a situation when there were objections to your
ideas? What did you do to convince management of your point of
view?
9. What qualities would you bring to this job that others would not?
10. Describe a project that required high energy over an
extended period of time. What did you do to keep up your
enthusiasm?
11. Tell me about a specific situation where you prevented a
problem from occurring on a project.
12. Walk me through the steps you take when youre having
trouble solving a problem?
13. How many projects have you handled at once? How large
were those projects?
 Sample Interview Questions

14. Describe to me what you do when there is a decision to be

made and no procedure exists?
15. What motivates you to put forth your greatest effort?
16. In what areas would you like to develop further?
17. What did you find most frustrating in your last job?
18. Are you responsible for communicating with your clients? If
so, how often?
19. How is your performance measured at your current role?

Engineering:

1. Tell me about the most challenging engineering project that you

have been involved with during past year.
2. In your last engineering position, what were some of the things
that you spent the most time on, and how much time did you
spend on each?
3. What new engineering specialty skills have you developed during
the past year?
4. Give me an example of a time when you applied your ability to
use analytical techniques to define problems or design solutions.
5. What checks and balances do you use to make sure that you
dont make mistakes?
6. Give me an example of a time when you had to teach a skill to
other engineers.
7. For what advice or assistance do fellow engineers turn to you?
8. Describe a specific engineering project that you were responsible
for that required a lot of interaction with a variety of people over
a long period of time.
9. To whom did you turn for help the last time that you ran into a
major technical problem, and why did you choose that person?
10. In the field of engineering, priorities often change quickly.
Give me an example of a time when that happened. How did you
handle it?
 Sample Interview Questions

11. What kind of hours did you typically work in your most
recent engineering job?
12. What have you specifically done to make the work of the
engineers who report to you easier?
Management:

1. What do you spend the most time doing each day?

2. Tell me about the most complex project you managed from start
to finish.
3. What was the employee turnover rate in your department? Was it
more terminations or resignations?
4. How do you measure your success as a manager?
5. What training have you performed for other people?
6. Tell me about a time you had to make an unpopular management
decision?
7. What can a department do to build teamwork?
8. Tell me about a directive that really challenged you.
9. If you could make one constructive suggestive to your manager,
what would it be?
10. Tell me about a time when you motivated your staff when
faced with a specific tight deadline.
11. How do you handle employee disciplinary issues?
12. What creative problem solving techniques do you use?
13. Are you involved in the overall budget planning for your
department? Walk me through how you budget for the year.
14. Have you ever had to restructure your budget in the
middle of the year? If so, describe to me how you managed that.
15. Tell me about a time you had to ask for additional funds.
Education/Entry Level:

1. Do you feel your grades are an accurate reflection of your work?

Why or why not?
 Sample Interview Questions

2. What skills did you learn in school that you feel will assist you the
most in this positon? Why?
3. What promoted you to choose your major?
4. What plans do you have for additional training or education?
5. Can you describe a challenging situation that you have faced
during your college years, and how you resolved it?
Closing:

1. What questions do you have for me?

2. What reservations, if any, do you have about working here?
3. What interests you in working for Burns Engineering, Inc.?
4. How quickly would you be able to start after receiving an offer?