Sample Questions by Interview Type
What Interview Type Does Your Venture Use?
Some sample questions to demonstrate the differences between interview types.
It can be a challenge to determine what interview type your organization has been using. Here are sample questions and answers for all four interview types, for the customer service job competency to clearly demonstrate the differences.
Sample Question: Traditional Interview
Interviewer: Do you have any customer service skills?
Candidate: Yes. I worked at Pizza Pizza for three years as a customer service agent.
Interviewer: Do you feel your customer service skills are strong?
Candidate: I feel strongly that your organization would be happy with my customer service skills.
Sample Question: Case Interview
Interviewer: Let me share with you a hypothetical situation. When I'm done reading it to you, tell me what you would do in this situation.
Candidate: Okay.Interviewer: A client calls you on the phone who is so angry with your company that she doesn't even say hello. You can barely make out what she is saying, but you understand it has something to do with her overdue account. Every time you try and calm her down, she yells overtop of you. What would you do?
Candidate: If she didn't let me talk after ten minutes, I would probably motion to my supervisor to come over and take the call.
Sample Question: Situational Interview
Interviewer: What would you do if your boss asked you to upsell a product while working on the till, but you weren't comfortable with the upsell?
Candidate: I guess it depends on why I was uncomfortable. If it was because I didn't know how to upsell the item, I would ask. But most of the time I am very comfortable with upselling so I can't imagine that being an issue.
Interviewer: So if asked you would upsell a specific product when working at the till?
Candidate: Yes.
Sample Question: Behavioral Interview
Interviewer: Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a difficult customer.
Candidate: While working at Happy Video, I had a client who was unhappy that we would not rent to him because he didn't have a credit card. I explained to him our company policy, but then stopped when I realized my talking was just making him more upset. Then I asked him what he felt the solution should be to his problem, and he took a deep breath. All he wanted to do was rent a movie for his kid, and he didn't have his most recent credit card expiry date on him to update his records. I asked him if there was someone else in his family that had an account, and he said his wife probably did. I checked her account and he was listed as a renter, so I rented him the movie.
Interviewer: Did you do anything else?
Candidate: Yes. I reminded the customer to bring in his credit card for his next visit, and then commented on the file what had happened so the gentleman didn't have a problem the next time he came in.
Interviewer: Did the customer say or do anything else?Candidate: He thanked me several times and left smiling and playing with his kid
