Decision-making

Why decision-making interview questions are key

Most jobs involve some level of decision making. Fact. 

From choosing the latest brand design to which out of two great candidates to go for, worklife = a lot of decisions that often impact the entire company.

The best decision-makers:

• Are great evaluators.
• Exercise awesome critical-thinking skills.
• Can make decisions under pressure.
• Are all about problem-solving over problem-creating.
• Are great team-players.

The perfect decision-making candidate has sound judgement, is great at analyzing data and predicting outcomes, and has a creative, innovative mind.

Decision-making interview questions

• How would you mediate a dispute between two employees?
• Describe a time you made an unpopular decision (woops). How did you handle the feedback? Would you do anything differently?
• Would you describe yourself as a team player or a lone wolf? Why? When do you ask for help?
• On team projects do you step up to lead or step back and follow?
• Describe a time when you had to make a great decision fast.
• What do you do to help your team meet deadlines?
• How would you deal with high-maintenance clients?
• Between an expensive but popular tool or a cheaper, less feature-heavy one, which would you choose and how?

Top tip: Always use hypothetical scenarios related to the role and avoid unrealistic, irrelevant problems.

Candidates to look for

• Curious candidates: Asking follow-up questions shows they want to have as much info as possible before jumping to a conclusion.
• Great communicators: Candidates who reach a decision via analysis should be able to confidently communicate their reasons why.
• Balanced decisions: Look for answers that = a great balance between time + effectiveness. Remember, it’s not always easy to have both.
• Great team players: How have they collaborated with their previous colleagues to make decisions? Do they feel comfortable asking for help? 

Candidates to avoid

• They don’t think outside the box: No one appreciates an obvious answer. Avoid candidates who go straight to the first answer they think of. 
• Stressed or uncomfortable candidates: Interviews are hard. But, if candidates are so stressed they can’t find an answer, that just proves they don’t handle stressful situations well.
• Low initiative: If you ask a question and they don’t answer, it shows they aren’t natural problem-solvers. Look for candidates who at least try, even asking for help is better than nothing.
• They don’t care about facts: Candidates who don’t understand take relevant facts and information into consideration, just aren’t gonna cut it.
• Bad track record: Avoid candidates who’ve repeated mistakes. If they haven’t learnt already, they clearly don’t realize the impact of a bad decision.