Crafting Compelling Interview Questions

Learn how to craft effective interview questions to find the best candidates, with tips, examples, and customization tools to make your interviews more insightful and efficient!

The quality of your interview questions directly impacts the quality of candidates you identify. HeyMilo automatically generates interview questions for every role. You can review, edit, reorder, or replace these questions at any time.

This guide shows you how to review, refine, and customize those questions to get stronger signal from candidates

AI-Generated or Custom Questions

🤖 Let AI Generate Questions

Our AI can automatically create relevant questions based on your job description:

• Saves time - Questions ready in seconds

• Industry-specific - Tailored to your role and sector

• Best practices - Based on successful interview patterns

• Comprehensive coverage - Ensures all key areas are addressed

✏️ Craft Your Own Questions

Editing AI-Generated Questions

HeyMilo automatically generates a starter set of interview questions for every role, typically beginning with five questions for voice or video interviews.

You can customize AI-generated questions at any time to better match your role and expectations:

• Edit the question text to make it more specific, concise, or role-relevant

• Adjust tone or openness to encourage more detailed or more direct responses

• Regenerate evaluation guidance if the question intent changes

• Reorder or remove questions to control interview flow

AI-generated questions are designed as a strong baseline. Most teams get the best results by refining wording and examples rather than starting from scratch.

Recommendation: Start with AI-generated questions, then customize based on your specific needs and experience.

Types of Effective Interview Questions & Examples

💬 Competency-Based Questions

Focus on specific skills and abilities required for the role.

Examples:

• "Describe a time when you had to learn a new technology quickly. How did you approach it?"

• "Tell me about a project where you had to work with a difficult team member."

• "Give me an example of how you've handled a tight deadline."

Best for:

• Technical roles

• Skill-specific positions

• Experience validation

💬 Behavioral Questions

Explore past experiences to predict future performance.

Examples:

• "Tell me about a time when you had to work under pressure. How did you manage it?"

• "Describe a situation where you had to persuade someone to see your point of view."

• "Give me an example of a mistake you made and how you handled it."

Best for:

• Leadership roles

• Customer-facing positions

• Team collaboration assessment

💬 Situational Questions

Present hypothetical scenarios to assess problem-solving skills.

Examples:

• "What would you do if you were faced with a tight deadline and multiple conflicting priorities?"

• "How would you handle a situation where a client was unhappy with your service?"

• "If you discovered a process that could save the company money, how would you present it?"

Best for:

• Management positions

• Problem-solving roles

• Decision-making assessment

💬 Technical Questions

Assess specific technical knowledge and skills.

Examples:

• "Explain how you would approach debugging a performance issue in a web application."

• "Describe your experience with [specific software/tool/methodology]."

• "Walk me through how you would design a solution for [specific technical challenge]."

Best for:

• Engineering roles

• Specialized technical positions

• Skills verification

💬 Cultural Fit Questions

Understand how candidates align with your team values and ways of working.

Examples:

• "What type of work environment helps you do your best work?"

• "How do you approach giving and receiving feedback?"

• "What do you value most in a team culture?"

Best for:

• Company values alignment

• Team fit

• Communication and collaboration styles

Question Crafting Best Practices

✅ Make Questions Open-Ended

• Good: "Tell me about a challenging project you worked on."

• Avoid: "Have you worked on challenging projects?" (Yes/No answer)

✅ Be Specific

• Good: "Describe how you prioritize tasks when managing multiple deadlines."

• Avoid: "How do you manage your time?" (Too vague)

✅ Focus on Examples

• Good: "Give me a specific example of when you improved a process."

• Avoid: "Do you like improving processes?" (Hypothetical)

✅ Use the STAR Method Framework

Encourage candidates to structure responses using:

• Situation: Context and background

• Task: What needed to be accomplished

• Action: Steps they took

• Result: Outcome and impact

✅ Avoid Leading Questions

• Good: "How do you handle conflict in the workplace?"

• Avoid: "You're good at handling conflict, right?" (Suggests desired answer)

✅ Write for How It Will Sound

• Good: Spell words correctly, use natural phrasing, and test how the question sounds in TTS.

• Avoid: Typos, awkward wording, or symbols that could be mispronounced or confuse candidates.

Customizing Follow-Ups

Each voice or video interview question can include smart follow-up questions that adapt to the candidate’s response.

Follow-ups help clarify vague answers and encourage candidates to expand when more detail is needed.

You can:

• Set a follow-up range using the slider (for example, 0–1 or up to 5 follow-ups)

• Control depth per question, allowing more probing only where it matters

• Keep interviews balanced—the UI will warn you if too many follow-ups may impact candidate experience or performance

How follow-ups work:

• Follow-ups are generated dynamically based on what the candidate says

• The slider sets a maximum range, not a guaranteed number

• Follow-ups are optional and never required

Best practice: Start with 0–1 follow-ups for most questions. Increase only for questions where additional context is critical. Always test before going live to ensure the pacing feels natural.

Setting Up Scoring Criteria

🎯 Define What Good Looks Like

Ex. For each question, establish:

• Excellent Response (9-10 points): Specific criteria for top answers

• Good Response (7-8 points): Solid but not exceptional answers

• Average Response (5-6 points): Meets basic requirements

• Poor Response (1-4 points): Inadequate or concerning answers

🎯 Weight Questions Appropriately

• Critical Skills: 25-30% of total score

• Important Skills: 15-20% of total score

• Nice-to-Have Skills: 5-10% of total score

🎯 Include Knockout Criteria

Set automatic disqualifiers for:

• Required Experience: Minimum years in specific areas

• Essential Skills: Must-have technical competencies

• Legal Requirements: Certifications, licenses, work authorization

• Cultural Misalignment: Values conflicts

Question Optimization Tips

💬 Start Simple

• Begin with 5-7 core questions

• Add complexity as you gain experience

• Focus on your most important requirements

💬 Test and Iterate

• Review candidate responses regularly

• Identify questions that don't provide useful insights

• Refine scoring criteria based on hiring outcomes

💬 Get Team Input

• Involve hiring managers in question development

• Use successful interview questions from your team

• Align questions with actual job requirements

💬 Monitor Performance

• Track which questions best predict success

• Adjust weightings based on hiring results

• Remove questions that don't differentiate candidates

Leveraging Data and Insights

📊 Use Historical Data

• Analyze your most successful hires

• Identify common traits and experiences

• Incorporate insights into question design

📊 Industry Benchmarks

• Research best practices for your industry

• Use proven question frameworks

• Adapt successful approaches to your context

📊 Continuous Improvement

• Regularly review question effectiveness

• Update questions based on role evolution

• Stay current with industry trends

Pro Tip: The best interview questions are those that help you predict on-the-job success. Focus on behaviors and experiences that directly relate to the role requirements.

Ready to Configure Scoring?

Once you've crafted compelling questions, the next step is setting up scoring criteria that helps you identify top candidates quickly and objectively. We'll show you how to weight different factors and create scoring rubrics that align with your hiring goals.

Remember: Great questions are just the beginning. The real power comes from consistent evaluation criteria that help you make data-driven hiring decisions.