Vanderbloemen Search Group

4 Questions That Should Be Part of Any Interview

by William Vanderbloemen

You can know a man’s wit by his answers. You will know his wisdom by his questions.

I find myself spending more and more energy looking for good questions. I am almost finished with a focused three year study on interviewing techniques I had designed for our search work, and I have come to believe that what you ask can be the difference maker in discernment.

Have you ever noticed how often the Bible says, “Jesus answered them by asking a question….?”

These days, I spend my time helping churches find key staff. Prior to doing executive search, I served as the Senior Pastor and Head of Staff for large churches for many years. Both of those roles have required me to keep improving on how to ask the right questions. If you’re like me, that’s a skill that you weren’t taught in school.

Most churches I have studied have about a 50% success rate with their hires working out over the long haul. Interviewing the right way is a real difference maker in improving the likelihood of a long term match between candidate and church.

Among most of the top executive search consultants in the world, the trend in interviewing these days is toward a form of questions called “behavioral competency.” Questions center around a candidate’s ability to talk through how they have behaved in their most recent jobs. Many psychologists who write on this say that behavioral competency is the single best way to get to the root and true acumen of a candidate.

Below are what I consider to be four great topics/questions for assessing behavioral competence. They’re not original; – very few good questions are. And they’re not just helpful in your work. If you tag on the phrase “in my spiritual life” to the end of each question, you’ll see that these can be great measuring sticks for your own spiritual development.

If you’re looking for a job, I would urge you to walk through these and prepare yourself to answer them. If you’re running a business or church, you may want to put these on file for future interviews.

I hope they help you do your own gut check, and maybe even arm you with questions that take you and your church to another level.

1. What constructive criticism have you received in the past that surprised you the most?

2. Tell me about an initiative that you conceived and were responsible for executing. What challenges were expected? What challenges did you not foresee, and how did you overcome them?

 3. Describe the cultures of your last few job or church settings, how they differed, and which one fit you best.

 4. Tell me about a time when you had to get people with different viewpoints to the same level of understanding.

A good question is worth its weight in gold. Spend some extra energy looking for better interview questions. The time invested could pay huge dividends over the long haul.