EXAMPLE VALUE BASED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

VALUE LEADING QUESTION FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS KEY CRITERIA

Compassion Give me an example of a time when you were particularly perceptive regarding a Describe what you did? Taking time to listen
patient’s (or customer) feelings and needs? What was the impact for you? For the patient? Observant of non verbal cues
Observant of patient needs
Going the extra mile to make a difference
We all find ourselves in stressful situations at work when keeping a positive or How did it turn out? Linking job duties with patient experience
compassionate attitude is most useful. Tell me/us about such a time

Tell me about a time when you were under extreme pressure and remained calm, How has this helped you in your job?
compassionate and focused at work.

What was the result?

Tell of a time when your active listening skills really paid off in regard to a patient’s
(or customer’s) feelings or needs. Perhaps a situation when others missed a key
idea or issue

Some situations with patients (or customers) require us to express ideas or

opinions in a very tactful and careful way. Tell me about a time when you were Would you have done anything differently?
successful with this particular skill.

Tell me about a time when you were sensitive or compassionate to a patient in an

emotional or tense situation. What did you do?
What was the outcome?
Tell me about a time when you volunteered your help to a patient (or customer) or
someone in need. How did they react?
How did it turn out?
Give me an example of a time when your compassionate attitude caused a patient
(or customer) to stay positive and calm.
What was the situation?
In a supervisory or group leader role, tell me about a time when you had to What was the result?
discipline or counsel an employee or group member and were able to demonstrate
compassion What was the nature of the discipline? What steps did you
take? How did you demonstrate compassion?
Tell us about a time when you had to use coping strategies to remain
compassionate when dealing with a high-pressure situation regarding a patient (or
customer) How have you shared effective coping strategies with co-
workers/

Give an example of a situation where someone showed compassion to you at work?

How did this make you feel?
Collaboration Describe a situation when it was critical that you establish an effective working What did you learn from this experience? Taking ownership for assignment completion and
relationship Was there anything that you would have done differently? service
with either an individual or group, outside of your own department, to complete an Delivery
assignment or deliver a service? Recognition that one person cannot do everything
How did you react? Working with others
Tell me/us about a time when someone else neglected or failed to deliver on their What was the outcome?
work commitments and it had a negative impact on your productivity.

Collaborative work relationships often ease tension and facilitate productive

relationships. Can you give me a recent example where you intentionally enhanced a
relationship to get a job done? What did you do?
Tell me/us about a time when you needed additional information from other people How did your extra-credit research impact the outcome?
or references to make an informed decision.

How did you assist them? What was the result?

Describe a time when you put your needs aside to help a co-worker understand a
task.
What was the issue and how did it turn out?

Tell me/us about a time when you improved a process by creating a cross-functional
team. Why was this act important to you?
What was at stake?

Can you give me/us a recent example of how you displayed loyalty or commitment What were the circumstances?
to your team? How did you contribute?

Give an example of a time when you were part of a great team

What did you do?
How did it impact your relationship with the team?

Tell me/us about a time when you disagreed with your team’s agreed course of
action. What did you do to resolve the conflict?
What was the outcome?

Tell me/us of a time when you disagreed with a customer/patient, supervisor, or What method did you use to follow-up on assignments?
coworker.

What was the situation?

What was the outcome?

Tell me/us about a time when your success depended on your prior relationship with
a patient (or customer). How did you handle it?
What was the result?

Describe a situation when you coordinated several events or people at the same What problems did you solve along the way?
time How did you involve other people?

Give an example of a project you personally planned, implemented, measured, and What was the issue and how did it turn out?
evaluated.

We all learn through our mistakes. Tell me/us about a time when you confronted a
coworker or supervisor because you knew they were making a mistake.
What happened? How is your relationship today?
Tell me/us about a time when you had to collaborate with another to resolve a
conflict that initially felt uncomfortable, but actually turned out better than you
anticipated.

Tell me/us about a time when you perceived friction or resistance from a coworker,
supervisor, or patient and you immediately addressed this issue to enhance your
working relationship.
Innovation Give an example of a problem that you have personally solved in a unique or How satisfied were you with the outcome? Ability to look at issues from different perspectives
creative way? What did you learn about problem solving from this Thinking outside the box
experience? Prepared to take considered risk
What was the most difficult work problem you ever faced?
Tell me/us about a time when you used fact-finding skills to solve a problem. How did you address the problem?
What were the results?
Tell me/us about a time when you had to step away from traditional methods to
solve a difficult or complex problem. What was the situation?
What was the outcome?

Tell me/us about a time when you had to respond quickly to a crisis situation.
Can you describe your approach?
What was the outcome?
Give an example of how you solved a problem in a unique way within the past 18
months. What were the circumstances?
What was the final outcome?

Tell me/us about a time when you had to change your point of view or your plans to When did this happen?
take into account new information or changing priorities.

Describe an example of a time when you had to approach people (with different
perspectives) for support or cooperation.

How did you appeal to each person?

Tell me/us about a time when you had to accommodate unplanned activities or What was the result?
demands?

Responsibility Tell me/us about a time when you made a significant mistake at work? What were the consequences for you personally? Ownership for consequences
How did you approach the conversation with your Commitment to putting things right and learning from
Supervisor/Co-worker/Patient/Customer? the experience
Describe a situation when your work did not meet your patient (or customers), Timeliness for communicating with those impacted
coworker or supervisor’s expectations.
Tell me how you organized the document and what help you
had (if applicable) finishing it
Tell me/us about a time when you had to deliver on a commitment that was difficult
for you.
What happened? What action did you take?

Have you ever been in a situation where your role or responsibilities haven’t been
clearly defined? What did you do?
What did you do to motivate yourself?

Tell me/us about a time when you had to conform to a policy or procedure you did
not agree with.

Tell me/us about a situation where you had to remain calm when dealing with a
hostile patient (or customer)
What did you learn from the experience?
Tell me/us about a task that was tedious or boring to you—but had to be done.

Tell me /us about a time when you coached a coworker to help them improve their How did you handle the situation?
 skills or job performance

Tell me/US about a project that you were solely responsible for completing. How did you approach and tackle the task?

What did you do?

Tell me about a time in the past year when your patience was tested with patients (or
customers), coworkers or supervisors. How did you stay on task to complete it even though no one
was checking your progress?

How did you handle the situation?

What was the result?

Diversity What has been the most difficult challenge that you have faced personally in What was the impact on your ability to get things done? Listening
working co-operatively with another person who did not share your values, beliefs What was the impact on the other person’s ability to get Open to other person’s perspective
or ideas? things done? Being accountable for own beliefs, ideas and attitudes
Self awareness

What were the circumstances?

Tell me/us about a time when you had to adapt quickly to changing conditions to
accurately complete your job.
What was the impact of the change on you?
Tell of a situation where you had to adjust quickly to changes over which you had
no control.
How did you react to this?
Describe a situation in which your first attempt to sell an idea failed. What other approaches did you try?

How did you resolve this issue?

Tell me/us about a time when your work effort didn’t go as planned (blocked by What was the outcome?
obstacles).

How did you deal with this situation?

How did you ensure your productivity and accuracy in this
Tell me/us about a time when you had to work in a chaotic or noisy environment environment?

How did you handle it?

Describe a situation where you had to deal with someone who didn't like you (or you
didn’t like)
How did you adapt to this situation?
What was the eventual outcome?
Tell me about a time when you found yourself on unfamiliar territory or a new
situation at work
How did you react?

Occasionally our work is judged or criticized unfairly or our intent is misunderstood.

Can you tell me about a recent situation that fits this description?
How did you approach this situation? What was the
outcome?
Tell me/us about a recent threatening or difficult work situation.
Integrity Can you give an example of a situation when you saw someone at work stretch or What did you do? Willingness to hold others accountable
bend What lead you to take the action you did? Willingness to do the right thing, however difficult
the rules beyond what you felt was acceptable? What was the consequence of taking the action you did?

What happened?
Tell me/us about a time when you felt compelled to immediately address a difficult What was the outcome?
situation with your boss or supervisor when others wouldn’t. (You had to do the
right thing.)
What did you say and how did you say it?

Tell me/us about a time when you felt compelled to express an unpopular viewpoint
to maintain your integrity.

Tell me/us about a situation when you had to speak up (be assertive) in order to get
a point across that was important to you or crucial to your patient (or customer)
What was the result?

Tell me/us about a time in your job when you accommodated the patient (or
customer) even though it was more work for you or went against your instincts. What obstacles or barriers did you discover?

Tell me/us about a time when you thought through the consequences of a specific
action in planning a project.

Tell me/us about a time when you felt it would benefit the situation to disregard
structure or formal processes to achieve a better outcome.
What were the circumstances?
How did it turn out?

Quality Quality is not just one person’s job. Describe a time when you identified a potential What was the outcome? Ability to connect job duties with quality outcomes
quality concern and addressed it personally before it became an issue? Willingness to bring quality issues to the attention of
Were you able to resolve the concern by yourself? If not, appropriate others or to take personal action within
Give an example of a time when you recognized an opportunity for quality who else did you involve? scope of job duties
improvement in your department or group

Tell me/us about a time when you missed an obvious solution to a problem What did you do?

Tell me/us about a recent job situation that required great precision and quality to What did you do to take responsibility and fix the problem?
complete a task. What was the outcome?

Tell me/us how you manage your daily work schedule to meet quality and safety How did you handle the situation?
needs?

When have you found it valuable to use a detailed checklist or procedure list to
reduce potential errors on the job?
What as the outcome?
What would you do differently today?
Give an example of a situation where you needed to pay attention to small but
important details to maintain quality?
 When was this? How did it turn out?
Tell me/us about a time when you had to manage large amounts of paperwork.

How did you keep things organized to maintain quality,

order and accuracy?

Trust Tell me/us what steps you personally take to build trust with your Supervisor and What has been the impact on your working relationship with Commitment to “walking the talk”
Co-workers? your Supervisor? Coworkers? Awareness of the importance of relationship building
Recognition that trust works both ways in effective
What actions would you take if you received feedback to suggest that your own relationships
actions were not seen to be trustworthy?

Describe a situation where you helped motivate someone to improve his or her What was the outcome?
performance

We can sometimes recognize a small problem and fix it before it becomes a major Give an example of how you acted to prevent a larger
problem. problem from occurring.

Describe a situation in which you forecasted a problem and prepared a strategy for How did it turn out?
handling it.

Tell me/us about a time when you had to make a split second decision. What skills What was the outcome?
did you use?

Tell me/us about a time when you had to deal with an uncomfortable situation at How did you manage it?
work.

What was the issue?

Tell me/us about a time when you had to let go of your need to control a situation Why was it necessary for you to let go?

Tell me about a time when you went the extra mile to meet the needs of a patient.