What can make the difference in you landing your next executive-level position is how you answer interview questions you will be asked during a job interview. What can help to improve your interview skills are for you to understand common interview questions you might be asked during your interview. Below you will find some of these common interview questions.

Tough interview questions for executives

  1. What was the biggest mistake you have made in the past year?
  2. What is your greatest weakness as an executive?
  3. Tell me a time you had to turn down one of your employees for a promotion?
  4. Tell me about a time you had to fire one of your employees?
  5. What would your employees say about you as a leader?
  6. Have you ever been terminated for performance?
  7. How do you motivate employees?
  8. What is your leadership style?
  9. What other executives do you look up to?  
  10.  What would your most prominent critics say about you?

Behavioral interview questions for executives

  1. Tell me about a time you had an underperforming employee and how you turned them around?  
  2. Tell me about a time you had to communicate a difficult message to key stakeholders?
  3. Tell me about a time you turned around a struggling company or department?
  4. What is your biggest career accomplishment, and how you achieved it?
  5. Tell me about a time when you had to make a difficult or important decision at work?
  6. Tell me about a time when you had to change the way you performed?
  7. Tell me about a time when you had to communicate a complex message to others?
  8. Tell me about a new goal, and how you achieved it?
  9. Tell me about a time you encountered a challenge in your current role, and how you overcame it?
  10. Tell me about a time you had to deal with an upset stakeholder?

Interview questions for HR executives

  1. What is your turnover rate like at your current organization?
  2. What HR strategy you created has had the most significant cost savings for your current organization?
  3. What is your organization’s current time to fill stat for your talent acquisition department?
  4. Do you have your SHRM designation?
  5. What is the largest organization you have worked for?
  6. How do you install a positive culture in your organization?  
  7. Have you ever built from scratch an HR department?
  8. How do you build a high-performance team?
  9. Which HR influencers do you follow?
  10. From what you know about our organization, what do you feel is our biggest HR challenge?

Interview questions for healthcare executives

  1. What is your current facility’s safety record?
  2. How do you stay current with advances in healthcare?  
  3. What is your current facility’s nurse turnover rate?
  4. How do you attract talent to your facility?
  5. In terms of beds, what is the largest facility you have worked in?  
  6. What healthcare accomplishment are you most proud of?
  7. Has any of your efforts as a leader won your facility any awards?
  8. Tell me a time you dealt with a tough situation and how you turned it around?
  9. How many of your employees are on performance plans?
  10. How would you improve our facility?

Interview questions for IT executives

  1. Tell me a time you had to communicate a technical issue to a non-technical audience?
  2. What was your most significant technical cost-saving initiative?
  3. How do you stay up to date on new technologies?
  4. Do you have experience negotiating with vendors?
  5. Do you have any IT certifications?
  6. What is your greatest strength as an IT leader?
  7. Tell me about your most important IT project?
  8. Tell me a time you had a major IT issue and how you solved it?
  9. From what you know about our IT department, what would you change?
  10. What was the most significant IT budget you were ever responsible for?