Interview Questions to Ask Candidates: 150+ Questions by Role and Competency (2026)

Updated: May 2026 · By Álvaro Arrescurrenaga, CEO at Voicit

You’ve run three interviews for the same role this week and they all blur together. Candidates say what you want to hear, you can’t pin down clear evidence, and by the end you’re picking the one you connected with most. The problem isn’t your gut — it’s the question list you walked in with.

At Voicit we analyze thousands of interviews from US and UK recruiters, and the pattern is always the same: low-quality interviews use generic questions like «what are your strengths?» The interviews that actually predict performance use behavioral, situational, and technical questions designed for each competency. This guide gives you 150+ interview questions to ask candidates, organized by role and competency, with example responses that reveal the strong candidates — and the ones who are improvising. Works for phone, video, and in-person interviews.

The 5 question types every interview should cover

An effective interview isn’t a list of 30 random questions. It’s a script that combines five distinct question types, each designed to evaluate a different dimension of the candidate. If you only use one type (most common: only open-ended «tell me about yourself» questions), you lose 70% of the information the interview could give you.

1. Behavioral. Past, real experience. «Tell me about a time when you had to…» — they predict the future best because they’re built on concrete evidence.
2. Situational. Hypothetical scenarios. «What would you do if…?» — useful for evaluating reasoning, values, and best-practice knowledge.
3. Technical. Role-specific. They demonstrate real skill, not just what’s on the resume.
4. Cultural fit and motivation. About values, purpose, and team alignment. They determine whether the person stays.
5. Career trajectory. About ambition, growth, 2-3 year vision. Detect alignment with the role and the company stage.

Each type evaluates a distinct dimension. The balanced combination is what separates predictive interviews from coffee-chat interviews.

The STAR method for behavioral questions

STAR is the most widely used framework in modern hiring to structure behavioral questions. Every behavioral question should let the candidate respond with all four components:

A well-formulated behavioral question starts with verbs like «Tell me about», «Describe», or «Walk me through», and ends forcing the candidate to recount a specific case rather than a generic opinion.

If the candidate responds in abstract terms («I always try to…»), follow up directly: «Can you walk me through a specific instance where this happened?». The difference between candidates with real experience and those without is in their ability to surface the situation in detail.

35 behavioral interview questions to ask candidates

Behavioral questions are the strongest predictors of performance. These are organized by the competency they evaluate. Click each section to expand the full list.

Interview questions by role: Sales, Engineering, CS, Marketing, Managers, Operations

The right question depends heavily on the role. This is where most interview templates fall short — they treat every candidate the same regardless of position. Use the matrix below as a starting point and adapt to your specific stack.

Each role type prioritizes different competencies. Customize the question mix accordingly.

25 situational interview questions

Situational questions («What would you do if…?») work best when the candidate doesn’t yet have the experience to answer behavioral ones — junior roles, career changes, recent graduates — or when you want to evaluate professional judgment regardless of past experience.

Cultural fit and motivation questions

Cultural fit questions are the most underrated and the ones that explain why a brilliant candidate leaves after 6 months. They’re not about finding someone «like everyone else» — they’re about identifying alignment with values and the current company stage.

Questions you should NEVER ask in an interview (US and UK legal)

Many of these are not just unethical — they’re illegal under US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) regulations, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the UK Equality Act 2010. Avoid:

1. «Are you married or in a relationship?» — Illegal under EEOC and Equality Act 2010. Marital status is irrelevant to job performance.
2. «Do you have children or plan to have them?» — Illegal and especially discriminatory toward women of reproductive age.
3. «How old are you?» — Illegal under ADEA (US) and Equality Act 2010. Avoid graduation dates that could reveal age.
4. «What’s your nationality / where are you originally from?» — Illegal under Title VII and Equality Act. You can ask about authorization to work, not origin.
5. «What’s your religion?» — Illegal except in extremely narrow religious-organization exceptions.
6. «Do you have any disabilities?» — ADA prohibits this directly. You can ask if the candidate can perform essential job functions with or without accommodation.
7. «What’s your salary history?» — Illegal in many US states (NY, CA, MA, IL, WA, NJ and more) and increasingly restricted in the UK. Ask salary expectations instead.
8. «What are your weaknesses?» — Legal but useless. Everyone has a prepared answer («I’m too perfectionist»). Replace it with behavioral questions about real failures.
9. «Tell me about yourself.» — Too vague. Replace with: «Walk me through the two most important moments of your career and why you choose them as the principal ones.»

How to structure a 60-minute interview

Structure is what separates predictive interviews from «coffee chat» interviews. This is the template we recommend to the hiring teams we work with.

Opening (5 min)

• Interviewer and company introduction.
• Process explanation and duration.
• Consent request if recording.

Warm-up (5 min)

• 1-2 open-ended career questions to relax the candidate.
• E.g.: «Walk me through the two most important moments of your career and why you choose them as the principal ones.»

Behavioral and technical block (35 min)

• 4-6 behavioral questions on key role competencies (STAR method).
• 2-3 technical questions to verify depth.
• 1-2 situational questions to validate professional judgment.

Cultural fit and motivation (10 min)

• 2-3 questions on alignment with company values and stage.
• 1 question on career trajectory.

Candidate’s questions (5 min)

• Genuine opening. The quality of the candidate’s questions is valuable information.

Frequently asked questions

Actionable summary

If you only take three ideas from this guide:

1. Behavioral questions are the strongest predictors of performance. Replace generic opinions («what motivates you?») with questions that demand evidence («Tell me about a time when…»).
2. Structure your interview by competency before walking into the room. If you improvise the questions, you’ll improvise the final decision.
3. Free up your attention from admin work. Live note-taking prevents you from listening well. Voicit records, transcribes, and structures the report for you so you can focus on asking better questions and reading responses better.

Álvaro Arrescurrenaga

CEO & Co-founder at Voicit

Has spent 4 years working with hiring teams and recruiters across the EU and US to automate the most expensive phase of the process: post-interview reporting. Voicit is the tool he built so recruiters spend less time writing reports and more time deciding.