8 Critical Thinking Interview Questions to Ask Potential Hires

When speaking to jobseekers, asking critical thinking interview questions is important. You get to know how they think on their feet and how well they respond to situations. Critical thinking goes hand-in-hand with analytical thinking and problem-solving skills, which you can also ask alongside these questions.

These are examples of important critical thinking skills that you should look for:

How can you assess critical thinking when hiring?

1. Know how jobseekers responded to scenarios from previous work experiences. 2. Check if they have established new processes or launched products or projects to see if they are always exploring how to improve things. 3. Look at the speed at which they addressed a problem. Some issues may need quick decisions.

What are interview questions to test critical thinking skills? Here are some that you can ask jobseekers to gauge their critical thinking skills:

1. What was the most difficult decision you’ve made on the job? What this shows: This can reveal the experience a jobseeker has when it comes to tough situations at work. This can also show that he or she can make hard choices despite the pressure.

2. Explain your thought process when it comes to making tough decisions at work or in your personal life. What this shows: In relation to the question above, this walks you through how a jobseeker looks at a problem and the choices and issues they encounter before arriving at a decision.

3. Share a time when you had to convince your boss to try a different way to solve a problem. What strategy did you propose? What this shows: This shows you the jobseeker’s persuasion skills and how they address concerns when a solution is not working. Follow up the question with how the boss reacted and what the reached decision was.

4. Making a scenario: you are in a project, you are unable to come to an agreement with your team regarding the next steps. What do you do to ensure that your next move is the right one so you can get acceptance from your colleagues? What this shows: Along with persuasion skills, this also shows the negotiation skills of the jobseeker. It also reveals how they find the middle ground for cooperation and to move forward.

5. How do you complete tasks if the information provided is incomplete? What this shows: Knowing how they react or how resourceful they can be in gathering information to get the job done.

6. How do you look at new processes and ideas at work or in life? You can give any scenario where you can show your perspective. What this shows: This reflects how open they are to change and how they assess a new idea or scenario.

7. How did you manage friction with a colleague or within your team from your previous jobs? What this shows: This highlights their communication skills and how they manage conflict in the workplace.

8. What do you do if there are stakeholders insisting on pushing a project that will affect the timelines of other projects or deliverables? What this shows: This one shows how a jobseeker will negotiate with a stakeholder with a solution where everyone is satisfied, and projects will be delivered on time. This also shows the jobseeker’s time management skills that not only benefit stakeholders but also their teammates.

Critical thinking interview questions aren’t just for assessing how people think on their feet. Critical thinking skills enable employees to assess situations using reasoning to arrive at logical decisions. As an employer, this works in your favour because it means they think independently to arrive at a solution.

You can also use these questions to know how job seekers arrive at the decisions they’ve made and why they did it. Use critical thinking questions to see if a jobseeker is a right fit for your company!