How Many Questions Will I Be Asked?

Every candidate wonders how many and what questions will be asked. Crystal balls aside, the answer to that will vary from interview to interview. Some recruiting consultants advise interviewers to conduct an interview based on just this one key question: What is the most significant accomplishment in your career?

However, most interviewers will ask well beyond this one question. More realistic is a number between 10 and 20. Let’s do some math to calculate how many questions will fit into a standard interview. If an interview is 60 minutes in duration, with five or more minutes on either end for opening and closing, that leaves 45 to 50 minutes for discussion. It takes roughly 30 seconds for the interviewer to ask a question, and approximately one to three minutes for the candidate to answer. A candidate’s one- to three-minute answer can easily expand into five to ten minutes when the interviewer asks follow-up questions or the candidate asks clarifying questions (see chapter 12).