A successful hire often depends on how skilled the interviewer is.

How can you determine whether a job applicant will be able to successfully make the transition from the commercial world to your nonprofit organizations? Bridgestar, an initiative of the Bridgespan Group, provides sample interview questions that will help you probe the applicant’s motivations and skills. Here are selected questions from Bridgestar’s Hiring Toolkit for nonprofit employers.

Sample “results” questions:

• What do you see as your greatest achievement in your role as ABC at XYZ organization? Why?
• What do you see as your greatest challenges/failures in your role as ABC at XYZ organization? Why?
• What are the most significant weaknesses in your performance? How do you compensate for those weaknesses?
• Describe the job where you have been least effective. What do you think the reasons are?
• Give me an example of where you disagreed with a decision your boss and/or colleague made. What was the situation? How did you handle it? What was the outcome?
• How do you plan your work? Prioritize your work?
• If your most recent supervisor had to characterize your strengths and weaknesses, what would he/she say?

Sample questions to understand a candidate’s ability to manage and work in teams:

• Provide some examples of working in a team environment. What was your role? What was your contribution?
• What is different about the way you and your most recent supervisor manage people?
• Give an example of when you have persuaded a colleague or team member to change his or her approach. How did you do it?
• How do you give feedback? How do you take feedback? Provide examples.

Sample questions for candidates transitioning from the for-profit sector:

• Tell me about your experiences volunteering at XYZ organization. What did you like best about it? What did you like least about it?
• Why do you want to work in the nonprofit sector?
• How do your experiences translate to the nonprofit sector?
• How do your experiences in the ABC role at the XYZ Corporation translate to this role at our organization?
• How does our mission tie to your passions?
• Tell about a time when you have worked in an environment that makes decisions in a consensus-driven way.

Sample “cultural fit” questions:

• What did you enjoy most/least at your previous job?
• Where do you see yourself in three to five years?
• What is important to you in a workplace?
• What qualities do you look for in a supervisor? In a colleague? In a supervisee?
• What are your passions? How do your passions tie to the mission of this organization?

Click here to view the complete Hiring Toolkit: Navigating the Hiring Process.