How to Come up With Analytical Interview Questions

Interviews explore many facets of a candidate’s qualifications.

They introduce a human element to the hiring process by letting recruiters look beyond what they find on application papers. Many of a candidate’s most valuable traits are revealed in interviews. If you’re looking for analytical interview questions to evaluate certain skills, read on.

This article will explain analytical interviews, the importance of analytical skills, and why interviews matter. 

What Is an Analytical Interview?

An analytical interview is an interview that focuses on evaluating a candidate’s analytical skills. These skills are important in a plethora of roles. Analytical skills include: 

• Logical Reasoning
• Problem-Solving
• Critical Thinking
• Research 
• Forecasting
• Financial Analysis
• Report Analysis
• Data Collection
• Brainstorming
• Creativity

Many people will even argue that these are the fundamental skills for any white-collar job or technical role.

The Importance of Analytical Skills

Analytical skills are important because they allow managers to understand how their employees or future employees will approach complex situations. They provide managers with the ability to consider scenarios, weigh the pros and cons, and make decisions quickly.

Moreover, analytical skills have an effect on the type of leadership style that suits a team member. For instance, team members with high levels of analytical skills are more likely to be independent thinkers. Therefore, they won’t need as much supervision as team members who don’t have the same level of analytical skill.

While this isn’t the factor that determines which leadership style is ideal for a team member, it does give leaders valuable insight. It shows them whether a team member has the capacity to work independently, and it also prescribes certain roles they can fill.

For recruiters, measuring a candidate’s analytical skill can be more of a disqualifying test. Many roles require high levels of analytical skills, and recruiters must discern which applicants are most likely to be able to fulfill these roles.

The Importance of Job Interviews

While IQ tests are the main method for measuring an individual’s analytical skill levels, there are many things written tests fail to measure.

Interviews go beyond the numerical score by exploring the manner a candidate answers questions. They take non-verbal cues into context and allow candidates to explain details about their resumes.

Most importantly, it reminds recruiters and candidates of a very vital fact – that we are dealing with people.

It’s easy enough to go through resumes and to pass judgment on applicants based on their qualifications on paper.

Analytical Interview Questions

• Describe a situation where you successfully demonstrated your analytical abilities.
• When you face a problem, what do you do? Describe the steps in your problem-solving approach.
• Give me an example of a situation when you took a calculated risk to achieve an objective. What happened after?
• Is a detailed procedure essential for your job?
• How do you mediate between two colleagues who disagree on something?
• How do you compare and weigh the pros and cons before making a decision?
• Describe a time when you needed to rectify a problem even without all the necessary information. How did you resolve it?

In Summary

Analytical skills are crucial to many roles that dabble in technical tasks. As such, it’s only proper that recruiters take extra time to evaluate them. It doesn’t matter which side of the fence you stand on.

Whether you’re a recruiter or an applicant, the fact remains that you need to prepare well for your interview. There are many ways to do this, but you will always start familiarizing yourself with standard interview questions.