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HR Playbook

Interview Script

First-round interview for any role. Fill the role fields once, then work top to bottom.

Fill these once. They drop into every script below.

How to run this interview
Character and drive over raw skill.You can train the skill. You cannot retrofit attitude, curiosity, or ownership. Hire the person, not the resume.
The mechanics test. Use it the whole interview.Never accept a claim at face value. For anything they say they did, ask "walk me through exactly how." Specific mechanical detail means they did it. Vagueness means they watched someone else do it.
Evidence, not vibes.If you like them, say why, and name the specific thing they actually did. Charm is not data.
What you're hunting for
Humility · admits what they don't know Curiosity · teaches themselves Drive · does hard things unforced Ownership · closes loops
1 · Who they are / why here

Q1

"What made you decide to apply for this position specifically?"

This is your qualifier, same idea as the sales script. A genuine, specific reason earns the full interview. A vague one does not.

Probes
  • What stood out to you about this role at [COMPANY]?
  • Why this position rather than another [ROLE TYPE] role?

Qualifier · how did they answer?

Tap what you heard

If / else
Strong · genuine reasonIf specific
Good signal. Move into the rest of the interview.
Red flag · vague or money-only"curious", "bored", "the pay"
Probe once: "What specifically about this role?" If it is still vague, wrap up early. No need to run the full interview on someone who just mass-applied.

Paths rejoin

If they clear the bar, continue to where they want to go.

Q2

"If we hired you, when would you be able to start?"

Get a concrete date, not "soon." Note any notice period they owe a current employer.

Q3

"If you were hired, what hours could you work each day, and which days of the week?"

Check real availability against what the role needs. Listen for fixed daily hours and any hard conflicts like school or another job.

2 · Where they want to go

Q4

"Over the next one to two years, what are you specifically trying to get better at professionally?"

Q5

"Can you make that more specific? What skills or capabilities do you want to develop?"

Probes
  • If we spoke two years from now and you were happy with your progress, what would you be able to do that you can't today?
3 · Why

Q6

"Why is that important to you?"

Q7

"What's currently stopping you from getting there?"

4 · Current state

Q8

"Why did you originally choose [CAREER FIELD]?"

Q9

"On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you enjoy [CAREER FIELD] as a career? 10 means you love it, 1 means you want to change careers."

The passion check. Placed right after "why this field" to catch the money-only candidate. The number alone means little. The follow-up is where the signal is.

Probes
  • Why aren't you a 10?
  • What's happening when it dips lower?

Q10

"What did you enjoy most about [PREVIOUS ROLE]?"

Q11

"What did you enjoy least?"

Q12

"Why did you leave, or why are you considering leaving?"

Probes (if they say "not enough growth")
  • What specifically weren't you learning or getting exposure to that you wanted?
  • Why was that important to you?
5 · Mindset

Q13

"Tell me about a difficult goal you chose for yourself, not something an employer or school required."

The key constraint: nobody would have cared if they quit. That is what separates real drive from compliance.

Probes
  • Why did you choose that goal?
  • How long did you work at it?
  • What did you actually do?
  • Did you achieve it?
  • What kept you going when no one was forcing you?

Q14

"Tell me about something useful you taught yourself that you started off knowing almost nothing about."

Probes
  • Why did you decide to learn it?
  • How did you learn it?
  • How long did it take?
  • What did you do when you got stuck?
  • When could you actually use it?

Q15

"When you're given a task you've never done before, what do you normally do first?"

Do not offer options. You want their instinct: search it, YouTube, AI, docs, experiment, versus immediately "ask my manager what to do."

Q16

"What's something you've voluntarily read, watched, studied, or taken a course on recently because you wanted to, not because school or work required it?"

Probes
  • Why did you choose it?
  • What were you trying to learn?
  • What did you take away?
  • Did you apply any of it? Give me an example.

Q17

"Tell me about a time someone gave you critical feedback you disagreed with."

Probes
  • What was the feedback?
  • Why did you disagree?
  • What did you say?
  • What did you ultimately do?
  • Looking back, were they right?

Q18

"Tell me about something you were initially bad at but became good at."

Probes
  • How bad were you at first?
  • What feedback did you get?
  • What specifically did you change?
  • How long did it take?

Q19

"Tell me about something important you invested significant time or effort into and failed at."

The bigger the better. Not a 20-minute effort that didn't pan out.

Probes
  • How much time had you invested?
  • Why did you fail?
  • What did you do right after?
  • Did you try again? What did you change?
  • What happened eventually?

Q20

"If you faced that exact situation today, what would you do differently?"

6 · Soft skills

Q21

"Tell me about a time you noticed something at work wasn't working well and improved it without being asked."

Probes
  • What was wrong with the old way?
  • How did you spot it?
  • What did you change? Did you need permission?
  • What happened after? Did anyone else adopt it?
  • How did you know your solution was actually better?

Q22

"Tell me about a time you were given an outcome to achieve but weren't told exactly how."

Probes
  • What instructions did you get?
  • What did you have to figure out yourself?
  • Where did you get stuck?
  • When did you involve your manager?
  • What was the final outcome?

Q23

"Tell me about a time something went wrong and you had to decide whether to solve it yourself or involve someone above you."

Probes
  • What happened?
  • What could you handle yourself?
  • What did you escalate, and why?
  • What would have happened if you'd decided wrong?

Q24

"Imagine you're responsible for [CORE JOB DUTY]. Something happens you've never seen before, your manager isn't available, and waiting could create a problem. Walk me through exactly what you'd do."

Q25

"You've been responsible for [PROJECT / PROCESS / KPI] for [TIME PERIOD]. Performance is well below [EXPECTED OUTCOME]. You've already done the normal setup. Walk me through how you'd figure out what's wrong."

Probes
  • What's the first thing you'd look at, and why?
  • What information would you gather?
  • How would you determine the likely cause?
  • How long would you investigate before acting?
  • What would you test? When would you ask for help?

Answer quality · how did they reason?

Tap what you heard

If / else
Strong · structuredProblem, data, cause, test
They move problem, then data, then a hypothesis, then a test, then check the result. This is the reasoning pattern you want.
Weak · randomJust change things
They jump straight to changing things with no diagnosis. Drill deeper: "How would you know that was the actual cause?"

Paths rejoin

Note the reasoning pattern, then continue.

Q26

"Tell me about a small mistake you made that created a bigger problem."

Probes
  • What did you miss? Why did you miss it?
  • How did you discover it?
  • How did you fix it?
  • What did you change afterward to prevent it happening again?

Q27

"Tell me about a time several important tasks competed for your attention at once."

Probes
  • What were the tasks?
  • How did you decide what came first?
  • What did you delay? Did anything get missed?
  • How did you communicate those decisions?

Q28

"Imagine [URGENT TASK A], [IMPORTANT TASK B], and [STAKEHOLDER ISSUE C] all hit at once and you can't handle all three. What do you do first, and why?"

Q29

"Tell me about a project where other people depended on you and you owned the final outcome."

Probes
  • What exactly were you accountable for?
  • What went wrong along the way?
  • How did you keep track of everything?
  • How did you know the job was actually finished?

Q30

"Tell me about a time someone else failed to deliver something you needed to finish your own work. What did you do?"

Listen for "I followed up three times and called when they went quiet," not "they never responded, so I couldn't finish."

7 · Character

Q31

"Tell me about the last time something you were responsible for took much longer than expected."

Probes
  • Why did it take longer?
  • What did you do? Did you finish that day?
  • Did you communicate the delay?
  • What happened?

Q32

"Tell me about a time you had to do something important you really didn't enjoy. How did you handle it?"

Q33

"Think about the best manager, teacher, or coach you've had. What did they do that helped you perform well?"

Q34

"What did the worst one do that made it hard for you to perform?"

Q35

"What would you need from me to be successful in this role?"

Q36

"Once you've learned to do something correctly, how much involvement would you ideally want from your manager?"

Micromanagement fit. Listen for dependence versus autonomy.

Q37

"Tell me about a time you had to deal with an unhappy [CUSTOMER / CLIENT / COWORKER]."

Probes
  • What were they upset about?
  • What did you say? What did you do?
  • Did you need to involve anyone else?
  • What was the outcome?

Q38

"Have you ever been responsible for communicating professionally on behalf of a [COMPANY / MANAGER / CLIENT]? Walk me through an example."

Actual writing ability is better tested in a work sample than verbally.

Q39

"If you were making the hiring decision for this role, what would make you want to hire yourself?"

Q40

"What would make you hesitate to hire yourself?"

Q41

"If I called your previous manager and asked what your biggest weakness is, what would they say?"

8 · Hard skills (role-specific)

Fill the role fields at the top first. These questions adapt to whatever you're hiring for.

Q42

"Tell me about your experience with [CORE JOB DUTY]."

Q43

"Walk me through a real example where you personally handled [CORE JOB DUTY]."

Q44

"What exactly were YOU responsible for?"

Credit-attribution check. This word matters. It stops someone claiming a team's work.

Probes
  • Who else worked on it? What did they do?
  • What did you do?
  • What was the outcome? How was it measured?

Q45

"How would you rate yourself from 1 to 10 at [RELEVANT SKILL]?"

Q46

"Why aren't you a 10?"

Q47

"What would someone who's genuinely a 10 be able to do that you currently can't?"

Q48

"Can you show me an example of something you've personally produced using [RELEVANT SKILL]?"

Portfolio, report, campaign, writing, system, code, video, whatever applies.

Q49

"Based on everything you understand about this position, what part of the job do you think you'd currently be worst at?"

Q50

"If I hired you tomorrow, how would you get competent at that?"

Probes
  • What would you need from me?
  • What could you figure out yourself?
  • How would you know you'd become competent?
9 · Practical fit

Q51

"Are you currently working, studying, freelancing, or committed to anything else that affects your availability?"

Q52

"Are there any recurring commitments that would prevent you from meeting the normal requirements of [ROLE]?"

No need to ask what the commitment is. Only whether a fixed one exists.

Q53

"Are there any requirements of this position, [IN-PERSON MEETINGS / TRAVEL / SCHEDULE / LOCATION], that would be difficult for you to consistently meet?"

10 · Their questions

Q54

"What questions do you have for me?"

Don't help them. Give them room to think. Note what they ask. It tells you how deeply they've thought about the opportunity.

The verdict · before you decide

Answer these from the evidence you collected, not from how the conversation felt.

  • Would I admire working with this person?
  • If the roles were reversed, would I want to work for them?
  • Do they raise the team's average, or lower it?
  • What is the one dimension they could be exceptional at?
  • Is the gap attitude or skill? Skill is trainable. Attitude is a pass.
Guardrail. For each yes above, name one specific thing they said they did. If you can't, you got charmed. Go back to the transcript before you decide.
Second reviewer (Bar Raiser) · for when you have one

An independent second reviewer runs the same checks and names their own evidence. They decide before comparing notes with you, and they hold a veto on finalists. Leave this empty until you have that person.

  • Would I admire working with this person?
  • Do they raise the team's average, or lower it?
  • What is the one dimension they could be exceptional at?
  • Is the gap attitude or skill?