In my ongoing effort to both remember what the heck I have done and to share good ‘pracademic’ ideas, I present a method to manage interview questions (and answers).  It is surprising how many times this business need has come up for hiring staff or contractors. Myself, I have built about 3 variations of the database presented below over the past few decades in variety of tools.

Hopefully you can use/adapt what you find here and I can remember how I built it in case I need to do it again in the future! If you make an improvement on the model, shoot me a note so I can incorporate your good ideas. As well, if you like this one, see my further reading section at the bottom on tracking tasks and using SharePoint as a desk reference tool.

Interview Questions – Managing the Problem

The interview is a critical part of hiring staff, consultants or contractors. Consultant use questions to elicit responses and having a database of proven questions is always handy (and a good memory jog). On the other side, you maybe on the interviewee side of the table. Nothing like a list of potential questions to prepare you for that big meeting!

An interview question is an asset that needs to be managed, maintained, protected, rested and sometime discarded because it has become outdated or cliché. Having a systematic way of doing this makes this easier and more effective – thus the interview database.

Sizes to Fit All

Perhaps you only interview once or twice a year or even less. If this is the case then managing the questions by going back to old interviews is the best use of your time.

If you have to manage gazillions of questions on the other hand then you are better off buying a purpose built exam management tool. Most people fall in the middle, they need to manage a few hundred/ thousand questions for a dozen or so interviews a year and can use an interview database. If you are part of this group, let’s talk about the right tool for you.

Excel, SharePoint or Something Else?

The most basic tool is an Excel spreadsheet. You can download and immediately begin to use the one that I have created. If you want something that can track changes, security features and a rudimentary audit trail, then SharePoint is your go to resource. My suggestion, start with Excel, see what works and then pick your future platform based on this experience.

Starting Simple – Excel

If you simply want to jump in, download the Excel Tool. I have pre-seeded it with some random positions, skills and questions. There is also a basic pivot table that you can use to print off your questions. The tool is as simple as possible to easily adapt to your circumstance. You can also download its Data Dictionary to better understand the columns and its ‘build’.

>>> Download Excel Question Database <<<

A few tips:

• If all you want to do is manage questions then you can pretty much ignore some or all of the other tabs for roles, skills and the type of question.
• I have put an index number against all of the values, feel free to keep, modify or delete.
• To add a row, copy the last ‘blue’ or data row, put your cursor on the red row and then ‘Insert Copied Row’ to push down the red row. This will keep the numbering sequence working. Remember your can insert as many new rows as you want (e.g. not one at a time).
• By default Excel limits the number of items selected in a drop down to one. Either use a tool like SharePoint to build a new question database or google the VBA-magic to allow you to select more than one item in a drop down (I have kept this file as simple as possible).

SharePoint Variations

The Excel file is based on a multi-list SharePoint interview database. Essentially one tab in the file represents one list. For a reasonably knowledgeable SharePoint user with the right access, you should be able to create the lists based on the Excel file and the data dictionary. If you are not sure how to link columns or create an integrated set of SharePoint lists, take a look at an earlier blog discussing building a Staff Development Tracking Tool.

Data Dictionary

The following Microsoft Excel File contains the data dictionary for the above excel file. This is a reference tool for when you wonder what the heck was I thinking when I created the column. It is also a good reference if you want to create the Question database in another tool such as SharePoint.

>>> Download Question Data Dictionary* <<<

[*] Data-What-an-nary? See my previous blog on Data Dictionaries for a definition and to download a template.