7 Time Management Interview Questions to Ask Your Candidate

Knowing the right ways to manage time is no less than an art. If you wish to select the ideal candidate for your team, it is better that you ask some highly specific time management interview questions while interviewing a candidate. A candidate who knows how to control time well can be a useful asset for your team and organization because he knows how to discern the importance of each task and prioritize them accordingly. Choosing the right candidates will help you design a more productive and efficient team. Not only does ergonomic office furniture order increase employees productivity, but also the time management does.

This induction process is not any rocket science if you know the right time management skills questions to ask your candidate. We know that it can be a little challenging to decide which questions will make it easier for you to judge whether a candidate is fit for your team. Therefore, we have designed some highly specific time management discussion questions for your help and discussed the answers that you can expect from an ideal candidate. If you are interested in knowing the details and learning more, we suggest you read further.

To what extent do you think time management is vital for your tasks?

Before knowing how a candidate can manage his tasks timely and how he is planning to become a vital asset for the job posting, it is important to know what he thinks of time management and if a time management plan is as important for him as it is for you. The ideal candidate would associate it with his productivity and would even tell how it has led to complete his tasks within the deadline.

If a candidate is not much concerned regarding time management and is unsure of what he is supposed to answer, he will probably create problems for you in the long run and might even affect your team's reputation in front of the clients.

How do you create a work-life balance when you have multiple tasks to do?

This question is among those time management discussion questions that will help you evaluate if the candidate can adapt to the remote working trend that is quite common these days. It also enables you to judge if the candidate knows how to prioritize his tasks. Knowing how to prioritize tasks is a vital skill to look for in a candidate because the candidate who doesn't know how to divide and prioritize his work and his family as per requirement would end up failing at both.

No one wants a mentally unfit candidate who has no idea how to stay emotionally stable and divide his time wisely. We do not need a workaholic who works 24/7. Such workers face burnout and are an example of those who are poor at managing time. The ideal candidate is aware of the time management techniques that could help him manage his tasks well remotely as well.

Explain how you manage stress at work.

The job role might be challenging and require an experienced candidate who knows how to manage stress. This is among the time management skills questions that will help you evaluate if the candidate knows how to build strategies to come out of tough situations.

As a manager, you can even use this information for employee goal setting when designing a team because this will help you the level of functionality of your candidate and judge if he helps you reach goals in urgent tasks.

What do you do when you have multiple conflicting tasks?

This question is among those noteworthy time management interview questions that will help you analyze if a candidate is capable of making common time management mistakes. Candidates often think that saying that they can multitask is the best way to answer this question. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

As the famous saying goes that Jack of all trades, master of none, the situation is complementary here. Multiple research supports this notion, as it is seen that employees who tend to multi-task results in delivering poor work quality.

An ideal candidate knows how to prioritize his tasks in a way that his productivity stays unaffected irrespective of the number of tasks that he has to complete in a day.

Have you ever delegated tasks to your team?

You should always look for leadership skills in your candidates because that helps you evaluate if they are good at decision-making with this time management interview question behavioural. Having a team of stiff members but a strategic leader will not take you much further, but a team with strategic thinkers can help you come out of tough situations.

If a candidate knows how to delegate tasks and prioritize them, he probably has excellent communication skills, along with time management. So, this is among those time management skills questions that help you judge if the candidate can deliver his ideas well and be a useful asset for the team.

Do you use any time management tools?

Since there are myriads of tasks that are allotted to employees at times, it becomes difficult to manage them without the right time management tools. The ideal candidate knows the best tools for managing his time and will not give blank expressions when you ask this question. Time management tools help an employee stay productive and divide his time wisely among his tasks.

How much time do you take to complete a task?

Having a well-organized candidate is the need of the hour. You might be selecting a candidate for your remote working team or a candidate for your office team. In both cases, you have to enquire about the time required by a candidate to complete his tasks.

This is one of those time management discussion questions that will help you evaluate whether an employee will be able to deliver his tasks timely. Timely delivery is important to create a positive image and maintain your reputation in front of your clients, so you should always inquire about this while appointing an employee.

EndNote

We discussed some of the highly specific time management interview questions with you above. You can add them to the list of questions that you usually ask your candidates to know them better and to have a better evaluation of candidates.