Open-Ended Interview Questions: 50 Examples and How to Use Them
“Can you use Excel?” gets you a yes. “Walk me through the last spreadsheet model you built from scratch” gets you how the candidate thinks, what they consider important, and whether they have actually done the work. That is the difference an open-ended question makes — and why the best interviewers build almost every question around one. Updated October 2026.
This guide covers what open-ended interview questions are, how they differ from closed questions, 50 examples grouped by what they assess, and how to use them — whether you are the one asking or the one answering.
What Are Open-Ended Interview Questions?
An open-ended interview question is one that cannot be answered with a single word, a yes or a no. It asks the candidate to explain, describe, or give an example — so the answer shows how they think, not only what they know.
Most open-ended questions start with how, what, why, tell me about, describe, or walk me through. Closed questions usually start with do, did, are, can, or have you.
Interviewers use open-ended questions to understand a candidate's experience, reasoning, communication style, and motivation. Closed questions still have a place — confirming a notice period, a licence, or a work authorisation — but they reveal very little about how someone will do the job.
Open-Ended vs Closed Questions: Examples
Almost any closed question can be rewritten as an open one. The rewrite asks for evidence instead of a self-assessment:
| Closed question | Open-ended rewrite |
|---|---|
| Did you enjoy your previous job? | What parts of your previous job gave you the most energy, and which drained it? |
| Can you use Excel? | Walk me through the most complex spreadsheet you have built. What was it for? |
| Are you a team player? | Tell me about a team you worked in that worked well. What was your part in that? |
| Do you work well under pressure? | Describe the most pressured week you have had at work. How did you prioritise? |
| Have you managed people before? | How would the last person you managed describe your management style? |
| Are you interested in this role? | What made you apply for this role rather than similar ones? |
Notice that every closed version invites the answer the candidate thinks you want to hear. Nobody answers “Are you a team player?” with a no. The open versions make the candidate show you instead.
50 Open-Ended Interview Questions by Category
Each question below comes with a short note on what a good answer reveals. You do not need all 50 — pick the 6–10 that map to the competencies that matter most for the role, and ask every candidate the same ones.
Background and Career Questions
Use these to open the interview. They are easy to start answering, which settles nerves, and they show how a candidate structures a story about themselves.
Behavioural Questions
Behavioural questions ask for a specific past example. They are the most useful open-ended questions for assessment, because past behaviour in similar situations is a better guide than hypothetical answers.
Problem-Solving and Situational Questions
Situational questions describe a hypothetical scenario. The "right" answer matters less than the reasoning — how the candidate frames the problem, what they ask, and what they would do first.
Teamwork and Communication Questions
These questions show how the candidate works with other people — the area where many hires succeed or fail regardless of skills.
Motivation and Culture Questions
Motivation questions help you tell apart candidates who want this job from candidates who want any job. Keep them specific — generic versions invite rehearsed answers.
Self-Awareness and Growth Questions
These questions close the interview well. They test honesty and reflection, and they work best after the candidate has relaxed.
Role-Specific Open-Ended Questions
Add two or three role-specific questions to the general set. A few examples for common roles:
- Walk me through a deal you lost. What would you do differently?
- How do you research a prospect before the first call?
- Tell me about a time you turned a "no" into a "yes".
- Describe a customer interaction you are proud of.
- How do you handle a customer who is angry about something you cannot fix?
- What would you do if you did not know the answer to a customer’s question?
- Walk me through a technical decision you made and the trade-offs you considered.
- Tell me about a bug that took you a long time to find. How did you track it down?
- How do you decide when code is good enough to ship?
- Tell me about someone on your team who grew significantly. What was your role in that?
- How do you handle an underperforming team member?
- Describe a time you had to deliver an unpopular decision to your team.
How to Ask Open-Ended Questions Well
A good question can still produce a useless answer if it is asked badly. A few rules for interviewers:
- Ask one thing at a time. “Tell me about a conflict, how you resolved it, and what you would do differently and how your manager reacted” gets a partial answer to each part.
- Do not lead. “How did you stay calm under that pressure?” assumes they did. “How did you handle that pressure?” does not.
- Follow up for specifics. When an answer drifts into “we usually…”, ask “What did you do in that specific case?” or “What was the result?”
- Allow silence. Good answers to open questions often need a few seconds of thought. Do not fill the pause with a hint.
- Ask every candidate the same questions. Structured interviews — the same questions, in the same order, scored against the same criteria — are consistently among the most predictive selection methods in hiring research, and they make candidates comparable.
- Decide what a good answer looks like in advance. Write two or three points you expect a strong answer to include, and score each answer against them right after the interview.
How to Answer Open-Ended Interview Questions
If you are a candidate, open-ended questions are your best chance to stand out — and the easiest place to ramble. A simple structure keeps answers focused.
Use the STAR method for “tell me about a time” questions:
- Situation — one or two sentences of context.
- Task — what you were responsible for.
- Action — what you did, step by step. This should be the longest part.
- Result — what happened, ideally with a number, and what you learned.
Example. Question: “Tell me about a time you had to meet a deadline that looked impossible.”
More tips for candidates:
- Aim for roughly one to two minutes per answer. If the interviewer wants more, they will ask.
- Use a real, specific example — not “I usually…”. Specific stories are more convincing and easier to remember.
- Say “I”, not only “we”. Interviewers need to know what you personally contributed.
- Prepare five or six stories before the interview — a success, a failure, a conflict, a tight deadline, a time you learned fast. Most behavioural questions can be answered with one of them.
- It is fine to pause before answering. A few seconds of thought reads as considered, not unprepared.
Using Open-Ended Questions in Video Interviews
In a one-way (asynchronous) video interview, candidates record their answers without an interviewer present. That removes scheduling, but it also removes follow-up questions — so each open-ended question has to carry all the context the candidate needs on its own.
- Keep the set short: 3–5 questions is enough for an early-stage screen.
- Make each question self-contained. Instead of “Tell me about a challenge”, ask “Tell me about a challenge you faced in the last year — what did you do, and what was the result?”
- Give thinking time before recording and a clear time limit for the answer — around 60–120 seconds works for most open questions.
- Use the same questions for every candidate so answers can be compared side by side.
For a ready-made set of structured questions for video interviews, see 40 video interview questions to ask candidates.
→ See how one-way video interview software works
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Key Takeaways
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Last updated: October 2026. → Video Interview Questions to Ask Candidates · Candidate Screening Best Practices · How to Screen Candidates Faster · One-Way Video Interview Software
