Critical Thinking Interview Questions and Answers

Last updated on Jan 04, 2023
  • Share
Critical Thinking Interview Questions

Ability to have critical thinking is being valued in all the companies for all their roles. In most companies, the recruiting team sets the number of questions to evaluate the critical thinking of the candidate. The interviewer uses these critical thinking interview questions and chose the best candidate for the company or organization. These questions can be asked to any professional that belongs to any domain or background. Critical thinking is the ability that every company needs in its resources.

Why is critical thinking useful in Interviews?

Candidates with good skills in critical thinking help the company to build strong and innovative solutions for all situations. It is very important for the interviewer to select the candidate who can accurately and quickly figure out the significant problems and can make intelligent decisions accordingly.

Most Frequently Asked Critical Thinking Interview Questions

Here in this article, we will be listing frequently asked Critical Thinking Interview Questions and Answers with the belief that they will be helpful for you to gain higher marks. Also, to let you know that this article has been written under the guidance of industry professionals and covered all the current competencies.

Q1. Tell us about the situation where you had to convince your supervisor and team to use another approach to solve a problem?
Answer

The interviewers here are expecting a logic-based and decision-making skill that an aspiring individual should have. The goal is to become influential so that people listen to what you have to offer.

You can do so by analyzing data and facts and using them while you communicate with people so that they can trust you more, rather than putting your own theories and thinking to it. You can also become more understandable by giving them an example. If you have the previous experience where you have convinced others to follow your path, that's great. Use it.

Q2. How are you going to handle the situation where you noticed your supervisor made an error in the report or presentation?
Answer

Are you uncomfortable after hearing this? That's what the interviewer wants. They want to know whether the candidate can handle an uncomfortable situation or not. Although the answer is obvious you have to stay calm and explain it with a professional approach by adding some lines like "I would wait till I could speak to the supervisor in private."

Q3. How are you going to handle the situation where a colleague presented you with a new or unusual idea?
Answer

The answer to this puzzle is open-mindedness. Whether you're willing to listen to other people's opinions or not. Even if you have an idea or rule, a mindful person should at least listen to another person’s side of the story. This gives more options to tackle a common problem that an interviewer wants to hear. You can also state an example where this type of situation has occurred in your past professional life.

Q4. Have you ever predicted any potential problems and developed steps to avoid them?
Answer

This skill comes with experience. The more you have exposure to various types of problems, the more you could forecast the outcome of whether a project is on track or not. This will require good problem-solving and observational skills. Your answer should include:

Identify the problem at an early stage, know all possible ways to deal with it, be ready for the bad situation at all times.

Q5. How are you going to handle making a decision when you don't have all of the information?
Answer

Interviewers often want to see how you conduct your thinking process within certain limitations. Kindly ensure that your answer should reflect your ability to use logic and resourcefulness to come to a rational decision. If you are going to use an example in your response, ensure to focus on the thought processes rather than the results.

There are some situations where you have to make a decision before the time runs out. The employer wants to know how good you are at handling stressful situations and taking rational decisions with sheer focus and through optimum utilization of whatever knowledge you could summon at that moment.

Q6. How are you going to handle the situation where a teammate or a colleague is having trouble understanding the process or solutions?
Answer

Not everyone receives the instructions or information the same or sometimes there is a difficult problem which even you had a hard time to crack therefore you should tell the interviewers about what other ways or steps you would take to explain the solution.

Example: Sir there are some situations where the problem is too complex to explain to someone. In that case, I use different options like flow charts, visual aids, pictures, using less technical language, etc.

Q7. Are you open to new concepts and ideas?
Answer

Example: "Sir I consider myself open-minded. I am open to new ideas which ultimately provide me with more options to deal with a common problem. Sometimes my colleagues came up with more effective and unique ideas which are better than mine and I note them down for future reference.

Q8. What do you think about how your communication help with your critical thinking abilities?
Answer

This question will help the employers to find out about how good you are in communication with others. A big problem requires a specific amount of people and a significant amount of time. You are expected to take help, collaborate with others, take everyone's good ideas and use it to achieve the goal faster. Being a lone wolf and listening to your own instincts is old school and interviewers don't want to hear this. A business demands a collaborative approach with different ideas working in unison for a specific goal.

This is it! We have covered all the critical thinking interview questions that are written under the supervision of industry professionals. We hope you found this article useful and wish you all the best for your upcoming interview. If you have any feedback for us, do write it in the comment section.

Reviewed and verified by Best Interview Question
Best Interview Question

With our 10+ experience in PHP, MySQL, React, Python & more our technical consulting firm has received the privilege of working with top projects, 100 and still counting. Our team of 25+ is skilled in...