Describe a project or situation where you successfully demonstrated your analytical abilities

14 Analytical Interview Questions to Ask Candidates (Examples)

Analytical skills refer to the ability to collect and analyze information, solve problems and make logical decisions. Candidates and employees who possess these skills are considered valuable as they help companies or organizations overcome challenges before they become big problems and hence enhance the overall productivity and success.

Analytical skills are vital and vary depending on the position. As a result, employers are interested in hiring candidates who possess the skills to investigate an issue and resolve it in a timely, efficient manner. To effectively analyze, evaluate and logically arrive at a decision, candidates need to have strong analytical skills.

Analytical interview questions are among other common interview questions that hiring managers use to determine whether a candidate is ideal for a role or not. Generally, recruiters are interested in candidates who use clear, methodical or creative and lateral angles to achieve specific objectives. Whichever problem-solving angle an individual uses, analytical skills play a fundamental role in arriving at the solution. Although “analytical skills” sound technical, they are skills used on a daily basis and are essential to ensure the achievement of a specific goal. Some of these skills include:

• Communication: Interpersonal, listening, streamlining process, teamwork.
• Creativity: Budgeting, MATLAB, optimization, predictive modeling, Scatter Plots, strategic planning, problem-solving.
• Critical thinking: Benchmarking, business intelligence, CATWOE, case analysis, dissecting, deductive reasoning, evaluation, decision making, troubleshooting, risk assessment, interpreting.
• Data analysis: Critical analysis, credit analysis, business analysis, financial analysis, MOST analysis, PESTLE analysis, policy analysis, SAS, qualitative analysis, quantitative analysis, ROI, SPSS.
• Research: Investigating, prioritizing, data collection, metrics, recording, data interpretation.

Analytical interview questions help hiring managers to assess how candidates:

• Gather data and information from different sources.
• Use critical thinking to evaluate and analyze information.
• Relay the findings of their research to other team members.
• Make judgments and decisions that help the business achieve their objectives and success.

14 examples of common analytical interview questions

Combining analytical interview questions with problem-solving and competency-based questions will effectively assist hiring managers to assess how candidates deal with complex situations that are likely to occur on the job. These questions include:

1. If you had to choose between two or three options, how would you decide?
2. What metrics do you track regularly? What information do you research and how do you use this information?
3. Your manager wants to buy new software or hardware that will increase the organization’s productivity and asks for your recommendation. How would you reply?
4. Explain how you would troubleshoot problem [X] or When you are faced with a problem, what do you do? Describe the steps you would use in your problem-solving approach.
5. Describe a project or situation where you successfully demonstrated your analytical skills
6. Describe a situation whereby you took a risk to achieve a goal. What was the outcome?
7. Based on your experience, would you say that developing and using a detailed procedure was always necessary to get the job done?
8. Imagine a situation where one of your team members wishes to tackle a problem in a certain way, but other team members have a completely different approach. They ask you for help to decide on the right strategy. How would you handle such a situation?
9. How do you compare and weigh the pros and cons before you make a decision?
10. Describe a situation where you had to put in your research skills to gather information that was necessary to solve a problem. How did you go about this?
11. Describe an instance where you had to analyze a situation before making a decision quickly.
12. Describe the most stressful work situation you’ve had to deal with and how you handled it.
13. Can you describe a time when you discovered a more efficient way to do a task?
14. Can you tell me about a situation where your analysis of a problem was deemed to be incorrect? What would you have done differently?

Tips to assess the analytical skills of candidates

• Frame the questions using hypothetical job-related scenarios to assess candidates’ way of thinking. Ensure the questions you ask are relevant and will consider all factors.
• Give candidates enough time to formulate their answers. Consider the fact that these types of questions require thinking through a situation and evaluating given facts.
• Look for candidates who have the capability of prioritizing the vital information and ignoring irrelevant information.
• Look for candidates who are intrigued with challenges since they’ll be more productive when it comes to effectively managing complex situations on the job. Look out for candidates who don’t easily give up once they’re faced with problems, even if they can’t find solutions immediately.

Red flags: Mistakes candidates make

Can’t quantify their skills
While it’s easy to list skills on a resume or cover letter, it’s vital to have quantifiable examples of their abilities. Ensure candidates provide extensive details and examples regarding the analytical skills they’ve mention based on prior experiences.

Candidates who don’t ask questions
Candidates who fail to ask follow up questions are likely to jump into conclusions and assume things, which means that they are not keen on details. Therefore, will miss out on relevant information when dealing with problems.

Candidates who have poor communication skills
Effective analytical skills go hand in hand with the ability to communicate and express ideas well with other team members. Candidates who express some difficulty when it comes to expressing technical skills will probably experience problems when it comes to explaining technical details in the position.

Candidates who assume
Critical thinking is fundamental when it comes to analytical skills. Candidates who demonstrate that they did not check facts or do research tend to make hasty decisions.

Analytical skills are vital in all positions such as finance, investment analysis, marketing strategies, business analysis or operations manager. These skills are indispensable to ensure the effective running of daily businesses, and candidates who lack these skills will ultimately cause the company to suffer. Additionally, it’s essential to use analytical keywords while questioning candidates or going through CVs and resumes to make the hiring process more manageable.

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How do you demonstrate strong analytical skills in an interview?