Communication interview questions: twenty questions, what to listen for, and what not to score

"Excellent communication skills" appears in most job adverts and is tested in almost none of them. The usual attempt ("how would you describe your communication style?") produces a rehearsed sentence that distinguishes nobody.

This article gives twenty communication interview questions that do distinguish people: grouped by sub-skill, with what to listen for, how to score them, and the things that get mistaken for communication skill and should not be. It is general information about interviewing, not legal advice.

What you ask about at interview should be what you talk about afterwards. See how New Dynamics continuous feedback makes that part of everyday work rather than an annual event.

Communication is not one skill

The Skills Builder Universal Framework separates two essential skills that job adverts collapse into one word.

Listening ("receiving, retaining and processing information") runs from "I remember simple instructions" and "I ask questions if I don't understand" through "I show I am paying attention" and "I ask open questions to understand more", to "I summarise or rephrase what I learnt", "I recognise tone of communication" and "I recognise when someone is trying to influence me".

Speaking ("transmitting information or ideas") runs from "I communicate clearly with someone I know" and "I order my points to be understood" through "I adapt my communication to what my audience already know", "I choose appropriate language for the situation" and "I use facts and examples to support my communication", to "I talk about difficult or sensitive topics effectively", "I adapt my communication depending on audience reactions" and "I maintain clear and constructive communication in challenging situations".

For interviewing, five sub-skills are worth separating: listening, explaining, adapting to the audience, written communication and difficult conversations. Pick the two or three the job actually needs (a service desk and a sales role need different ones) and test those.

Twenty questions

These are ours; use or adapt them freely.

Listening

1. "Tell me about a time you realised halfway through that you had misunderstood what someone wanted." Good: notices, checks, corrects, says what they changed. Weak: blames the other person for being unclear.
2. "How do you make sure you have understood an instruction properly?" Good: repeats back, summarises, asks a specific question. Weak: "I just listen carefully."
3. "Describe a time someone told you something important that they were finding difficult to say." Good: gave them room, did not fill the silence, followed up afterwards.
4. "When did you last change your mind because of something a colleague said?" Good: a real example with the argument that moved them.

Explaining

5. "Explain something from your current job to me as if I know nothing about it." The single most useful question in the set. Good: checks what you know first, no jargon, one idea at a time, stops to check.
6. "Tell me about a time you had to explain something technical to someone who was not technical." Good: an analogy that fits, and evidence the person could then act.
7. "How do you explain a decision people will not like?" Good: states the decision early, gives the reasons, does not hide behind "the business".
8. "What do you do when someone does not understand your explanation the second time?" Good: changes approach rather than repeating louder.

Adapting to the audience

9. "Who is the hardest group of people you have had to communicate with, and what did you change?"
10. "How would you tell the same news to your manager, your team and a customer?" Good: recognises different needs, not different truths.
11. "When have you deliberately used fewer words?"
12. "How do you decide between a message, a call and a meeting?" Good: a rule of thumb tied to complexity and emotional weight.

Written communication

13. "What is the most useful thing you have written at work?" Good: something other people used.
14. "How do you start a difficult email?"
15. "Tell me about a time something you wrote was misread." Good: owns the ambiguity and says what they changed.
16. "How do you make a long update readable?" Good: structure, headings, the conclusion first.

Difficult conversations

17. "Tell me about a time you disagreed with your manager and said so." Good: specific, respectful, and not a story where they were obviously right.
18. "Describe a conversation you handled badly." Good: a genuine example and a lesson. Weak: a disguised strength.
19. "How do you give someone feedback they will not enjoy hearing?"
20. "When have you had to deliver bad news to a customer or colleague?" Good: early, direct, with what happens next.

The interview is itself a sample

You are watching communication while you assess it, which is useful and dangerous in equal measure.

Useful: whether the candidate answers the question that was asked, whether they check what you meant when a question is ambiguous, whether they notice you are lost, and whether they can be concise when the answer is long.

Dangerous: the interview rewards people who are comfortable in interviews. Acas's guidance on interviewing job applicants is worth applying strictly here: prepare a set of questions, which "must not discriminate"; "if possible, each interview should be carried out by more than 1 person to reduce the risk of discriminating"; "ask each applicant the same questions where possible"; and remember that "by law you must ask anyone coming to an interview to tell you if they need reasonable adjustments so they can attend". Decisions should rest on "how each applicant met each point in the job description and person specification".

Exercises that beat questions

For roles where communication is central, test it directly:

• Write a short email to a named audience about a scenario, in fifteen minutes. Reveals structure, tone and brevity at once.
• Explain a document they have read for ten minutes to someone who has not read it.
• Take a message from a short recorded call and pass it on accurately, a direct test of the framework's "I pass on information accurately" step.
• Handle a role-played complaint, with a scripted counterpart so every candidate gets the same one.

Say in advance what the exercise is and how long they have, and offer adjustments.

Scoring it

Score against the sub-skills the job needs, not against a general impression:

• 0 no evidence, or the answer described the opposite.
• 1 partial: one example, thin on what they actually did or said.
• 2 meets: a specific example with an action and a result.
• 3 exceeds: adapts, checks understanding, and reflects on what they would change.

Write one sentence of evidence per score, immediately. Our recruitment and selection guide covers building this into a sheet that is quick enough to use.

What is not communication skill

Four things that get scored as communication and should not be:

• Accent. Irrelevant to whether someone is understood, and scoring it risks discriminating on race or national origin.
• Confidence. A different trait. Quiet people frequently communicate better because they listen first.
• Extroversion. Also different. The question is whether the message lands, not how much of it there is.
• Fluency in a first language. Someone working in their second or third language may communicate more carefully than a native speaker, and the job rarely requires elegance.

A good check: for each score you have given, can you name something the candidate said or did? If the evidence is "came across well", you have scored a feeling.

Frequently asked questions

What are good interview questions about communication skills?

Questions that ask for specific examples rather than self-description. Ask someone to explain part of their current job to you from scratch, to describe a time they misunderstood an instruction and how they noticed, to explain a decision people did not like, to describe a conversation they handled badly, and to say how they would give the same news to a manager, a team and a customer.

How do you assess communication skills in an interview?

Split the word into sub-skills, listening, explaining, adapting to the audience, writing and handling difficult conversations, choose the two or three the job needs, ask a question for each, and score against a defined scale with one sentence of evidence per score. For roles where communication is central, add a short written or explaining exercise.

What is the best question to test communication?

"Explain something from your current job to me as if I know nothing about it." It tests structure, jargon, pacing and whether the person checks understanding, and it cannot be rehearsed into a good answer by someone who does not do it well.

How should candidates answer communication questions?

With a specific example: the situation, what you actually said or wrote, how you knew whether it landed, and what you would change. Avoid describing your "communication style" in general terms, which tells an interviewer nothing and sounds identical from every candidate.

What should you not score as communication skill?

Accent, confidence, extroversion and fluency in a first language. None of them determines whether a message is understood, and scoring accent in particular risks discriminating. Score what the candidate said or did, not how comfortable they seemed.

How many communication questions should an interview include?

Two or three, tied to the sub-skills the job needs, asked of every candidate in the same words. More than that crowds out everything else, and a general impression collected from six questions is no better evidenced than one collected from two.

Your next step: replace the phrase in your advert

1. Delete "excellent communication skills" and name the two sub-skills the job actually needs.
2. Choose one question for each, and ask every candidate the same ones.
3. Add a short exercise where communication is central to the role.
4. Score against a scale with written evidence, and check that no score rests on "came across well".

For turning that into a scoring sheet a busy manager will use, read and download our recruitment and selection guide. The guide is free to read, and the PDF uses our short download form.

Want the things you assessed at interview to carry into check-ins and reviews rather than being forgotten? Book a New Dynamics demo and bring your current interview pack. You can also email contact@new-dynamics.com.