97+ Critical Thinking Questions to Test Employee Decision Making

When hiring employees there’s a tendency to evaluated traditional credentials. This includes data points like what school and university the applicant attended, job specific certifications, a good employment history, and so on. But have you ever considered asking critical thinking questions to gauge a potential employee’s decision-making skills after they get the role?

In this blog post, I share 97 critical thinking questions for prospective or current employees. Get immediate insight into the way an employee thinks by asking any of these questions during an interview or via email.

Critical Thinking Questions for Employees

• How would you handle this situation?
• If you were the boss, what steps will you take to solve the problem?
• Who is benefiting here, and why?
• Can the changes adversely affect our organization?
• What would you do to increase sales at our restaurant?
• How can the new operating system affect the company?
• Who in the organization should take responsibility in this case?
• Does the decision of each employee matter?
• What will be affected by problems such as these?
• Who should be in charge given this scenario?
• What are your recommendations so that this problem can be solved?
• At what point should top management interfere?
• Should the employers be notified at once if cases like this arise?
• Why is this problem always repeating?
• Are the team players not doing their part?
• Is the planner not capable of doing the responsibilities that the job entails?
• How would you improve customer service for e-commerce customers?
• Should all policies that are in the manual be accepted as is?
• Can an employee voice out his opinion on matters concerning his work tenure?
• Should employees be allowed to email the concerned managers regarding failure of his team members to do their job well?
• Can top management just fire an employee without due process?
• Can an employee’s length of stay in a company matter?
• When can an employee speak up and ask for a promotion?
• How can your job be improved so that problems can be minimized, if not totally eliminated?
• How can you be a model employee?
• When can you say that the company is people-oriented?
• Are work-oriented employers the best?
• Should bosses always praise those who did their job well?
• When will management listen to employees’ grievances?
• Can we create a perfect work environment?
• Is your office a pleasing place to work in?
• Why is the company’s growth this high in the past two years?
• Can you see a higher increase in sales over the next three quarters?
• What is it in the competition that makes them stand out?
• What policies do other companies follow that result to a slow employee turnover?
• Are the products we sell really competitive?
• How can we increase our market share?
• How can we attract more customers?
• How can we let customers come back to our stores?
• Are our products healthy?
• Do we contribute to a person’s well being?
• Are we consciously helping the environment?
• Where should we dispose our waste materials?
• How can employees be motivated to do their best?
• Do you think our manufacturing process negatively impacts the environment?
• What innovations can you introduce to make the company competitive?

Preparing critical thinking questions provides clues about decision-making skills of employees.

Critical Thinking Questions for Adults

• Are you in agreement with what was said, and why?
• If you were in his shoes, how would you solve the problem?
• Given this situation, what courses of action would you take?
• How confident are you to tackle problems?
• Should love reign?
• Is it easy to fall in love?
• Is it easy to have a family?
• What responsibilities come with having children?
• Are kids a source of joy or pain?
• Have you travelled alone, and why?
• Is living alone not lonely?
• Is decision making one of the causes of your anxiety?
• Can you justify the time and money you’ve spent travelling?
• Are you willing to make sacrifices for your loved ones?
• Is telling a lie really bad?
• Do you enjoy doing household chores, and why?
• Who are the people who have made you strong?
• Is it beneficial to have many siblings, and why?
• Is religion important to a person?
• Should all promises be kept?
• When should a person realize that he has contributed much to this world?
• What paths should a person take to feel fulfilled?
• Should all dreams or goals be met to find peace and joy?
• Must a woman have kids to feel fulfilled?
• Can money satisfy a person?
• Is money the root of all that’s evil?
• Can happiness be bought?

Related Reading: 103+ Critical Thinking Quotes that Stimulate Beautiful Minds 

• What treasures do you have that cannot be replaced?
• What are the most valuable things in your home, and why?
• Does the changing seasons affect you?
• Do you prioritize your health above all things?
• How secure is your future?
• Does money matter to you?
• Are you confident when you’re in a group of people that you have just known?
• Are you an introvert or an extrovert?
• Where in the world would you like to travel, and why?
• What opportunities have you missed?
• Why do you want to take risks?
• Are you a risk-taker, and why?
• Must you forgive persons who have done you wrong?
• Are you a critical thinker?
• Do you just accept facts as is?
• Do you find beauty in simple things like flowers along the road?
• Can you manage to stand on your own?
• Can you live by yourself?
• Is travelling alone acceptable to you?
• Do you find joy in seeing sunsets and beaches?
• What brings you peace?
• What is comforting to you?
• Can you control your anger, and why?
• Are you mature?
• Have you grown to be that successful person?
• How can you succeed in difficult situations?

Critical Thinking Questions about Life

• What are the best decisions you have made in life?
• Has life been good to you?
• Can you see the beauty in life?
• Are your perspectives bright or dim?
• Why can you say that life has been so kind to you?
• Have you spent your days the best way possible?
• Has life been fair, and why?
• Should there be equality in the world?
• Have you thought of leaving your family to start a new life abroad?
• Are you aware that life is not that great?
• Who matters most in your life?
• What challenges have you met in your life?
• How necessary is religion to an individual’s life?
• Are you willing to exchange your life with someone else, and why?
• How strong is your faith?
• Do you believe in God?
• Do you regret where you are now?
• Do you have any regrets in life?
• Has life showered you with many blessings?
• Are you looking forward to a brighter tomorrow?
• Has your life been a rollercoaster ride?
• Will you really harvest what you planted in life?
• Can life be wonderful for easy-go-lucky individuals?
• Have you accepted the fact that you will age and have wrinkles?
• Is hard work driving you mad?
• Where can I find happiness and contentment?
• What should I prioritize to make my life fulfilling?
• Can my faith make me go through life with ease?
• How can my anxiety be diminished in these trying times?
• Am I worthy to be born and live?
• How can you achieve your life’s dreams?
• What steps should you take to become contented in life?
• How can I help others so that my life will be more meaningful?
• When can I find beauty in the things I see?
• Is being alive one’s goal?
• Has life’s drama made you strong or weak, and why?
• Can you cite an example of how life has thrown you all possibilities?
• Do material things matter in life?
• How will you rate your life?

Asking critical questions helps you in everyday life.

Critical Thinking Questions for Interviews

• Were you able to anticipate a problem before it happened, and how did you manage it?
• Are you willing to be a whistle-blower if you find some anomalies in the organization?
• Will you sacrifice your job for your honor?
• If you were given work without clear or defined instructions, what will you do?
• What benefits can the company get from hiring you?
• If you’ve been in this company for 5 years and have not been promoted, what will you do?
• How will you prove to your boss that you are worthy of a promotion?
• How can you market the company’s products?
• Will you be motivated to go to work even if your boss is irresponsible?
• How can you encourage the interviewer that you are the best person fit for the job?
• How fast are you in decision-making?
• How will you rate yourself as an employee of an organization such as this?
• How do you react to problems and challenges?
• Will you stay in the company just because the pay is good, even if you are not happy with what you’re doing?
• Are you people-oriented or work-oriented?
• Is getting to the top your final goal, and why?
• How can you stop company gossip?
• Cite an instance wherein you had to make a very critical decision in your past work.
• How would you correct a wrongdoing made by your supervisor?
• How will you be able to inform top management that the data your boss gave was incorrect?
• How can you let your teammates believe in your proposal?
• If there is a misunderstanding in the workplace, will you let this pass, and why?
• How will you handle disagreements among your colleagues?
• Are you willing to accept new challenges all the time, and why?
• Is critical thinking your way of life?
• With the changing demands of consumers, what innovations can you introduce?
• What would you do if you noticed an error made by a person in a different department?
• Are you willing to defend your company?
• How would you encourage your colleagues who are not open-minded?
• For critical projects, what courses of action will you take to achieve the final goal?
• What can you do to help improve this company?
• Will you fight for your company’s objectives?
• How can you make the company more profitable?
• How can you show your co-workers that they can depend on you?
• Given the stiff competition in the industry, what steps will you take to bring the company to the top?

Critical Thinking Questions for College Students

• What can we derive from this?
• Given the assumptions, how will we proceed?
• Are these really facts or fallacies?
• What hypothesis has to be proven and how will we do it?
• What surviving skills are necessary given this situation?
• How can I broaden my way of thinking to arrive at the correct conclusions?
• What other possibilities could occur in this scenario?
• Which is the best alternative to take, and why?
• Is choosing this path the most profitable one, and why?
• What are the available solutions to the problem?
• What caused this problem to arise?
• Could we have chosen other options to avoid the problem?
• What courses of action should be taken to minimize if not totally eliminate the problem?
• How should I approach college life?
• Should college life be all work and no play?
• What would I see if I were in his shoes?
• How can I encourage my teammates to listen to my proposal?
• How should I solve this problem?
• Is this the most critical scenario, and why?

Related Reading: 40+ Sample Thank You Message Emails to Send After an Interview 

• How can I motivate my teammates?
• How can I express myself without hurting others?
• What information should I need to completely analyze this case?
• What investigative work should I do to win the battle?
• How important is the message that this article wants to impart?
• What are my options in this case?
• What are the pros and cons of taking this alternative route?
• How probable is this scenario?
• Can I successfully take the lead in this project?
• What details should be presented to let the audience believe in my proposal?
• What could have happened if I did not make my stand?
• What could have been the most profitable way of doing this?
• How will I successfully communicate the benefits of this project?
• Will my reasoning power help me handle this situation well?
• Can my ability to discern what’s right from wrong bring me to the right path?
• Will the motive of each character be helpful in tracking the truth?
• Should I look at the other side of the coin, and why?
• Are their points strong?
• What are the facts that should be considered in this problem to help solve it?
• Is my energy wasted if I will only memorize?
• What is the weakest link in this argument?
• How can I present my solutions for others to understand me well?
• What are the areas of improvement?
• How should students handle situations such as these?

Train your employees to be better at decision-making.

Fun Critical Thinking Questions That Break the Ice

Want to lighten the mood during a stressful interview process? Here are some ways to do it.

• Should we eat to live or live to eat?
• What came first, the chicken or the egg?
• Does money buy happiness?
• Can you feel guilty even after you die?
• Can death solve all of your problems?
• Will you be happy if all have been laid down to you and you’ll never make any decisions in life?
• How did life on earth start? The religious way or the scientific way?
• Can happiness be overwhelming?
• Can a person’s insecurities turn to be advantageous to the person?
• Is judging a book by the cover wrong, and why?
• Can we prove that the earth is rotating?
• Is singing in the bathroom a good way of vocalizing, and why?
• Do unlike people really have the greatest attraction?
• How do elephants sleep?
• What would your dog say to you early in the morning?
• If you were allowed to travel back in time, would you, and why?
• If you had the chance to talk to anybody, dead or alive, who will it be and why?
• What powers would you like to have, and why?
• Will you find being invisible fun, and why?
• Would you find it better to receive a gift, or to give it?
• If you had all the money in the world, where would you live and what would you do?
• If you could have any superpower, what would it be, and why?
• Is zero a number?
• Is beauty really in the eye of the beholder?
• Is the earth flat or round?

Improving the critical thinking skills of employees benefits the company and employee.

What answers should people provide to critical thinking questions?

In the real world, we all face challenges wherein critical thinking is required. From school days all the way up through graduation and working at a big kid job as an adult being able to skillfully evaluate and analyze situations thoughtfully will help.

Related Reading: 101+ Smart Interview Wishes for Friends that Won’t Jinx Them 

By asking critical thinking questions, you should be able to gain the following insights from an applicant:

• Identify the problem and be able to articulate the challenge.
• Show that analysis or logic used in solving the problem.
• Present a potential solution with a professional approach and using a clear thought process.
• Provide step-by-step details on how the applicant arrived at an answer.
• Give the pros and cons of each option and the reasons for choosing the best alternative or the rational decision.
• Show that the person replying is looking at all sides of the situation, has an open mind, is proactive, and can take into account new processes or ideas plus the challenges that can arise.

What if an interviewee or employee answers incorrectly?

Answers interviewees and employees give to critical thinking questions can make or break their future. Though there are no clear-cut replies to such questions, how an interviewee or an employee answers will matter since it will show if he is a critical thinker if he can be relied on by the company.

There are incorrect ways to respond to critical thinking questions. For example, an applicant may misunderstand the question that was asked. In some instances, someone might even clamp up and not have any response to the question since they are so stressed out. This would suggest the applicant has difficultly thinking fast under pressure.

You can even use these critical thinking questions for current employees. If you’re thinking about promoting an employee into management start asking a few of these thought-provoking questions to find out if they’re ready. It can also be a way to improve the critical thinking skills of current employees.