Interview questions for giving feedback: 14 questions and a five-minute feedback exercise
On this page
- Giving feedback, defined as something you can observe
- Ten behavioral questions, with red flags and probes
- Four situational questions
- A five-minute feedback exercise
- What strong and weak answers sound like
- A 1–4 anchored rating scale for giving feedback
- Common interviewer mistakes with giving feedback
- Questions people ask
Interview questions for giving feedback should show whether a candidate can tell someone something useful and uncomfortable in a way that changes what happens next. Most people say they value feedback. Far fewer can describe a specific conversation where they told a colleague, a report or their own manager something hard, what they said, and what the other person did afterward. Below are fourteen questions, ten behavioral and four situational, with what a strong answer contains, red flags and a follow-up probe, plus a five-minute feedback exercise, sample answers, a 1–4 anchored scale and the mistakes that make interviewers reward bluntness or niceness instead.
Giving feedback has a close neighbor. Interview questions for coaching ability cover developing someone's skill over weeks, mostly through questions. This page covers the single conversation: noticing something worth saying, saying it clearly and fairly, and following through. The mirror image, how a candidate takes feedback, is on interview questions for receiving feedback.
Giving feedback, defined as something you can observe
Definition: giving feedback is telling someone, promptly and specifically, what you observed them do and what effect it had, so they can repeat it or change it. It covers positive and corrective feedback, and feedback given down, across and up. Listen for four behaviors:
- Specificity. Describes the behavior and its impact, not the person's character: "you interrupted the client twice" rather than "you are pushy".
- Timeliness. Says it close to the event, not saved up for a review months later.
- Care in delivery. Chooses a private setting for corrective feedback, checks understanding and listens to the other side.
- Follow-through. Notices whether anything changed and says so, including when it improved.
Ten behavioral questions, with red flags and probes
| Question | A strong answer contains | Red flags | Follow-up probe |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Tell me about the hardest piece of feedback you have given someone. | What they said, roughly in their own words, how they prepared, and what the person did next. | Vague ("I addressed some performance concerns"), or the hard part was entirely the other person's reaction. | "What were the first two sentences you said?" |
| 2. Describe a time you gave feedback to a peer who did not report to you. | Raised it directly and privately, framed it around shared goals, and left the decision with the peer. | Went to the peer's manager first, or said nothing. | "Why did you decide it was yours to raise?" |
| 3. Tell me about a time you gave your manager feedback. | A specific behavior and impact, chosen setting and timing, and how the manager responded. | Has never done it, or did it in front of others. | "What made you decide it was worth the risk?" |
| 4. Describe a time your feedback did not land the way you intended. | Recognized it, asked what happened, and adjusted their approach in the next conversation. | Blames the other person for being sensitive. | "What would you say differently now?" |
| 5. Tell me about a time you gave positive feedback that changed something. | Specific praise for a behavior they wanted repeated, and evidence it was repeated. | Only generic praise ("great job"), or cannot think of a case. | "Why did you pick that behavior to call out?" |
| 6. Describe a time you waited too long to give feedback. | Honest about why they waited, what it cost, and what they do differently now. | Claims never to have waited, or the wait is blamed on circumstances. | "What makes you hesitate, in general?" |
| 7. Tell me about a time you had to give the same feedback more than once. | Changed the approach the second time, got clearer about consequences, and documented if needed. | Repeated the same words louder, or gave up. | "What was different about the second conversation?" |
| 8. Describe how you give feedback on written work or a review. | Separates must-fix from suggestions, explains why, and keeps comments about the work. | Rewrites the work themselves, or leaves unexplained comments. | "How does the person know which comments matter most?" |
| 9. Tell me about feedback you gave that you later realized was wrong. | Went back, said so, and corrected the record. | Never wrong, or let it stand. | "How did you find out?" |
| 10. Describe a time someone pushed back on your feedback. | Listened, separated new information from defensiveness, and either adjusted the feedback or held it with reasons. | Dropped it immediately, or argued until the other person gave in. | "Did you change your view? Why or why not?" |
Questions 3, 6 and 9 are the honest ones. They ask about feedback upward, feedback delayed and feedback that was wrong, and candidates who have actually given a lot of feedback have examples of all three.
Four situational questions
-
"A well-liked senior colleague regularly talks over junior people in meetings. Nobody has said anything. What do you do?"
Probes: Is it yours to raise? What would you say, and where? -
"A team member's work is good but always a day late, and it is starting to affect others. What do you say to them this week?"
Probes: How would you open the conversation? What would you ask them? -
"You are asked to review a colleague's proposal the night before it goes to the leadership team. It has a serious gap. What do you do?"
Probes: How do you prioritize your comments? How do you deliver them? -
"Your manager asks for honest feedback on their last all-hands presentation. It ran long and lost the room. What do you say?"
Probes: What do you lead with? What would you suggest?
A five-minute feedback exercise
Past-behavior questions tell you what the candidate says they did. A short exercise shows you what they do. Keep it simple and consistent for every candidate:
- Give a written scenario five minutes before. For example: a team member presented to a client yesterday, read from slides, did not answer a direct question and ran ten minutes over. The client was polite but the account lead was frustrated.
- The interviewer plays the team member. Respond naturally: a little defensive at first ("the slides were what the account lead asked for"), then open if the candidate handles it well.
- Run it for five minutes, then ask: "How do you think that went? What would you do next week?"
Score against anchors written beforehand: did the candidate name specific behaviors and their impact, ask for the team member's view, handle the pushback without dropping the point, and agree a next step? Do not score acting skill, and do not add surprise twists.
What strong and weak answers sound like
Illustrative answers to question 1, written to show the difference in structure.
Weak: "I had a team member whose attitude was a problem. I sat them down and was very honest about how they were coming across. It was tough but they appreciated my directness."
"Attitude" is a judgment, not a behavior, and there is no evidence of what was said or whether anything changed.
Strong: "One of my analysts kept sending reports to clients without the second check we had agreed on. Twice there were errors the client caught. I asked for twenty minutes the same afternoon and said: 'The last two reports went out without the second check, and the client found errors in both. I am worried it is affecting how they see the team.' Then I asked what was getting in the way. It turned out the deadline left no time for a check, so we moved the internal deadline a day earlier. I told her a month later that the reports had been clean since."
The strong answer names behavior and impact, gives the feedback promptly and privately, asks for the other side, agrees a fix, and closes the loop.
A 1–4 anchored rating scale for giving feedback
| Score | Anchor |
|---|---|
| 1 — No evidence | Avoids feedback, or gives it as judgments about character. No specific conversations described, or feedback delivered publicly to make a point. |
| 2 — Limited | Gives feedback to reports when required, often late or general. Rarely gives it to peers or upward. Little follow-through. |
| 3 — Solid | Gives specific, timely feedback on behavior and impact, down, across and up. Asks for the other person's view and follows up on whether anything changed. |
| 4 — Strong | Everything at 3, plus adapts delivery to the person, handles pushback without dropping the point or digging in, corrects their own wrong feedback, and gives specific positive feedback as readily as corrective. |
For manager roles, combine this with the review-writing task in the interview guide for people managers. When a feedback example turns into a dispute, probe the dispute separately under conflict resolution.
Common interviewer mistakes with giving feedback
- Rewarding bluntness. "I just tell people straight" sounds brave. Score whether the feedback was specific, fair and led to change.
- Rewarding niceness. A candidate whose every example is praise may be avoiding the hard conversations.
- Only asking about reports. Feedback to peers and managers is often harder and more telling.
- Scoring the role-play as theater. Score the content and the listening, not confidence or polish.
- Writing "gives good feedback" in the notes. Record the behavior: "raised skipped second check same day, behavior and impact, asked for cause, moved deadline, followed up after a month."
Questions people ask
What is the difference between giving feedback and coaching?
Giving feedback is telling someone, specifically and promptly, what you observed and what effect it had, so they can keep doing it or change it. Coaching is a longer process of helping someone build a skill, usually by asking questions and letting them find the answer. Good coaches give feedback, but someone can deliver clear, fair feedback and still be a poor coach, and the reverse.
Should individual contributors be assessed on giving feedback?
Yes, for most roles that involve reviews, handoffs or shared work. Peers give feedback in code reviews, design critiques, editing and project retrospectives, and feedback to a manager matters at any level. Weight it more heavily for managers, leads and anyone who will review others' work.
How do I score feedback that is direct for one culture and harsh for another?
Score the content and the care, not the tone you are used to. Strong feedback is specific about behavior and impact, given privately where appropriate, and checks how it landed. A candidate whose style is more or less direct than yours can still score well if the feedback was specific, fair and timely and they adjusted when it did not land.
Is a role-play fair for assessing feedback?
It can be if you keep it short, give the scenario in writing in advance or with a few minutes to prepare, and score against anchors written beforehand. Tell the candidate the role-play partner is not trying to trick them. Use it alongside past-behavior questions, not instead of them.