The Top 10 Non-Technical Questions Every IT Manager Should Ask During a Tech Job Interview

Why Bother with Non-Technical Job Interview Questions?

Most technical interviews spend too much time trying to determine whether a candidate knows the technology. That’s understandable. Nobody wants to hire a network engineer who doesn’t understand networking or a desktop technician who can’t troubleshoot Windows.

But here’s the reality: technical skills get people hired. People skills determine whether they succeed.

Think about the technicians you’ve worked with over the years. Some were brilliant but left a trail of frustrated coworkers, unhappy customers, and burned-out teammates. Others weren’t necessarily the smartest person in the room, but everyone wanted to work with them. They built trust, solved problems, and made life easier for everyone around them.

The difference usually isn’t technical ability. It’s how they work with people. The right job interview questions can help you identify a tech person who’s also good with people.

That’s why I encourage hiring managers to spend at least half of every interview exploring non-technical skills. Technical knowledge can often be verified through certifications, assessments, portfolios, or practical exercises. What’s much harder to evaluate is how someone responds under pressure, communicates with others, accepts feedback, or contributes to the culture of the organization.

The Five Principles of IT Customer Service

Throughout my work with IT departments, I’ve emphasized five principles that consistently distinguish outstanding IT professionals:

• Technical competence
• Compassion
• Empathy
• Good listening skills
• Treating others with dignity and respect

Only one of those principles is technical. The other four determine whether customers trust your team, coworkers enjoy collaborating with them, and leaders see them as someone worth promoting.

Here are ten interview questions that can help you uncover those qualities.

1. Tell me about a time someone was frustrated with you. What happened, and what did you learn?

Everyone has disappointed someone. Everyone has experienced conflict. The interesting part isn’t whether it happened. It’s how the candidate responded.

Strong candidates acknowledge their role in the situation. They describe what they learned and explain what they do differently today.

Be cautious when someone says they’ve never had a conflict or immediately blames everyone else. A lack of self-awareness during an interview rarely improves after they’re hired.

2. Tell me about a time you had to explain something complicated to someone without your technical background.

Technical knowledge is valuable only when it helps people solve problems.

You’re looking for someone who can adjust their communication depending on whether they’re speaking with another engineer, a receptionist, a physician, a CEO, or a first-day employee.

One of my favorite follow-up questions is simple:

“How did you know they understood?”

The best communicators don’t just explain well. They verify understanding.

3. Tell me about someone you found difficult to work with. How did you handle it?

Sooner or later, every IT professional encounters difficult coworkers, demanding users, or strong personalities.

Listen carefully to how candidates describe the other person.

Do they spend five minutes explaining how unreasonable that individual was? Or do they acknowledge differences in communication styles and explain how they adapted?

The answer tells you a great deal about emotional intelligence, compassion, and maturity.

4. Tell me about a mistake you made.

One of the most revealing qualities in any employee is their willingness to own mistakes.

The strongest candidates don’t try to convince you they’ve never failed. Instead, they explain what happened, what they learned, and how they’ve prevented similar mistakes from happening again.

People who learn from mistakes improve.

People who hide mistakes usually repeat them.

5. Tell me about a time you received difficult feedback.

Every IT professional eventually receives criticism from a manager, customer, or coworker.

What matters is how they responded.

Did they become defensive?

Did they dismiss the feedback?

Or did they honestly consider it, make adjustments, and grow professionally?

You’re hiring someone for years, not just for today. Coachability often matters more than current ability.

6. How do you decide what deserves your attention first when everything seems urgent?

This question works equally well for help desk technicians, systems engineers, project managers, and CIOs.

Outstanding candidates recognize that priorities aren’t determined solely by technical severity.

A forgotten password and a company-wide outage are obviously different. But priorities also depend on business impact, the number of people affected, customer commitments, revenue implications, regulatory concerns, and organizational goals.

You’re looking for business judgment, not simply technical judgment.

7. Tell me about a time you went beyond simply fixing the problem.

Great customer service isn’t just about restoring service.

Sometimes it’s following up the next day to ensure everything is working.

Sometimes it’s documenting the issue so teammates can solve it faster next time.

Sometimes it’s identifying a recurring problem and preventing future outages altogether.

The best IT professionals don’t just close tickets. They improve experiences.

8. Tell me about a time you changed your mind because someone else had a better idea.

No one wants to hire someone who believes they’re always the smartest person in the room.

Technology changes too quickly for anyone to know everything.

You’re looking for curiosity, humility, collaboration, and good listening skills.

Candidates who can honestly describe learning from someone else are usually the people who continue learning throughout their careers.

9. Tell me about a time you demonstrated leadership even though you weren’t the manager.

This is one of my favorite questions because leadership has very little to do with titles.

I’ve watched entry-level technicians calm upset customers while more experienced engineers argued over whose fault the problem was.

I’ve seen junior administrators mentor new employees without being asked.

I’ve watched project coordinators quietly organize confused teams, keep everyone informed, and help projects succeed despite having no formal authority.

Leadership often looks like taking initiative, solving problems, encouraging teammates, sharing knowledge, accepting responsibility, and helping others succeed.

If someone believes they can only lead after receiving a management title, they’re misunderstanding what leadership really is.

The best leaders begin leading long before anyone changes their business card.

10. Why do you want this job?

Not why they like technology.

Not why they enjoy cybersecurity or cloud computing.

Why this organization?

Candidates who have researched your company usually talk about your mission, your culture, your customers, your reputation, or the kind of work they’ll be doing.

Their answer often reveals whether they’re looking for a paycheck or looking for a place where they can make a meaningful contribution.

Adjust Your Job Interview Questions to Match Experience

Not every interview should sound the same.

An entry-level desktop support technician may have little IT experience but years of customer service experience from retail, restaurants, hospitality, or healthcare. Ask questions about helping customers, resolving conflicts, learning new skills, or receiving coaching.

A systems administrator or network engineer should be able to discuss collaboration, project work, difficult outages, competing priorities, and cross-functional communication.

Managers should be prepared to discuss coaching employees, resolving conflicts between team members, building trust, and developing future leaders.

At the CIO level, technical competence is largely assumed. Conversations should focus on culture, influence, strategic thinking, customer experience, organizational trust, and leading through change. The questions evolve because the responsibilities evolve.

You’re Hiring More Than Technical Skills

Every interview is an opportunity to discover how someone thinks, learns, communicates, and treats other people.

The candidate with the highest certification count isn’t always the one who creates the greatest value.

The technician who listens carefully before speaking, admits mistakes, treats users with respect, learns continuously, and willingly helps teammates often becomes the employee everyone depends on.

Those qualities align perfectly with the Five Principles of IT Customer Service: technical competence, compassion, empathy, good listening skills, and treating others with dignity and respect.

Those principles don’t just improve customer service. They improve teamwork, leadership, retention, employee engagement, and organizational culture.

Technology changes constantly.

Character doesn’t.

When you ask better questions, you hire better people. And better people build better IT organizations.

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