IBM HireVue Interview: Questions, Format, and a Worked Answer

IBM uses HireVue for many entry-level and early-career roles. Candidates report 4 to 6 questions with 30 seconds to think and up to 3 minutes to answer. No retakes on the scored questions.

IBM's questions ask about learning speed and working with clients more than most technology employers. This page has the reported questions, what each is testing, and a worked answer in plain language.

The clock and the format are the same HireVue product every employer uses. The timing guide covers what happens when the timer runs out, and how HireVue scoring works covers what the recording is scored on.

IBM's stated values are dedication to every client's success, innovation that matters, and trust and personal responsibility in all relationships. The reported questions test client focus and learning most often.

• Learning speed. A skill or tool you picked up fast because a real task needed it.
• Client focus. Understanding what a client or user actually needed.
• Collaboration. A group result across roles or teams.
• Explaining technical things simply. Making a complex thing clear to someone without the background.
• Motivation for IBM. A reason tied to the role and what IBM builds.

Build one story for each line above. Every question below is asking for one of them.

These are the questions candidates report from recent IBM screens, with the competency each one is built to test. Your set will be a mix of these and close variants.

1. Tell me about a time you had to learn a new tool or technology quickly. (Learning speed)
2. Why IBM, and why this role? (Motivation)
3. Describe a time you explained something technical to someone who did not know the topic. (Communication)
4. Tell me about a project you worked on with people from different disciplines. (Collaboration)
5. Describe a time you understood what a client or user really needed. (Client focus)
6. Tell me about a time something you built or planned did not work. What did you do? (Problem solving, accountability)

For the shape of each answer type, see HireVue interview questions by format. For the answer structure itself, the STAR method guide has worked examples.

Question: "Describe a time you explained something technical to someone who did not know the topic."

"My aunt runs a small bakery and her online orders were getting lost because two systems did not talk to each other. She asked me to explain what was wrong. I did not use the word integration. I said her website was writing orders on one notepad and her kitchen was reading from a different notepad, and nobody was copying between them. Then I showed her the one setting that would make the website write to both. She fixed it herself in ten minutes. What I learned is that the explanation works when it uses something the person already understands. She had been running a kitchen for 20 years. Notepads made sense to her."

Why it scores: A real person, a plain-language analogy, the person acting on it, and a takeaway. About 55 seconds spoken.

Specific to IBM:

• Prepare a learning story with a timeline. "I learned it in two weeks for a project due in three" is the shape.
• Practice explaining one technical thing you know in plain words. IBM asks for it and most technical candidates rush it.
• For "why IBM," name a product, a client story, or an area of work you can describe.

For any HireVue:

1. Day 1. Write one story per competency in the list above. Two or three sentences each: the situation, what you decided, what happened.
2. Day 2. Say each story out loud on a two-minute timer. Most people run long the first time. Cut until each one ends on the result with time to spare.
3. Day 3. Run the reported questions cold, in one sitting, no notes. Then set up the room: quiet, camera at eye level, light on your face, wired internet if you have it.

The full setup checklist and a five-day version of this plan are in the main HireVue guide.

Company guides in this series, each with the reported questions and a worked answer:

• Goldman Sachs HireVue (investment banking)
• JPMorgan Chase HireVue (investment banking)
• Morgan Stanley HireVue (investment banking)
• Citi HireVue (banking)
• Bank of America HireVue (banking)
• Barclays HireVue (banking)
• Deutsche Bank HireVue (banking)
• Bain & Company HireVue (consulting)
• Boston Consulting Group HireVue (consulting)
• Deloitte HireVue (consulting and professional services)
• EY HireVue (professional services)
• Unilever HireVue (consumer goods)
• PepsiCo HireVue (consumer goods)
• Amazon HireVue (technology and operations)
• Boeing HireVue (aerospace and engineering)
• Hilton HireVue (hospitality)
• Delta Air Lines HireVue (airlines)
• McDonald's HireVue (restaurants)
• Shell HireVue (energy)